,]
The Treacherous Instrument is in thy hand, [Sidenote: in my]
Vnbated and envenom'd: the foule practise[4]
Hath turn'd it selfe on me. Loe, heere I lye,
Neuer to rise againe: Thy Mothers poyson'd:
I can no more, the King, the King's too blame.[5]

_Ham_. The point envenom'd too,
Then venome to thy worke.[6]
_Hurts the King._[7]

_All_. Treason, Treason.

_King_. O yet defend me Friends, I am but hurt.

_Ham_. Heere thou incestuous, murdrous,
[Sidenote: Heare thou incestious damned Dane,]
Damned Dane,
Drinke off this Potion: Is thy Vnion heere?
[Sidenote: of this | is the Onixe heere?]
Follow my Mother.[8] _King Dyes._[9]

_Laer_. He is iustly seru'd.
It is a poyson temp'red by himselfe:
Exchange forgiuenesse with me, Noble _Hamlet_;
Mine and my Fathers death come not vpon thee,
Nor thine on me.[10] _Dyes._[11]

_Ham_. Heauen make thee free of it,[12] I follow thee.
I am dead _Horatio_, wretched Queene adiew.
You that looke pale, and tremble at this chance,
That are but Mutes[13] or audience to this acte:
Had I but time (as this fell Sergeant death
Is strick'd in his Arrest) oh I could tell you. [Sidenote: strict]

[Footnote 1: The thing must be ended now. The door must be locked, to
keep all in that are in, and all out that are out. Then he can do as he
will.]

[Footnote 2: --laying his hand on his heart, I think.]

[Footnote 3: In Q. _Hamlet_ only once.]

[Footnote 4: _scheme, artifice, deceitful contrivance_; in modern slang,
_dodge_.]

[Footnote 5: He turns on the prompter of his sin--crowning the justice
of the king's capital punishment.]

[Footnote 6: _Point_: 'too!'

_1st Q._ Then venome to thy venome, die damn'd villaine.]

[Footnote 7: _Not in Quarto._

The true moment, now only, has at last come. Hamlet has lived to do his
duty with a clear conscience, and is thereupon permitted to go. The man
who asks whether this be poetic justice or no, is unworthy of an answer.
'The Tragedie of Hamlet' is _The Drama of Moral Perplexity_.]

[Footnote 8: A grim play on the word _Union: 'follow my mother_'. It
suggests a terrible meeting below.]

[Footnote 9: _Not in Quarto._]

[Footnote 10: His better nature triumphs. The moment he was wounded,
knowing he must die, he began to change. Defeat is a mighty aid to
repentance; and processes grow rapid in the presence of Death