Horticulture And Shakespeare

One of the first references of a neglected garden is presented in Richard II as a political allegory for the state of affairs in England. King Richard, an unsatisfactory head of state, is surrounded by advisors who take advantage of him to live a luxurious life in his court. The Richard's mismanagement of England is represented as a “sea-walled garden…full of weeds; her fairest flowers choked up, / Her fruit-trees all unpruned, her hedges ruin’d, / Her knots disorder’d.” His use of the term “seal-walled” echoes John of Gaunt’s speech in Act II, Scene I, in which the nobleman

Not only does the gardener use the garden as a microcosm of England, but also he uses individual plants to represent the relationships between the king and his advisors: “Go, bind thou up young dangling apricokes / Which, like unruly children, make their sire / Stoop with oppression of their prodigal weight.” The apricots have become “unruly,” or uncontrollable, causing the branches of the tree to bend from their weight. Shakespeare incorporates political rhetoric such as “sire” and “oppression” to emphasize the allusion of Richard’s court. According to E.M.U. Tillyard, the apricots, “unless restrained” will “upset the proper relation between parent and offspring, to offend against the great principle of order.” Tillyard believes the apricots represent Richard’s subjects who are overpowering his reign. The word “stoop” has two important meanings: the first definition means, “to bend,” representing the physical movement of the tree branches from the weight of the apricots. The second definition, “to lower oneself,” presents Richard as a complacent king, allowing his advisors to overrun his kingdom

The poison Lucianus uses to kill the Player King is made of “midnight weeds collected,” which evokes the deadly, invasive force of weeds in Hamlet’s first speech. Janet Adelman notes another definition for the word “mixture” is “sexual intercourse” which directly refers to Gertrude’s “rank sexuality.” In other words, Gertrude’s uncontrollable appetites cause the “usurpation” of Hamlet’s life.

Fie on’t, ah fie, ‘tis an unweeded garden

Our bodies are gardens, to which our wills are gardeners…If the balance of our lives had not one scale of reason to poise another of sensuality, the blood and baseness of our natures would conduct us to most prepost’rous conclusions. But we have reason to cool our raging motions, our carnal stings, our unbitted lusts.

The third reference to “weeds” in Hamlet displays a shift in agency, using the image to accuse Gertrude for the death of Old Hamlet. The weed is no longer used to depict a kingdom growing “rank and gross” from political ambitions, as presented in Hamlet’s soliloquy, but is an allegation Hamlet incorporates in the play “the Murder of Gonzago” sexuality is somehow a concoction used to poison Old Hamlet:

The noisome weeds which without profit suck

Not only does Spurgeon note the force of overgrowing weeds, but also she associates the image with human beings. The need to control these weeds, or “faults in human character” becomes clear in Othello when Othello believes he has to control his wife’s desires and prevent her from betraying him.

Some topics in this essay:
Richard II, II Scene, Hamlet Othello, King Richard, EMU Tillyard, Caroline Spurgeon, Symbolically Othello, II Hamlet, England Richard’s, Hamlet Thou, richard ii, human body, garden metaphor, “unweeded garden”, hamlet othello, garden richard ii, political allegory, political rhetoric, growing “rank, richard ii hamlet, king richard, seen richard ii, ii hamlet, richard ii gardener, metaphor human body,