Shakespeare's efforts to address his Elizabethan audience have the effect of emulating 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, that all people, regardless of social position, were more important than all animals. So when Hamlet says, “Let us fatten all other creatures to fatten ourselves,” the Elizabethans would have taken this to mean that humanity, being of a higher position in the eyes of God than all other creatures, was right to dominate the inferior creatures. them for their own gain. But Hamlet doesn't stop there, as he adds "and we grow fat for the worms." This poses a question addressed to the Elizabethan audience: if man is truly so superior, why does he become sustenance for inferior beings such as maggots and maggots? Clearly the passage from act IV, scene ii serves to develop the theme of man's fragility. The Elizabethan audience is introduced to the familiar idea of ​​the Great Chain of Being, but suddenly the superiority of mankind is called into question while man's undeniable weakness is highlighted. As powerful as this quote is on its own, it serves a much greater purpose as part of the work. It resonates with other sections that deal with the same theme, an example being when Hamlet asks, “What is a man/If his chief good and the market of his time/Being but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more." While these other sections may not address the Great Chain of Being as the first speech did, they are connected to the first speech through the same theme of weaknesses that... middle of paper... een aspect and reality that Shakespeare was establishing throughout Hamlet and not just in this scene; for example, how Hamlet seemed mad with grief and yet was actually planning to execute his revenge or how Claudius pushed Laertes to kill Hamlet not so much because Claudius was grieving over Polonius' death, but because Hamlet knew the truth about Hamlet Senior's murder . Clearly, these other examples in Hamlet that also developed the theme of appearance versus reality would have been emphasized through their association with the passage that questioned the appearance and reality of the structure of the Great Chain of Being. Therefore, by targeting his audience, Shakespeare successfully developed the theme of appearance versus reality that the audience perceived in Hamlet. However, Shakespeare continued to use this technique to influence the interpretation of the final theme of his play.