In Hamlet, a play that I'm severely angry at because of the end, there is a lot of motifs to destruction and corruption. I said,  on the sticky notes, that Hamlet is the poisonous snake destined to kill the garden, but then I asked: Is this a good garden, or a bad garden? Earlier today, coincidentally, I heard Mr. Fortunato talking about his opinion about Hamlet, and he agreed -- It's all about corruption. But he began to speak about the "false king" (interesting way to phrase it, don't you think?), and sadly I didn't hear the total conversation, but it really made me question whether or not Hamlet is necessarily a bad person for poisoning the garden. I mean, surely it isn't good and it leads to everybody dying, but didn't Claudius start it all (as Mr. Fortunato pointed out)? Can a antagonist poisonous snake be corruptive if the garden is already corrupted? Was it destined for that kingdom to fall as soon as he became king because Claudius didn't become a king in honor, but yet in murder? Hamlet says in the first act, "'tis an unweeded garden." Unweeded, uncleansed, sprouting evil. The moment Claudius stepped onto that platform, it was obvious to Hamlet that it would fall sooner or later because the "weeds" in the garden would ruin it.  He adds to this in one of the later acts to his mother, trying to point out how the kingdom is falling in corruption and says, "And do not spread the compost into the weeds" in caution. So, generally, I believe Hamlet is the poisonous snake, yes, but I don't believe it's a bad thing. There is no say what would have happened if Claudius didn't die in the end. Something had to end that era after Claudius took over in a sinful way, and his death was the best option. If Fortinbras, for instance, came to the doors with everybody alive and well, it would create an unneeded war with countless deaths, which would also create a cycle of hatred and murder, spoiling the new "garden". The garden, in all, is an everlasting cycle that symbolizes a successful kingdom. It gets planted, it grows, it manifests, it dies, it sooner or later transitions into a new garden.  There is no way to fight it. But when it comes to the point it is spoiled and uncontrollable, someone has to kill it so that it can have rebirth and have a chance in being pure again. So Hamlet creates a baptism, in some sense, since the garden will regrow sooner or later. Hamlet is a hero, even if he isn't the perfect archetype for one.