In a court of law, William Shakespeare's Hamlet will be used as a transcript to determine Prince Hamlet's fate as he is responsible for Polonius' death. With the mask of madness, Hamlet is aware of his actions as he kills Polonius with his evil intentions towards King Claudius. Furthermore, since Hamlet is in an intense state of emotion during his confrontation with Queen Gertrude, he intentionally kills Polonius upon adequate provocation which results in voluntary manslaughter. However, by pursuing King Claudius, Hamlet endangers himself and those close to him while relentlessly involving others in his dangerous pursuit. Legally, Hamlet is declared sane when he kills Polonius and will be convicted of manslaughter. With this belief, Hamlet will serve time in prison as he poses a threat to himself and others close to him due to his malicious intent and actions to kill King Claudius. To determine Hamlet's sanity, there must be a connection between Hamlet's mind actions and the elements of M'Naughten's test. Under such circumstances, Hamlet's results declare him sane as he does not meet the requirements of the M'Naughten test. According to Samaha, the M'Naughten test defines insanity as a mental illness affecting one's ability to reason which impairs the defendant's ability to know both the nature and quality of his acts and the difference between morally right and wrong (277 ). However, a mental illness does not affect Hamlet's reasoning, as it was due to the circumstances he found himself in. These circumstances initially include the death of King Hamlet and the marriage between King Claudius and Queen Gertrude, but later contain the deaths of others and... .... middle of paper ......rrod. Emotions and guilt: How the law conflicts with psychology, jurors, and itself. Washington: American Psychological Association, 2006. Print.Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth and Kessler, David A. On Grief and Bereavement: Finding the Meaning of Grief through the Five Stages. New York: Scribner, 2005. Print.Posner, Richard A. Law and Literature. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009. Print.Prosser, Eleanor. Hamlet and revenge. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1967. Print.Samaha, Joel. Criminal law. California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2002. Print.Scofield, Martin. Hamlet's Ghosts: Modern Drama and Writers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980. Print.Trial of Hamlet. Boston University, Huntington Theater Company, Boston Bar Association. 1996. VideoWard, Ian. Shakespeare and the legal imagination. London: Butterworths, 1999. Print.