The Ear and Eye Motif in Hamlet by William Shakespeare

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Listening and observing come naturally to most of us. Most people don’t think well to confirm something I heard I must see it or vise versa. That is the problem characters in Hamlet run into when trying reason out the issues they have. The ear and eye motif in Hamlet by William Shakespeare make up a prominent part in the play. Hamlet suggests that the information received by the ear or eye alone can lead to unwanted outcomes (Anderson). The simultaneous use of the ear and the eye must exist for the success of reason because alone they don't provide sufficient information for Hamlet, Gertrude and the people of Denmark.
Hamlet encounters several problems when only relying on either the eye or ear alone. When he hears a noise behind a curtain in scene three he automatically assumes it is Claudius because the voice says he is going to help Gertrude. "What’s this, a rat? I’ll bet a buck he’s a dead rat now" (III.iv.24) and Hamlet stabs Polonius. Hamlet was calm and happy when he thought he killed Claudius but Gertrude discloses it is not Claudius he killed, it was Polonius. Hamlet felt great guilt after acting impulsively when hearing a voice that he assumed to be Claudius. Hamlet is so upset and then reveals to the Queen that Claudius is the one who killed his father. Claudius killed King Hamlet by pouring poison into his ear. This is very significant because King Hamlet’s actual ear was poisoned which goes alone with the notable motif.
Moreover, Hamlet is mad or so he seems to be. By looking at Hamlet and all his actions everyone is convinced he has gone mad. His mood changes a lot throughout the play, he speaks "wild and whirling words" (I.v.127-134) when he found our about his father’s death, has violet outbursts towards his mothe...

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...o Claudius and he admitted to killing King Hamlet. A brother’s murder, Claudius says, is the oldest sin and “hath the primal eldest curse upon’t” (III.iii.37). Thus, the eye and ear did not have to work simultaneously for Hamlet to prove Claudius to be guilty.
The eye and ear reference in Hamlet appears over 150 times in the play, which illustrates how important this motif is (Anderson). The eye and ear alone provide problems for Hamlet, Gertrude and the people of Denmark since they don’t get sufficient information from them. As a result, Hamlet kills Polonius and from the outside Hamlet appears to be mad. Also, Gertrude is blind to the death of King Hamlet and the people of Denmark trust their king even though they do not know a lot about him. Ultimately, using both the ear and eye for the characters in Hamlet resulted in a greater outcome than being used alone.

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