It is common knowledge that the weather can have a significant impact on people’s psychological state, affecting both emotions and actions. In both William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Albert Camus’ The Outsider, the author employs setting to convey the underlying mood of the scene. By describing the night as “bitter” (I,I,8) and “cold” (I,I,8), Shakespeare no longer needs the characters to explicitly state how they feel; readers can easily infer that the characters are “sick at heart” (I,I,9) from the dreary atmosphere. Next, by using the same technique in the following scene, Shakespeare juxtaposes the bleak setting and mood of the night watch to the bright mood of the court scene. Despite saying that they feel “dirge” (I,II,12) and “sorrow”
