ther youwere sent for or no."Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 310-11Being the bumbling fools they are, Rosenkrantz and Guildensterndisclose their intentions and purposes to Hamlet, revealing the King andQueen's instructions. Thus does truth prevail in this passage. For thisreason, the whole passage is devoid of the "artful" poetic devices thatare used in the better portion of the play.The recurring motif of corruption also appears in the passage. Due tothe wicked internal proceedings in the state of Denmark (e.g. murder,incest), Shakespeare implies that the whole state is "soiled", which inturn has a direct negative consequence in the grand universal scheme ofthings. Imagery of warped and distasteful plants, in place of thetraditional "aesthetically correct" beautiful flowers in a garden,serves to further reinforce the degeneration theme:"'Tis an unweeded garden that growsto seed. Things rank and gross in naturepossess it merely."Act 1, Scene 2Essentially, all of life, and all that was good and beautiful in life(e.g. the garden) is sullied.Hamlet, the disillusioned idealist, continues with the motif when hedisheartenedly declares:"the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory^" -Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 321-2[the air] "why, it appeareth nothing to me but a fouled and pestilent congregation of vapors."-Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 325-6The above lines represent Hamlet's cosmic view on the planet. He findsthe world to be empty and lifeless, dirty and diseased, and hisparticular place in it to be desolate and lonely. Indeed, he feels soisolated and entrapped in his native land that he says:[the world is a prison] "A goodly one, in which there are many confines,wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o' th' worst."-Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 264-6This view of the world exemplifies the micro/macro concept, whereDenmark is the "micro" manifestation of a prison for our hero. The taintof "micro" Denmark leads to repercussions that in turn affect the wholeuniversal order, l...
