Here are a few ideas on how to create your own Shakespeare inspired fragrance, with the herbal oils and flower essences that are associated with a play or with an individual character. Let's start with the tragic heroine Ophelia.
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| Ophelia by Ernest Hébert |
Perhaps no other character in Shakespeare is more associated with herbs and flowers than Hamlet's Ophelia. There are two possible choices for an Ophelia inspired fragrance. The first may be based on the flowers she hands out (or mentions) to the court in Act IV, Scene 5. Another may be based on the garland she carries at her death in Act IV, Scene 7, or the fragrance could be a blend made of both.
Here are the flowers and herbs associated with Ophelia.
Rosemary
Pansies
Fennel
Columbines
Rue
Daisies
Violets
Ophelia’s Garland
Crowflowers
Nettles
Daisies
Long Purples
You may also wish to add Roses as Ophelia is called “O rose of May” by her brother Laertes.
(Read further for a discussion on the symbolism of Ophelia's flowers.)
(Read further for a discussion on the symbolism of Ophelia's flowers.)
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| Midsummer Eve by Edward Robert Hughes |
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Fragrance
To create a floral, earthy fragrance suitable for the woodland fairies, the flowers mentioned include:
Roses - Eglantine and Musk Roses
Cowslips
Violets
Wild Thyme
Oxlips
Primroses
Pansies
Honeysuckle
Alternatively you could try and recreate the famous love potion of A Midsummer Nights Dream. Oberon describes it thus:
Love-in-Idleness is another name for the Pansy (Viola tricolor) noted as an ingredient in medieval love charms. BBC Radio 4 attempted to recreate the love potion to create a perfume, it is fair to say they did so with a little artistic license.
Whilst browsing through Etsy I found a few other A Midsummer Night's Dream inspired scents. There was a wax melt described as having the scent of "honey and wildflowers, imbued with musk and amber and blended over a subtle teaky, vanilla base." (Product link). A candle with "a heady floral scent" on a base of vanilla and musk. (Product link) There was also a Titania oil with the fragrance of carnation, white grapefruit, chypre, labdanum and rosewood. (Product link) Interestingly there was an Oberon inspired perfume, containing artemisia, fig, green cognac, Spanish moss, agarwood and tonka bean, described as having an earthy, sweet and warm aroma. (Product link)
Despite "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet", plants and flowers have less of a role in Romeo and Juliet. However this has not prevented talented people from evoking the romance of the play with scent. Again on Etsy there is a candle titled "Juliet's Balcony" with the scents of lily, lilac, rose and hyacinth. (Product link) There is also "Juliet's Perfume Oil" with the scents of vanilla, jasmine, oakmoss, orange blossoms, gardenia, tangerine, vetiver, lemon and ylang ylang. (Product link)
"Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid
Will make man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees."
It fell upon a little western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound
And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
Fetch me that flower; the herb I shew'd thee once:
The juice of it on sleeping eye-lids laid
Will make man or woman madly dote
Upon the next live creature that it sees."
- A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act II, Scene 1
Love-in-Idleness is another name for the Pansy (Viola tricolor) noted as an ingredient in medieval love charms. BBC Radio 4 attempted to recreate the love potion to create a perfume, it is fair to say they did so with a little artistic license.
Whilst browsing through Etsy I found a few other A Midsummer Night's Dream inspired scents. There was a wax melt described as having the scent of "honey and wildflowers, imbued with musk and amber and blended over a subtle teaky, vanilla base." (Product link). A candle with "a heady floral scent" on a base of vanilla and musk. (Product link) There was also a Titania oil with the fragrance of carnation, white grapefruit, chypre, labdanum and rosewood. (Product link) Interestingly there was an Oberon inspired perfume, containing artemisia, fig, green cognac, Spanish moss, agarwood and tonka bean, described as having an earthy, sweet and warm aroma. (Product link)
Romeo and Juliet Fragrance
Despite "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet", plants and flowers have less of a role in Romeo and Juliet. However this has not prevented talented people from evoking the romance of the play with scent. Again on Etsy there is a candle titled "Juliet's Balcony" with the scents of lily, lilac, rose and hyacinth. (Product link) There is also "Juliet's Perfume Oil" with the scents of vanilla, jasmine, oakmoss, orange blossoms, gardenia, tangerine, vetiver, lemon and ylang ylang. (Product link)
Macbeth Fragrance
Rather ingeniously another Etsy seller has created a scented candle inspired by Lady Macbeth, with a mix of heather, musk and jasmine. (Product link) Rather preferable, I think, to one inspired by the three witches.
Elizabethan Fragrances and Perfumes
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| Elizabeth I |
Fragrance and scent played an important part in Elizabethan life. In addition to Nosegays that were used to bring beautiful scents to what was otherwise a smelly period, Elizabethans would also wear Pomanders. Pomanders were ornate hollow balls filled with fragrant herbs and resins. They were either hung around the neck or attached to the girdle around the waist. Queen Elizabeth I is often depicted wearing one. Ingredients listed in medieval Pomanders include benzoin, storax, ambergris, musk, cloves, rosemary and marjoram. Today Pomanders more associated with the scent of Christmas as they are what we call oranges studded with cloves.