“Mrs. Packletide’s Tiger” is set in an unnamed village in India and London during the Edwardian era of English history (1901-1910). During this time period, England was undergoing rapid industrialization and, as a result, saw heightened class divisions alongside a loosening of codes of conduct. Middle- and upper-class women, for example, found themselves more able to explore spheres of life typically reserved for men as their society became more modernized. In “Mrs. Packletide’s Tiger,” the wealthy Mrs. Packletide comfortably steps into the traditionally masculine role of hunter, and her employee Louisa Mebbin ends up buying a house for herself (also not typical behavior for women in the past). Neither of these women—nor the third female character, Loona Bimberton—seem invested in the traditionally feminine roles of wife or mother.
Also important to the setting of the story is the fact that, at this time in history, India was under England’s colonial rule. Saki presents Mrs. Packletide as completely comfortable with traveling to India and using her money to manipulate the local Indian villagers into doing what she desires (specifically, finding her a tiger she can easily kill). This is Saki’s way of highlighting the entitlement of English upper-class people and how they treated the people of colonized nations as inferior to them. In this way, Mrs. Packletide’s relationship with the local villagers is symbolic of England’s exploitative relationship with India more broadly.
