Setting in Hamlet

While reading plays, setting does not always jump off the page at readers. However if the reader takes the time to think about the location of the action, a play can become more powerful. The setting of plays influences how readers interpret what is said and can set the mood of a scene and the play as a whole. A scene that really demonstrated the importance of setting in Hamlet was Act IV, Scene V. In this scene that takes place in the King’s castle, the King interrogates Hamlet to try and find the body of Polonius. Hamlet is quick to reply to the King’s questioning with witty remarks. When analyzing Scene V, lines 17-30 section of this scene draws readers’ attention.

KING: Now, Hamlet where’s Polonius?
HAMLET: At supper.
KING: At supper? Where?
HAMLET: Not where he eats, but where ‘a is eaten. A certain convocation of politic worms are e’en at him. Your worm is your only emperor for diet. We fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots. Your fat king and you lean beggar is but variable service-two dishes, but to one table. That’s the end.
KING: Alas, alas!
HAMLET: A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.
KING: What dost thou mean by this?
HAMLET: Nothing but to show you how a king may go a progress through the guts of a beggar

The setting of scene really struck me because of the irony the castle provided. In our minds, a castle represents power, wealth, and authority. This is the King’s castle; he rules it and is in the highest official position. Nonetheless, Hamlet is able to make a fool of him using language. The insults Hamlet caused the King were made much worse because of the setting. This is like the home-court advantage felt by many sports teams when they play in a stadium filled with people wearing their colors and rooting for them. When a team is upset at home, the defeat is many times worse than if they had lost the same game on the road. Similarly, Hamlet outsmarting the King while the King had a “home-court advantage” makes the passage all that more interesting.

Another ironic factor the setting adds is that a castle often hosts dinner parties and feasts of which only the most powerful and rich may attend, definitely not a beggar. However, Hamlet points out that in the end a beggar and a king end up in the ground. This is a forceful blow to the ideal image of a castle that places royalty much higher in priority than common people and definitely higher than beggars. If this scene took place in the streets, Hamlet’s lines would have been an interesting point, but they wouldn’t have hit so close to home. Overall, the castle setting provides a source of irony that makes Hamlet’s cleverness all the more insulting to the King.

Setting is a vitally important aspect of any play. This scene specifically proves that setting can intensify the drama, aiding a character in his insults of another character. Paying careful attention to setting can aid the understanding of a play and can cause the drama to leave a greater impression.