In the Garden of Denmark

In The Garden of Denmark

In William Shakespeare's play Hamlet imagery is used in many forms to convey the

manifesting corruption and festering disease foreshadowing the impending doom of Denmark.

Shakespeare taints his words with disease and rank decay throughout the play. These images

are accomplished skillfully through the use of the nature metaphor particularly that of

rotting gardens and weeds when describing the state of Denmark and its player under the rule of

King Claudius.

The gardens in Hamlet are not necessarily a place where one would go to have a picnic or

observe nature. They are more like overgrown vacant lots than that of a neatly tended garden by

a careful skilled gardener. A garden is dependent not only on nature to supply it with nutrients

but also a gardener to care for it. Claudius can be seen as the gardener if Denmark is the

garden; under his care Denmark is growing to seed. One of the many garden/weed metaphors

used to project death anddecay is when Hamlet says "Tis an unweeded garden/That grows to

seed; things rank and gross in nature/Possess it merely" (1.2.135-37). This is Hamlet's first

soliloquy, in this short statement Shakespeare introduces the rotting garden. The unweeded

garden is Denmark's state before Claudius's rule. It shows that under his rule the garden of

Denmark grows to seed from lack of care and corruption. The fact that Hamlet feels the garden

is growing to seed means that he recognizes Denmark is losing power and that under Claudius it

will probably mean the fall his country. This passage can also be interpreted in that Claudius is

the weed in the garden of Denmark itself. His corruption and incestuous marriage to Gertrude

have a negative impact on not only Hamlet but all the people of Denmark; his deceit and evil is

like the destructive weeds over taking the garden. Again this is the first reference to a garden in

disrepair, the state of decline allows the audience to see how Hamlet views the state of his world

as well as his Uncle King Claudius.

Shakespeare again creates a metaphor between the state of Denmark and a garden when

Marcellus says to Horatio "Something in rotten in the state of Denmark" (1.5.90). This

statement is important in that is allows the audience to recognize that Hamlet is not the only

one who is concerned for Denmark. It is apparent to more than just Hamlet the that garden of