In Shakespeare's Hamlet, Polonius provides a simple explanation of madness, stating that "to define true madness, what is it to be nothing but mad?" Such a diagnosis is necessary in the Danish court, where the perspective of reality shared by the courtiers cannot accommodate Hamlet's reactions to a starkly different reality. The entire world is caught up in an enormous farce of nobility and honor created to shield its players from the cruel reality of their circumstances and protect them from the schism between emotion and expectation. It is Hamlet's inability to act and his intolerance towards actors that leads to him being labeled mad. Likewise, he is unable to avenge his father's murder because he knows that to do so would simply mean playing his role in a meaningless drama in which the actors lie about their parts. Not only is the society he lives in artificial, but the terrible sins he knows have occurred have made his view of reality completely devoid of justice and salvation. While madness is usually thought of as the inability of the individual to accept reality or society, Hamlet's madness is instead the reaction of an acutely sane mind to a society that cannot accept reality and to a reality that it is essentially imperfect. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Hamlet's position can be better understood when viewed in the light of his opposite, Laertes. Both men's fathers were killed. Hamlet had a loving relationship with his father, seeing him as a God among men. Instead of using the knowledge of his father's murder as an opportunity for revenge, the information only makes his situation worse. As he acknowledges his duty to the deceased king, he declares, "The time is out of order. O cursed spite, if ever I were born to set things right." (1.5.188) The truth does not give Hamlet clarity and conviction about the path he should take, but it casts a shadow of doubt on the idea that anything he can do will set the universe right. Likewise, he declares, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than your philosophy dreams of.” (1.5.166-168) The terrible sins he encountered cast a shadow over a world that would birth them and consequently sucked the meaning out of life. Laertes, on the other hand, reacts to pain in exactly the way one would expect in Danish society. He is completely unaware of everything except the social context of the events that have occurred, and disguises his cold-blooded plot to kill Hamlet using deception with the façade of honor and a fair duel in which he even gives Hamlet a handicap. Perhaps the most ironic aspect of the duel is that, although it results in the deaths of nearly all of the main characters, it is never considered anything other than a "game." Before he begins, Hamlet states that he will "play this brother's wager frankly." (5.2.253) All the stage directions indicate that Laertes and Hamlet "play." (5.2) They never actually fight, even if they play to the death. In this way, Danish nobles die like actors recreating a duel, not like people who live and die. By commissioning players to re-enact his reality, Hamlet adds both an element of realism to the play and perspective on his situation. The play performed at the court of Denmark is one in which the universe did not go so terribly awry. In The Murder of Priam and the Mousetrap, the act of revenge and the notion of justice and morality retain a certain value and meaning because the universe in which they take place was created and enhanced by the playwright and the actors. Consequently, the contrast.