Physical place is subordinate to the narrator's mental landscape in "The Mark on the Wall." Much of the 'setting' is actually generated by the narrator's imagination and Woolf's use of imagery, as in the quote below:
They are not thoughts directly praising oneself; that is the beauty of them; they are thoughts like this;
'And then I came into the room. They were discussing botany. I said how I'd seen a flower growing on a dust heap on the site of an old house in Kingsway.'
The narrator, Woolf implies, is not literally entering another room, but rather imagines that scenario. This imagined landscape is more a part of the setting than the narrator's physical surroundings, which comprise the chair she sits in, a room, and a mark on the wall. Given that "The Mark on the Wall" is a psychological drama, with the brunt of the conflict and tension occurring within the narrator's mind, it is appropriate that the setting remains predominantly imaginary.
Historical context contributes more prominently to setting in "The Mark on the Wall" than the narrator's immediate surroundings. Current events on a broad cultural scale play a huge role in determining the narrator's internal conflict: England's involvement in World War I (1914–1918) weighs heavily on the narrator's mind and influences the trajectory of her thoughts.
