French Case

All through his plays Shakespeare thinks of human life and action in the terms of a gardener. He thinks of matters human as growing plants and trees. He reflects that our bodies are gardens, and our wills the gardeners, so that whatever is planted or sown in our own natures entirely depends on the power and authority of our wills.

He is particularly interested in the processes of growth and decay. He is impressed, as all the gardeners must be, by the vitality and strength of seeds, especially of weeds, and he is continually conscious of a similar strength and power in the weeds and faults in human character.

He sees the diseases in plants -especially canker in roses- with the gardener's eye, and resents their destruction of beauty. In his imagination the disease is continually affecting and damaging the plant exactly as evil passions or repressions destroy the human being.

From the very beginning of the play the image of the weed is present as the Ghost uses the image of the weed to incite Hamlet to revenge:

"And duller shouldst thou be than the fat weed

That roots itself in ease on Lethe Wharf

Wouldst thou not stir in this" [I.5.32]

The Ghost tells Hamlet that if he does not take revenge on Claudius, Hamlet will be "duller" (more stupid, more lacking in feeling) than the disgusting weed that grows on the banks of the river of forgetfulness. Lethe is a river of Hades: according to the classical poets, it caused oblivion in those who drank it. The word "warf" is used because the spirits were supposed to embark on Charon's boat in order to cross the river. As the fat weed Shakespeare may have had in mind asphodel, which grew in the fields of Hades.

The weed is the symbol of corruption in Denmark and it is associated with poison and disease. The rightful king has been poisoned and now the whole country is being poisoned, contaminated by the "mildew'd ear". An evil king is ruling Denmark and therefore corruption is growing. The world is an "unweeded garden" and Hamlet asks his mother:

"And do not spread the compost of the weeds

To make them ranker"

In his first soliloquy, Hamlet says of the world,

"Tis an unweeded garden

That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature

Possess it merely" [I.2.134]

A little later in the speech, it becomes clear that Hamlet's disgust at the world arises from his disgust at the fact that his mother is now sleeping with his uncle.

"A violet in the youth of primy nature" [I.3.7.]

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