Junior Varsity English (Prep for AP, Humanities, and Big Time University)

This a blog for Mr. James Cook's eleventh grade honors English class at Gloucester (MA) High School. Remember what Northrup Frye writes in _Fearful Symmetry_, "No one can begin to think straight unless [she or] he has a passionate desire to think and an intense joy in thinking."

Friday, April 13, 2007

flora and fauna

flora and fauna: 1.1.172, 1.2.139-140, 1.2.144, 1.2.154, 1.3 (many flower references to Ophelia), 1.5.39-40, 1.4.93, 1.5.46-47, 1.5.94, 2.1.70
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1 comment:

Ashley T. said...

Fie on't! ah fie! 'tis an unweeded garden,
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature (1.2.139-140)

Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven (1.3.51-52)

In the first qoute, Hamlet is talking by himself to an audiance after his encounter with his mother and his uncle. He had previously recieved news of the ghost of his dead father and had been denied by his mother and uncle to return to the university in Wittenburg. In his soliloquy, Hamlet begins by being upset and depressed about his father's death and remariage of his mother to being filled with anger towards his mother and uncle. He is most upset with his mother for her immoral actions and the speed at which she married again. He is upset that she has no apparent regard for Hamlet and his dead father and what that might mean to Hamlet.

When Hamlet says, " 'Tis an unweeded garden.." He is talking about his life/the world around him, saying it is chaotic and messy, much like a garden that has yet to be weeded. THen he adds, "..that grows to seed." Hamlet is saying that the chaos and disorder will grow and increase unless something is done to prevent that. Hamlet is emphasizing the lack of order in his life and how things are appearing to be further and further from the norm.... Without "weeding" a garden, the weeds will keep on growing. Hamlet is showing the contamination his mother is causing in the society by her actions, and the affect it is having on life, on the "garden."
This quote from Hamlet is relative to the Flora motif because Hamlet is using gardens, weeds, etc to describe his life and feelings. The litteral meaning of a weeded garden and the implied meaning in the play of chaos fits perfectly.


In the second quote, Ophelia is talking to her brother Laertes while he is in the process of giving her advice towards her relationship with Hamlet. He is telling her to be cautious of Hamlet and his "tenders" towards her,along with general advice to present herself well as a young woman. Ophelia is asking of Laertes in the quote not to show/tell her to live a strict life while he himself lives on "self indulgence" and not practice that same advice himself. If Ophelia is going to be careful and smart, sheltered and protected as her brother expects of her, she wants to make sure the same of her brother. She knows how much Laertes cares about her so she respects his wishes and shows concern for him by asking he does the same.
In relation to the motif, "thorny" is used by Ophelia to mean strict and guided.. Literraly thorny means pointed, or a pointed part on a flower stem, which can relate again to the meaning in the play which is implying "guided." Ophelia doesnt want Laertes to tell her to live a strict and guided life.


Does Hamlet use the term "unweeded garden" to talk about his life or the immoral actions of his mother and other characters?

April 25, 2007 at 9:21 AM

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