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"unweeded garden"
Context and Language Videos
Act 1,
Scene 2
Lines 135-142

An explanation of the term "nature's garden" in Act 1, Scene 2 of myShakespeare's Hamlet.

myShakespeare | Hamlet 1.2 Metaphor: Nature's Garden

Hamlet 

Fie on't! Oh fie fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden
That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature
Possess it merely. That it should come to this!
But two months dead – nay, not so much, not two –
So excellent a king, that was to this
Hyperion to a satyr, so loving to my mother
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth!
Video Transcript: 

SARAH: Hamlet's metaphor for the ugly, disappointing world he sees around him is an unweeded garden overrun with nature. In Shakespeare's time, the wilds of nature did not yet have the positive connotation that it has for us: the tranquility of the countryside and the romantic idealization of a primitive pastoral life.

RALPH: For Shakespeare's audience, nature was brutal, uncomfortable, and dangerous. Like other parts of life, it needed to be controlled by human intervention: religion, law, and agriculture all worked together to make nature safe and productive for society — just like a good garden.