Question

[Hamlet:] It will but skin and film the ulcerous place,

Whiles rank corruption, mining all within,

Infects unseen. Confess yourself to heaven;

Repent what’s past; avoid what is to come;

And do not spread the compost on the weeds

To make them ranker.

—Hamlet,
William Shakespeare

What is the central motif in the passage?

the passage of time
madness
disease and decay
gardening

Answer 1

disease and decay.

Hamlet uses imagery of ulcers, corruption "mining all within," infection, and rotting compost to describe moral corruption—physical decay is the central motif, reinforced by gardening metaphors.