Note to Hamlet, 4.5.180: "[To King.]"

[To King.]: —None of the original texts have this stage direction; editors often put it in because it seems appropriate that Ophelia should offer fennel, an emblem of flattery, and columbine, an emblem of ingratitude, to King Claudius, who is a murderous hypocrite. The same kind of thing is true of the "[To Queen.]" in the next line; it seems appropriate that Ophelia should offer rue, emblem of sorrow and repentance, to Queen Gertrude, who was widowed and then married her dead husband's brother.