Shakespeare and Weeds

William Shakespeare’s genius in the 16th Century gave life to the word and its meaning for perpetuity. Many of the great bard’s plays have frequent references to weeds, as metaphors, often in profound admiration of their strengths and sometimes in reckless derision. The breathtaking power of Shakespeare’s words, using weeds as allegory, conveys messages on real-life situations.

In his delightful 2010 book on Weeds, Richard Mabey (1) gave some examples from Shakespeare’s plays with enticing interpretations. From my readings of Shakespeare, here are some well-known passages:

“…Go thou, and like an executioner, cut off the heads of too fast-growing sprays that look too lofty in our commonwealth: All must be even in our government. You thus employ’d, I will go root away the noisome weeds, which without profit suck the soil’s fertility from wholesome flowers…”.(Gardner to Servant) Richard II; Act 3 (2)

In the play, Shakespeare uses weeds as a metaphor to say what is wrong in King Richard II’s England. He accepts that fast-growing weeds will take over other more useful vegetation.

In this particular scene, Queen Isabella is in her private garden with two ladies. A gardener and two of his men arrive and begin to discuss the state of England using various gardening metaphors.

They claim that Richard has let ‘weeds’ overgrow, meaning those not so loyal to the King have been allowed too much freedom. Using words like ‘executioner’ and ‘commonwealth,’ the poet drew similarities between a well-kept good garden, free of weeds, maintained by a capable gardener (executioner) and good government (the King). On the surface, the gardener’s command to the servant is good landscaping advice.

But the critique of government is directed at the non-present King Richard. ‘Too fast-growing sprays that look too lofty in our commonwealth’ is a metaphor for Henry Bolingbroke and his rebel army. Although the gardener advises Richard to: ‘cut off the heads’, the servant is hesitant to carry out the order:

“…Why should we in the compass of a pale, keep law and form and due proportion, Showing, as in our firm estate, When our sea-walled garden, the whole land, Is full of weeds, her fairest flowers choked up, her fruit-trees all unpruned, her hedges ruined, …. and her wholesome herbs swarming with caterpillars?…”. Richard II; Act 3 (2)

The Old English word ‘rank’ (ranc) is a German word. It means ‘rebellious, proud, sturdy’ and ‘growing with vigour’. Like the term ‘noxious’, ‘rankness’ is often associated with weeds. Shakespeare used it abundantly. It means, if unchecked, weeds will grow wildly and luxuriantly, often dominating and displacing others. Nowadays, ‘rank’ indicates a relative status or hierarchy, an evolution of the word that had previously described the dominant presence of weeds among other vegetation.

There can be no doubt that Shakespeare understood weeds well. If uncontrolled, growing ‘rank’, weeds would ruin the well-kept gardens, and ‘suck the soil’s fertility’. Hence, they need to be decisively ‘weeded out’. The following quotes demonstrate the poet’s uncanny ability to relate weeds to people’s everyday lives:

“…The freckled cowslip, burnet and green clover, wanting the scythe, all uncorrected, rank, conceives by idleness and nothing teems but hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs, losing both beauty and utility. And our vineyards, fallows and hedges….grow to wildness…”. (Duke of Burgundy to Henry) Henry V; Act 5 (3)

“…Grandam, one night as we did sit at supper, My uncle Rivers talked how I did grow more than my brother. “Ay,” quoth my uncle Gloucester, “Small herbs have grace; great weeds do grow apace.” And since, methinks I would not grow so fast, because sweet flowers are slow and weeds make haste….” (Duke of York) Richard III; Act 2 (4)

“….O thou weed, who art so lovely fair and smell’st so sweet that the sense aches at thee, would thou hadst ne’er been born..”. (Othello to Desdemona) Othello; Act 4 (5)

“….Now ’tis spring and weeds are shallow-rooted; Suffer them now, and they’ll o’er grow the garden…And, choke the herbs for want of husbandry…”. (Queen Margaret) Henry VI Part 2; Act 3 (6)

Much like a seasoned weed scientist, Shakespeare advised that weeds should be controlled early when they are ‘shallow-rooted, or before they flower and set seed. Many of his plays highlighted the ‘sweet-smelling’ beauty of weeds. Such species would have been plentiful in the meadows across rural-agricultural Britain.

The frequent references to weeds as a metaphor were part of Shakespeare’s genius. What better way to connect with people in agricultural Britain? He needed to attract the aristocracy and large numbers of ordinary people to see the plays.

The bard’s failsafe method appealed to the ordinary person and immediately connected the plays with the broader public. Through farming, most people in 16th Century Britain would have been dealing with weeds all the time.

1. Mabey, R. (2010). Weeds. Profile books, London.

[Shakespeare’s Plays are available for download from the Folger Collection]

2. Shakespeare, W. (1595). Life and Death of Richard the Second (Play). (Available at: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/richardii/full.html).

3. Shakespeare, W. (1591). The Life of King Henry the Fifth. (Available at: http://shakespeare.mit.edu/henryv/full.html) (Folger Shakespeare Library: Richard II, eds Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine) and King Henry V (https://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/download/pdf/H5.pdf);

4. Richard III (https://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/download/pdf/R3.pdf);

5. Othello (https://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/download/pdf/Oth.pdf);

6. Henry VI Part 2 (www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/download/pdf/2H6.pdf).