Shakespeare's works are frequently associated with a vivid spectrum of colors, yet the color blue is surprisingly scarce. Recently, I decided to delve into this notion, driven by a hunch that blue was seldom mentioned in his texts. My expectations leaned towards finding black and red as the most frequently occurring colors, followed by white and grey.

To verify my theory, I conducted a word search on an online PDF of Shakespeare's Complete Works. I focused on colors recognizable by a child—excluding shades like crimson and ochre, while allowing for spelling variations. The results were revealing:

• Black: 184
• White: 158
• Red: 84
• Green: 96
• Yellow: 32
• Grey: 29 (including 2 instances of "gray")
• Blue: 27
• Brown: 26
• Purple: 18
• Orange: 5

I also filtered out words that weren't descriptive or were proper names. This removed many instances of "Green" associated with characters in Richard III and place names. Similar treatment was applied to "Grey," eliminating terms like "angered" or "redeem." I excluded "Blackamoors" not due to its offensive nature but because it functions as a proper noun, similar to "Greyhound" or "Whitehall." However, I retained "Black Prince" and a single mention of "White Hart" for their descriptive qualities.

Ultimately, black and white dominate Shakespeare's color references, which isn't surprising given their dramatic significance. The low frequency of grey was unexpected, as it was more prevalent until I removed various "Lord" and "Lady Grey" mentions. Green's relative abundance aligns with its familiarity among people of that era, likely due to its easier dye production. Conversely, I was astonished to find red appearing only 84 times, as it seemed more omnipresent in his narratives. A quick check revealed that "blood" appears 947 times.

At the bottom of the list is orange, which appears a mere five times. Historical context reveals that orange was not widely recognized until 1512, and its limited mentions reflect its recent integration into the English color lexicon. Purple, associated with royalty, was rare, largely due to its expensive dye. Queen Elizabeth I even restricted purple silk to her household. In contrast, brown was ubiquitous and often overlooked, given the wooden architecture of the time.

Yellow, while not flattering for clothing and linked to illness, was common in nature and essential for dyeing. It should have more mentions, particularly given its notable appearance in Twelfth Night regarding Malvolio's yellow-gartered stockings.

Then comes blue—a primary color in both light and pigment. One would expect more frequent references, yet Shakespeare's usage is minimal. The 27 instances are scattered across 19 plays, with none found in the sonnets. Only The Merry Wives of Windsor exceeds two mentions.

In this play, blue is introduced in a conversation between Falstaff and Mistress Quickly, where she describes Mistress Ford as emotionally "beaten black and blue." Falstaff, however, downplays her suffering, humorously claiming to be a "full rainbow" of injuries. This idiom recurs in A Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night. The play continues with metaphorical comparisons of maids to bilberries and colorful flowers.

References to blue flowers are less frequent than anticipated, with additional mentions in Love’s Labor’s Lost and Troilus and Cressida. Other natural imagery includes bluebottle flies (Henry IV pt 2), adders (Timon of Athens), and lightning in Julius Caesar. Mythological references include bluecaps in Henry IV, pt 1, and Richard III's vision of blue flames, along with Laertes' mention of Blue Olympus in Hamlet. In Antony and Cleopatra, Antony observes a blue promontory as an omen.

Cleopatra, known for her dramatic expressions, highlights Shakespeare's anatomical mentions of blue. In The Tempest, Prospero refers to Sycorax as "this blue-eyed hag." Iachimo describes Imogen's eyes tenderly, although it occurs during a theft. Rosalind in As You Like It dismisses Orlando's love claims based on his lack of physical signs, specifically noting, "A lean cheek, which you have not; a blue eye and sunken, which you have not."

There are also mentions of blue in clothing, such as a bow in The Tempest and references to garters and coats in The Taming of the Shrew. Notably, a stage direction in Henry VI pt 1 describes Gloucester’s servants in blue coats. Given the high cost of blue dye at that time, this detail suggests the company had recently acquired blue costumes and sought to highlight them in the text.

The rarity of blue in Shakespeare's works raises questions. The high expense of ultramarine dye, derived from lapis lazuli, made it a luxury item, while the cheaper smalt often faded. Moreover, England's distance from trading routes complicated access to quality blue dye, especially before the lifting of indigo import bans in 1611.

In Act II, Scene 1 of Othello, Montano anticipates Othello's arrival with the line, "Even till we make the main and the aerial blue / An indistinct regard." Here, Shakespeare artfully combines references to both sea and sky without explicitly mentioning them.

This peculiarity of infrequent blue mentions contrasts sharply with the prevalence of green in his works. Perhaps its scarcity reflects the limitations of dye availability or a personal aversion. Theories abound, but without definitive answers, the mystery remains.

In comparison, Christopher Marlowe's works feature different color frequencies, with 73 uses of white, 62 of black, 41 of red, and so on, yet neither orange nor blue appears at all. This discrepancy raises further questions about color choices in their respective writings.

These musings are playful speculation rather than serious conclusions. Ultimately, the limited use of blue in Shakespeare's oeuvre invites curiosity and further examination, leaving readers to ponder the underlying reasons for this curious absence.