Read through Hamlet looking for references to disease, decay, rot, weeds, and other signs of deterioration or pollution. Quote one of them that has not been noted by a classmate here, and cite act, scene, and line numbers. What does it mean in that particular context?
Considered for their cumulative effect, what do they accomplish in the play? What happens the kingdom when there is moral failure at its center?
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In Act I, Scene 2, lines 135-137, Hamlet talks of the world being an unweeded garden "that grows to seed." He says this before he knows of the murder and adultery that has been committed. All he knows at this point is that his mother married his uncle a month after his father's death. Hamlet's basically saying, "This world is so screwed up and it's just getting worse." He is discouraged by the immorality of this relationship between his mother and uncle, but particularly his mother's ease in forgetting her former husband, Hamlet's father. We wonder later on about Hamlet's love for Ophelia, but I think he loses a lot of his faith in love because of his mother's actions. Do all people just marry for sex? Is there nothing deeper than that? Sexual immorality keeps growing--"Tis an unweeded garden / That grows to seed...."
@ jynx: I think you've mentioned a very important passage! Here we can see what kind of character Hamlet is, that he is a very sensitive and melancholic person. What really depresses him is the fact that his parents had a perfect relationship before Hamlet senior died. He mentions this in many scenes, for example in 3.4. Hamlet doesn't understand, like you said, how his mother can forget about all that: She just goes on and marries someone else. But I also think that Gertrude is presented as a kind of "sex-addicted" character. She doesn't marry Claudius only because he's the new king but also because of her desires. For Hamlet, true love is the most important thing, but not for Gertrude.
Act 1, Scene 4.
Marcellus says famous line:
"There is something rotten in the state of Denmark"
This line sets up the entire play in my opinion. One because it is so famous/infamous, and two because it describes the entire decaying families and royal positions that are abound in the play. When Marcellus speaks this line he is foreshadowing the rotting and decaying of every person that is to die in this play; he is foreshadowing the rotting of souls and the coruption that rots even the finest people in the town. This line, so famous and poignant speaks volumes of the actual state of affairs in the play, even though, at this time in the play, not much is known of the terrible deeds that the King has committed nor of the terrible murders and plots that lay ahead. But the careful reader, who knows anything about this play, takes this line to be the cue that all the blood and gore and manipulation is about to start.
In Act 2, Scene 1, Line 87, Polonius and Ophelia discuss Hamlet's actions toward Ophelia and Polonius responds by saying, "Mad for thy love?" implying that Hamlet must be acting so moody and strange because he is love sick for Ophelia since she has been distant from him after Polonius' request. I think that the overall use of madness in this play is a bit ironic because everyone blames the events on the madness of the other characters, when everyone seems to be going mad to some extent. As I read the play I just saw that all the actions and events of the plot were simply reactions, not madness.
I think with decay and deterioration also Hamlet himself could be meant - in a figurative sense. Of course, he only pretends to be mad to get his revenge, but in fact his being is destroyed through this pretending. The others around him notice Hamlet's decay: "And he fell into a sadness, then into a fast, thence to a watch, thence into a weakness, thence to a lightness, and by this declension into the madness wherin now he raves."(2.2, l.146-50) Here Polonius describes Hamlet's change into madness. Although Hamlet is only pretending this madness at first, his actions regarding Ophelia, the murder of Polonius and other things show that he loses some kind of control, and this makes him in some way really mad.
What I found also very interesting is that Ophelia is the only character in the play who uses positive words regarding nature. Ironically, she does that when she's already mad. In 4.5 she talks and sings about the beauteous majesty of Denmark, the grass-green turf, the mountain snow, sweet flowers, etc.
Has anyone noticed other scenes in which they talk about the opposite of decay or rot?
I'd like to refer to 5.1., when Hamlet finds by accident the burrial of Ophelia at the cemetery. When he holds the skull which the gravedigger threw out of the grave, he says: "This skull had a tongue in it and could sing." and when he finds the skull of Yorrick, his father's jester, he is really shocked. I think he realizes in this moment how short life is - even for a funny and clever person as a jester - for every human being on earth. He suddenly sees how short life is, no matter which social position one holds ("Do you think Alexander the Great looked like this when he was buried?"..."The Great emperor Caesar, dead and turned to clay, might plug up a hole to keep the wind away"). I guess this scene foreshadows also the ending of the play, when so much decay and death comes. But it is at the same time the typical Renaissance idea of memento mori, "be aware of death always and everywhere" and Shakespeare puts the moral hint in a thrilling and moving monologue.
In Act I scene vi lines 13-38 Hamlet speaks of a vicious mole in nature, overgrowth(neglect), defects, corruption, fault,evil, and scandal. Hamlet is waiting for the ghost of his father to reappear when he speaks these words. It seems as though he is speaking of the custom of ghosts, but it is also a reference to the scandal that is linked to his fathers death. Hamlet is saying that ghosts are seen when something has been neglected, when there is something corrupt, or when there is scandal linked to ones death. For the king, all of these are true.
"O that this too too solid flesh would melt,
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew!" Act 1, Scene 2 lines 129-130. Here, Hamlet is thinking about committing suicide. This is shown by him talking about melting flesh. When he says "resolve itself into a dew" he is talking about his body returning to the ground. He is contemplating suicide because of the pains of life but doesn't think he can do it due to religion.
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