"Green indeed is the colour of lovers;", "It was so, sir; for she had a green wit.", "My love is most immaculate white and red." "Most maculate thoughts, master, are masked under such colours." "For blushing cheeks by faults are bred/ And fears by pale white shown:", "I did commend the black-oppressing humour", "besieged with sable-coloured/ melancholy,"...
The fact that Shakespeare referenced the color green, which I typically associate with jealously, with lovers was super confusing for me. And so it got me curious to see if there was any real symbolism behind it, and the other references to color. I came across this website that helped to explain some of the significance behind colors:
Side note: sable is basically a brownish-black color :)
Green symbolizes nature, environment, health, good luck, renewal, youth, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy misfortune, vigor.
Red symbolizes excitement, energy, passion, love, desire, speed, strength, power, heat, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence, and all things intense and passionate.White symbolizes reverence, purity, birth, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, winter, snow, good, sterility, and marriage.
Black symbolizes power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, evil, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger, anonymity, underground, good technical color, mourning, and death.
Brown symbolizes earth, stability, hearth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, simplicity, and comfort.
The website refers to several other colors than these. Helps puts some of the lines into better perspective now, doesn't it?
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