The setting is defined by the origins of the tale which are to be found in Saxo Grammaticus's Historia Danica, but I think also that it is important because it buttresses the feeling of dissension.
We must not forget that the king used to represent the divine authority on earth. Thus, his castle is the throne of that power. Being what it is, that place must remain pure, never to be corrupted or stained. Nevertheless it becomes the theatre of murders, poisoning, betrayal and the very place reeks of corruption, symbolized by Polonius's hidden body.
Thus, the "throne of power" is totally disrupted, it loses its sanctity and is corrupted. The result is the spreading of an atmosphere of anarchy everywhere in the kingdom (remember the war taking place) that goes hand in hand with Hamlet's apparent insanity and the anarchy swaying his mind.
To put it in other words, if the royal castle is corrupted and disturbed, so is the whole country. And this overwhelming insanity intensifies the effect of the madness of Hamlet on the reader. By the way, Hamlet is the one who is supposed to bring back traditional order, yet he is in chaos over traditional order as it conflicts with the new order he learned in Wittenberg, and we have to wait for another, a traditional saviour at the end of the play.
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