Imagery - Gardens
Throughout the play, there is consistent garden imagery of weeds and flowers that are expressed through the characters’ dialogue to typically describe moral dilemmas. In Act 1, in Hamlet’s dreary and suicidal cogitation he illustrates the world as "an unweeded garden, / That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature / Possess it merely" (1.2.6). He indicates that the world is a garden (reference to garden of Eden) and that due to its neglection it has gone wild, repugnant, and in disarray. Because of this, the garden is spoiled and is plagued with disease and rot that it may only produce from its seeds, things “rank and gross in nature”. Metaphorically speaking, Hamlet speaks of the state of Denmark (his perspective of the world) and its current “rotten” state due to the sinister corruption of Claudius and his “incestuous” marriage with Gertrude. Similarly, his father describes his death in a most peculiar fashion that undeniably references Genesis through the story of Man’s fall: “'Tis given out that, sleeping in my orchard,/ A serpent stung me; so the whole ear of Denmark/ Is by a forged process of my death/ Rankly abused:” Just as the serpent seduced Eve and brought death to Adam, so Claudius seduces Gertrude and brings death to Old King Hamlet. Likewise, considering that Old King Hamlet embodied Qualities of a just, virtuous, and courageous leader for the good of Denmark, his death symbolized the fall of Denmark as a state. This weed/flower imagery and the word “rank” is heavily emphasized on several occasions throughout the play: "do not spread the compost on the weeds, / To make them ranker (3.4.151-152).
Hamlet tells his mother to not spread fertilizer (compost) on weeds, as it will only strengthen them and as a result make them more foul and filthy. Within the context of the scenario, Hamlet demands that Gertrude obey his commands, and cess to continue her incestuous affair with Claudius which he deems as completely intolerable and wrong. "I find thee apt; / And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed / That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, / Wouldst thou not stir in this. (1.5.31-34). The Ghost says that he finds Hamlet eager to enact his revenge which is good because otherwise he would be more “dull” (stupid, lacking in feeling) than the putrid weed that grows in the banks of Lethe (Greek river of forgetfulness). The weed which stems from forgetfulness represents the appalling characteristic of indifference and indecision, which ironically is a trait that Hamlet somewhat possesses (procrastination). Throughout the play, the weed imagery is used to illustrate things that are abominable and undesirable in nature just like the parasitic weed is to the wholesome garden.
Hamlet tells his mother to not spread fertilizer (compost) on weeds, as it will only strengthen them and as a result make them more foul and filthy. Within the context of the scenario, Hamlet demands that Gertrude obey his commands, and cess to continue her incestuous affair with Claudius which he deems as completely intolerable and wrong. "I find thee apt; / And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed / That roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf, / Wouldst thou not stir in this. (1.5.31-34). The Ghost says that he finds Hamlet eager to enact his revenge which is good because otherwise he would be more “dull” (stupid, lacking in feeling) than the putrid weed that grows in the banks of Lethe (Greek river of forgetfulness). The weed which stems from forgetfulness represents the appalling characteristic of indifference and indecision, which ironically is a trait that Hamlet somewhat possesses (procrastination). Throughout the play, the weed imagery is used to illustrate things that are abominable and undesirable in nature just like the parasitic weed is to the wholesome garden.