ABSTRACT
HAMLET’S conduct in having put the king to death was, in a great measure, already justified in the very hearing of the lords and other attendants upon the court who were witnesses to it. The queen, who had just expired in their sight, had said she was ‘poisoned.’ [5.2.310] HAMLET had called out ‘villany!’ [311] Even LAERTES, the treacherous opponent of HAMLET, had declared ‘the king, the king’s to blame-It is a poison tempered by himself.’
