Hamlet and Laertes, Ophelia’s brother, mortally wound each other in a duel. Meanwhile, the queen has died from poison the king had intended for Hamlet. In the play, Hamlet kills Claudius before dying himself, but this is omitted in Delacroix’s version. The action returns to the castle state room where it began. The actors now are precariously arranged along a descending diagonal, symbolizing the collapse of the ruling family.