Laertes (Hamlet) match begins, Hamlet apologises publicly to Laertes for the wrongs he has dealt him. Laertes accepts the apology, so he says, but he proceeds with the scheme to kill Hamlet (though after Gertrude drinks the poisoned drink he expresses having an attack of conscience). Hamlet is eventually wounded with the poisoned sword. Then, in a scuffle, the swords are switched. Hamlet wounds Laertes with his own poisoned blade, and Laertes then falls as well. Only then does he truly seem to feel guilty, for he tells Osric he has been "justly killed" with his own treachery. As he lies dying,
Hamlet (Thomas) Hamlet! Long live the King!" and the opera ends. A shorter version of the Finale, in which Hamlet dies, and the Ghost does not appear, is called "le dénouement du Theâtre de Covent Garden" ("the ending for Covent Garden"). Thomas may have written it in the belief that the English would not accept an adaptation in which Hamlet lives. There is no evidence, however, that it was performed in Thomas's lifetime, either at Covent Garden or anywhere else. It appears in some German vocal scores and is included as an appendix to the recording with Thomas Hampson as Hamlet. There