Ears+and+Hearing

"Let us once again assail your ears, / That are so fortified against our story" - Barnardo (1.1.37-38) First direct mention of ears and hearing, and immediately sets this motif up as not only being one of listening, but also one of not always believing what is heard.

When the rooster crowed, the ghost "started like a guilty thing" (1.1.163), reflecting the importance of hearing in causing action: the ghost hearing the rooster presumably made the ghost disappear.

Old Norway "scarcely hears / Of this his nephew's purpose" (1.2.29-30). Hearing is used to mean knowing/understanding, showing yet another use of this word in the play.

Hamlet: "For God's love, let me hear!" (1.2.205). Hamlet wants to hear about Horatio having seem Hamlet Sr. This shows how Hamlet initially thinks of what he hears as incredibly important, and a valid source of information and truth.

Laertes to Ophelia: "If with to credent ear you list his songs (...) Fear it, Ophelia" (1.3.33-37). Laertes brings up the point that Ophelia should not always believe what she hears from Hamlet about his love for hear. This reinforces the idea that hearing, although characters have a tendency to take what they hear for truth, can in reality often be a source of deception and lies.

Polonius to Laertes: "Give every man they ear, but few thy voice" (1.3.74). Polonius stresses the importance of hearing as a means of gathering information and learning, which is also very ironic as he is incredibly talkative and sees himself as much wiser than others around him.

Horatio uses hearing bells tolling as a way of telling what time it is: "Indeed, I heard it not (1.4.6), again bringing up the importance of hearing as a means of gathering information and obtaining truth.

Before the king arrives in act 1, scene 4, "//A flourish of trumpets and two pieces goes off//." This auditory imagery (which would be real to the people in the audience) again brings up the issue of whether everything that the characters hear is real, as in reality there were no trumpets or other instruments to make these sounds.

Hamlet is the only character who can hear the ghost. This is another example of the issue of whether hearing is always a source of truth, or whether what the characters believe that they hear is even real.

Hamlet Sr. is killed by poison poured into his ear by Claudius. This method or murder may also be a metaphor for the lies, which are as terrible as poison, that Claudius told to Hamlet, and which he has been putting into the rest of Denmark's ear as well.

Hamlet, Horatio, and the rest hear the ghost after he has disappeared; this is the only case of anyone besides Hamlet hearing the ghost and again brings up the question of how much of what Hamlet hears is real.

Polonius' proposed method of spying on people relies heavily on hearing in that Reynaldo must say that he heard bad things about Laertes. Although Reynaldo does not directly hear Laertes doing these things, the fact that he says he heard about them once again raises the question of whether what the characters hear is true or not.

Claudius: "That do I long to hear" (2.2.53). This line is said by the king about wanting to find out the cause of Hamlet's strange behaviour. This line also shows that even the king, who is spreading many lies, is still inclined to believe what he hears from others.

Polonius: "I'll loose my daughter to him (...) Be you and I behind an arras then" (2.2.176-177). Polonius's plan for him and the king to hide and listen to what Hamlet says to Ophelia is an excellent example of how the motifs of ears/hearing and spying are often used in conjunction in the play. In addition, Polonius and the King will once again trust what they hear to bring them the truth. I also just realized that the one time a character uses a different sense (sight) to obtain truth it actually works: Hamlet watching Claudius at the play. However, when characters use hearing, they often come to the wrong conclusion.

In act 2 scene 2, Hamlet cries from hearing the speech given by one of the players: "he has not turned his color and / has tears in 's eyes" (2.2.545-546). Once again, this shows how profoundly Hamlet can be affected by what he hears.

Hamlet expects the play to show whether Claudius is guilty; Hamlet assumes that Claudius will be as influenced by what he hears as Hamlet is.

Hamlet: "He would drown the stage in tears / and cleave the general ear with horrid speech" (2.2.589-590). Hamlet compares hearing something dreadful to actual pain of the ear, once again reflecting how much of an effect what Hamlet hears has on how he feels. These lines are also reminiscent of that recited by the player earlier, in which Ilium "//takes prisoner Pyrrhus' ear//" (2.2.500). Hamlet also says that a player with his passion would "Confound the ignorant and amaze indeed / The very faculties of eyes and ears" (2.2.592-593). These lines show how both senses need to work in conjunction in order to gain a real effect, unlike in most of the play where characters rely only on one sense to find truth.