Shakespeare's efforts to target his Elizabethan audience have the effect of mimicking the theme of man's frailty through Hamlet's speech. By subtly alluding to the Great Chain of Being through the prince's words, Shakespeare develops a theme that underlies much of the play. The Elizabethans believed that the Great Chain of Being was structured by God, and that all human beings, regardless of their social status, were more important than all animals. Thus, when Hamlet says, "We fatten all other creatures to fatten ourselves," the Elizabethans would have understood this to mean that humanity, being of a higher rank in the eyes of God than all other creatures, was right to dominate the creatures below. them for their own gain. But Hamlet does not stop there as he adds “and we fatten ourselves for maggots”. This poses a question that targets the Elizabethan audience: if man is truly so superior, why does he become food for such inferior beings as worms and worms? Clearly, the passage from Act IV, scene ii serves to develop the theme of the fragility of man. Elizabethan audiences are presented with the familiar idea of ​​the Great Chain of Being, but suddenly the superiority of humanity is called into question as man's undeniable weakness is highlighted. As powerful as this quote is, it serves a much greater purpose within the context of the play. This resonates with other sections that touch on the same theme, for example when Hamlet asks: "What is a man/If his chief good and market of his time/Be but sleep and feed?" A beast, no more.” While these other sections may not deal with the Great Chain of Being as the first speech did, they are linked to the first speech through the same theme of weaknesses that...... middle of the article ......een the appearance and reality that Shakespeare established in Hamlet and not just in this one scene; for example, how Hamlet seemed mad with grief when he was actually planning to carry out his revenge or how Claudius incited Laertes to kill Hamlet not so much because Claudius was mourning the death of Polonius, but because Hamlet knew the truth about the murder of Hamlet Senior. Obviously, these other examples in Hamlet which also developed the theme of appearance versus reality would have been emphasized by their association with the passage which questioned the appearance and reality of the Great Chain structure of Be. Thus, by targeting his audience, Shakespeare was able to develop the theme of appearance versus reality that the audience perceived in Hamlet. However, Shakespeare continued to use this technique to influence the interpretation of a final theme of his play..