How did Shakespeare create setting?

Answer 1

Shakespeare could not use scenery or lighting effects as these were not available. Some set props were used such as a table or chair, but frequent scene changes meant these had to be kept to a minimum.

Shakespeare relied on words and the audience's imagination to create settings. Sometimes this was done by a Chorus or prologue either generally as in Romeo and Juliet "In fair Verona where we lay our scene" or Troilus and Cressida "In Troy there lies the scene", or more specifically as in Henry IV Part 2 or Henry V. This latter has the most famous example of a Chorus setting the scene at the beginning of the play:

"Suppose within the girdle of these walls

Are now confined two mighty monarchies,

Whose high upreared and abutting fronts

The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder.

Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;

Into a thousand parts divide one man,

And make imaginary puissance.

Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them,

Printing their proud hoofs i' th' receiving earth;

For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings . . ."

In plays where there is no chorus sometimes the players' lines give setting information, from short lines such as "The wind blows shrewdly, it is very cold" from Hamlet to the longer speech given by Horatio in the same play explaining the political situation in Denmark. ("That can I explain . . .")

In modern productions and adaptations which use scenery or lighting to create setting sometimes these lines seem obvious or redundant but the viewer (or reader) should keep in mind how helpful they would be on the Elizabethan stage.

Answer 2

Shakespeare created setting by using descriptive language in his plays to depict the time and place of the story. He often included details about the physical environment, such as the weather, architecture, and geography, to help establish the setting for the audience or reader. Additionally, Shakespeare would use dialogue and interactions between characters to further immerse the audience in the world he was creating.