By Jordan Kliewer      

August Strindberg’s incredible use of symbolism is undeniable, and flowers are considered to be one of the most consistent throughout his many works. It has been recorded that Strindberg’s personal library contained a large collection of books regarding the symbolism of many plants, which he undoubtedly used when writing. For example, many of his plays contain roses and lilies to symbolize purification, love, and suffering. In The Ghost Sonata specifically, floral symbolism is evident with shallots, narcissus, and most notably hyacinths.

The Hyacinth

In Greek mythology, hyacinths are said to be a result from the tragic death of the Spartan prince Hyacinthus. The prince is described to be beautiful, youthful, and desirable, much like the Young Lady. Because of these traits, many fall in love with Hyacinthus including the poet Thamyris, the God Apollo, and the West Wind. While Apollo is teaching Hyacinthus how to throw a discus, the West Wind, full of jealousy and pride, blows the discus into Hyacinthus’ skull. Hyacinthus dies upon the strike of the discus, and from his blood grows the hyacinth flower. In some iterations of the story, it is said that Hyacinthus’s death was meant to be a sacrifice to restore Apollo’s power. (Graves 168). This relates to the end of Scene Three, in which the Young Lady is representative of a sacrificial lamb whose death is meant to absolve the sins of her parents. This relation between the Young Lady and Hyacinthus in Greek mythology serves Stringberg’s description of the Young Lady being a hyacinth, “Isn’t she like a blue hyacinth herself?” (pg. 275). Alternative legends about the hyacinth are present within many different cultures, but at the crux of these tales stand the symbols of love, death, and rebirth in place of the hyacinth. These symbols can be applied to the Young Lady throughout the play when the Student suddenly falls in love with her, she tragically dies, and when she is ‘reborn’ through her arrival to the Isle of The Dead. 

Hyacinths are also known to be very fond of cold areas in order to blossom. (Boncompagni). This can be applicable to the Young Lady if we consider why she prefers to spend all of her time in the Hyacinth Room, “Whenever she’s at home, she feels compelled to sit in the Hyacinth Room.” (pg. 285). Perhaps the Young Lady feels the need and intense desire to spend her entire life within the Hyacinth room so that she can avoid her very complicated family, to simply be with her beloved hyacinths, or because the room serves as a life force for her. In Scene Three, The Student notices how cold the Hyacinth Room is, “...it feels cold. Why don’t you have a fire?” (pg. 292), which is later explained by the chimney smoking each time a fire is lit. Perhaps the fact that the Hyacinth Room is so noticeably cold gives the Young Lady more reason to remain hidden in the room so that she can feel more ‘alive’ than she would in other rooms of the house. 

However, the symbolism of hyacinths can go even deeper in this play. It’s notable to consider that the Young Lady is mostly compared to blue hyacinths which are known to be very poisonous. In Victorian times, the era in which Strindberg was alive, there were customs of removing hyacinths from the rooms of expectant mothers because their fragrance was believed to be deadly to both the mother and the child. Victorians also practiced the language of flowers in which hyacinths were described to mean, “you love me and you are killing me”. This could mean that Strindberg’s comparison of the Young Lady to hyacinths was intended to represent a parallel between the toxic nature of both the Young Lady and her parents. The Student himself calls her love poisonous at the end of Scene Three once he realizes she’s beyond saving, “Why is it that the most beautiful flowers are so poisonous, the most poisonous?” (pg. 297). This comparison could even go as far as to link the Young Lady to the same vampirism that her father stands as a symbol for. For instance, in Scene One Hummel observes the Young Lady and says, “She’s giving them drink, just ordinary water, and they transform the water into color and fragrance…” (pg. 275). Perhaps the hyacinth’s need for nourishment is symbolic to the Young Lady’s need of a companion, or even prey, to produce her ‘fragrance’ that is later poison for The Student. This observation made by Hummel may have been his motivation for sending The Student into the house, so that he may be the ‘nourishment’ the Young Lady is not receiving from The Cook. (Franchuck 1600-1605).

Hyacinths have also been said to be a symbol of  “... a hidden love that becomes the symbol of sad love eventually due to the disloyalty of the hero” (Barzinji 178). This can be related to the relationship between the Young Lady and the Student in Scene Three. While The Student’s love for the Young Lady may not be ‘hidden’, it absolutely becomes sad love once The Student ‘betrays’ the Young Lady by killing her through means of his breakdown. The symbolism of hyacinths dates back to the Roman poet Ovid when he described hyacinth petals reading ‘AI AI’ to represent Apollo’s cries once he killed Hyacinthus. This can also be related back to how The Student reacts to the death of the Young Lady calling her ‘child’ and wishing her mercy. (Boncompagni).

The Narcissus

Narcissus flowers can be found in Greek mythology with the shepard boy, or in other iterations the blue nymph, Narcissus. In this legend, Narcissus is characterized as being extremely beautiful and beloved by all, especially the nymph Echo who is unable to tell him of her adoration. Noticing the toll of Echo’s unrequited love, the Goddess Venus sends Cupid to cast a love spell on Narcissus as punishment for his ignorance. This ploy results in Narcissus falling madly in love with his own reflection. Once Narcissus becomes deathly infatuated with his intangible muse, the Gods transform Narcissus into the flower we recognize today to free him. (Graves 168). Though the Student’s actions at the end of Scene Three are up for interpretation on whether he's murdering the Young Lady, freeing her, or even freeing himself from the torture of the house, this legend could serve as symbolic for the scene. Perhaps the Student is similar to Narcissus in the sense that his love for the Young Lady is unrequited and deadly to the point where he frees himself by killing her. 

The narcissus has also been coined, ‘the flower of deceit’ based on a Roman legend. In this alternative tale, the beauty of the narcissus flower is used by the God Pluto to lure Goddess Proserpina into the underworld. Struck by the flower’s beauty, Proserpina picks the narcissus and is captured by Pluto. Though the terms ‘lure’ and ‘deceit’ may not match the true intentions of either character, the argument can be made that the relationship between Pluto and Proserpina is present within the relationship between the Young Lady and The Student. In Scene One, for example, the drop of the Young Lady’s bracelet could be interpreted as a way for her to ‘lure’ the Student into the house using her beauty and femininity, similar to the way Pluto lured Proserpina with the beauty of the Narcissus. Contrastingly, the interpretation that the Young Lady dropped her bracelet unintentionally would link her to the characteristics of the narcissus in the myth, and that her beauty alone was enough to lure the Student to enter the house.

 The Student could also be representative of Pluto in the beginning of Scene Three. Perhaps the Student was using his expertise in linguistics “I’m studying languages” (pg. 269) to ‘lure’ the Young Lady into marriage. Once the Young Lady tells the Student that she cannot and will not marry him because of the house’s effect on her, the Student experiences his downward spiral into psychological despair. In this, the Student becomes aggressive with the Young Lady which ends in her death. This moment at the end of Scene Three is similar to Pluto’s capture of Proserpina in the sense that Pluto and the Student’s goals were the same: To entrap their victims in a state they do not wish to be in.

Continuing with this myth, the narcissus has also been symbolic of imminent death since it was the last flower to be plucked by Proserpina. This is relevant when analyzing why the Young Lady is so quick to turn down the help offered by the Student in the third scene. Her refusal indicates that she views her death as inevitable, or that she has at least come to terms with her imminent death. 

In Scene Three the Student has dialogue surrounding the narcissus, “And the largest and most beautiful of all the stars in the firmament, the red and gold Sirius, is the narcissus, with its red and gold chalice and six white rays...” (pg. 291). ‘Narcissus stars’ are a variety of narcissus daffodils that throughout history have been linked with feelings of sadness and despair. The white narcissus specifically is known to be a grave flower associated with bad luck when brought indoors. Throughout the beginning of Scene Three, it can be inferred that The Student, while trying to woo the Young Lady, is using every flower he mentions as a metaphor for her character and beauty. As white narcissus flowers are specifically representative of death, it can be concluded that Strindberg chose the narcissus as a representation of the Young Lady’s character and fate. 

The narcissus and the snowdrop flowers both have a history within herbal medicines and have been said to treat ‘yuppie flu’ as well as different forms of endometrial cancers as stated, “Shire Pharmaceuticals is testing galanthamine, a compound found in daffodils and snowdrops, on victims of ‘yuppie flu’.” Yuppie Flu, now commonly known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, is linked with depression and genetic predisposition. (Heinrich 25). In the script, it is hinted that the Young Lady is suffering from depressive symptoms, “She had lost the desire to live, without knowing why...” (pg. 287), as well as syphilis which at the time of The Ghost Sonata being written, was thought to be genetically transmittable. Though modern technology and research have proven this claim false, it would explain why Strindberg felt compelled to choose both snowdrops and narcissus daffodils to be included within Scene Three. Though it’s unclear what illness the Young Lady, and frankly the rest of the characters are suffering from, this knowledge of the narcissus and snowdrop prove imminent in understanding the symbolism behind the inclusion of narcissus and snowdrop flowers within The Ghost Sonata. 

There have also been recorded cases of the poisonous effects of the narcissus flower. In these cases, eating the bulbs or stalk of this flower has led to symptoms of paralysis, convulsions, or numbness. (Heinrich 25). These negative effects of the consumption of the narcissus could be related to how the Young Lady’s corrupted innocence affects the Students’ spiral and inversely, how The Student’s spiral serves as the vastation point for the Young Lady. When either character consumes the energy of the other, stability and control are lost in the forms of death or psyche. 

Works Cited

Barzinji, Mariwan Nasradeen Hasan, and Ol’ga Mikhailovna Ushakova. “LILACS and HYACINTHS: TWO SYMBOLS of SADNESS in T.S. ELIOT’S “the WASTE LAND.”” Philological Class, vol. 25, no. 3, 15 Mar. 2020, pp. 172–181, https://doi.org/10.26170/fk20-03-15.

Franchuk, Edward S. Symbolism in the Works of August Strindberg. Vol. III, 1989, pp. 1600–1605.

Graves, Robert. “Discoveries in Greek Mythology.” The Hudson Review, vol. 7, no. 2, 1954, pp. 167–181, https://doi.org/10.2307/3847166. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.

Heinrich, Michael. “Narcissus and Daffodil—the Genus Narcissus.” Journal of Ethnopharmacology, vol. 83, no. 1-2, Nov. 2002, pp. 19–27, https://doi.org/10.1016/s0378-8741(02)00207-6. Accessed 26 Feb. 2026.

Solas Boncompagni, and Maurizio Monzali. Flowers, Sounds, Colours. 2018. I Libri del Casato, 24 June 2021.