Down the primrose path

Posted by Victoria S Dennis on April 29, 2005

In Reply to: Down the primrose path posted by Bob F. on April 29, 2005

: What is the orgin and meaning of "To be lead down the primrose path"?

: This is what I found so far:

: Shakespeare's Hamlet. Ophelia: Do not, as some ungracious pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven, Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, And recks not his own rede.

: Shakespeare also used it in Macbeth, where the porter speaks of "treading the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire". This implies that in his day it was already a standard metaphor for the easy, pleasant self-indulgent way, as opposed to the "rocky road of righteousness".