Ophelia stops dancing long enough to sit and divide her flowers with Laertes, but continues to babble and sing...

...until she touches briefly on reality and collapses into grief shortly before fleeing the area.

Laertes is determined to get vengeance; the King does not discourage him, but urges him to be sure he has the guilty party.

Horatio, meanwhile, has gotten a letter from Hamlet saying that he is bound for home with much to tell.

Laertes now believes Hamlet to be responsible for all. When they get word that he is alive and returning, Laertes and Claudius plot Hamlet's death.

As they are speaking, Gertrude appears in tears...

...with the news that Ophelia has been found drowned in the river.

The gravediggers provide the only humor at this point with their discussions on suicide and the worth of their trade.

Horatio and Hamlet steal into the graveyard, hearing the digger singing. He won't give them a straight answer about whose grave it is, and has unearthed a couple of skulls.

One, he is told, is the skull of Yorick; a jester whom Hamlet remembers fondly.

As the funeral party arrives, Hamlet hears the queen weep the name of Ophelia. Laertes curses Hamlet for his misdeeds...

...at which point Hamlet leaps from hiding and demands he explain himself. The two men fight until the guards intercede at the Queen's request.