Question

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, what plot events undermine Queen Gertrude’s confidence?

Ophelia and Hamlet’s flirtations
Hamlet’s and Laertes’s accusations
Laertes’s and Hamlet’s departures from Denmark
Claudius and Laertes’s discussions about revenge

Answer 1

Hamlet’s and Laertes’s accusations.

Hamlet’s fierce denunciation in the closet scene (accusing her of adultery and moral corruption) directly shatters her confidence; Laertes’s furious accusations when he returns (blaming the court for Polonius’s death and Ophelia’s fall) deepen the sense of scandal and instability surrounding her.