Horticulture_And_Shakespeare

Horticulture And Shakespeare A predominant image presented in William Shakespeare’s plays is the image of a garden, infested with weeds. Even though the image pervades his works, the symbolic meaning of the garden evolves over the course time. The image becomes a metaphor for the management of human desires as well as the state of affairs of a country and corrupt kingdom. Through examination of Richard II, Hamlet and Othello, the development of the garden transforms from a political allegory to a metaphor for the human body. There is, however, a common theme among the three plays to eliminate the “weeds,” or corrupt forces that destroy or contaminate the garden. 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 weeds, garden, richard, othello, image, hamlet, gardener, human, ii, desires, political, metaphor, weed, rank, power, body, advisors, king, hamlet’s, world, sexual, reason, england, desire, control, believes, becomes, apricots, unweeded, thou, state, sexuality, richard’s, represent