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Leave it to Shakespeare to write a play about ears. They’re everywhere in Hamlet. Hamlet’s father is killed when Claudius pours poison in his ears. (Disgusting.) And the other characters in Hamlet can’t stop talking about ears (or hearing) either. (Weird.) But listen up, because Shakespeare has a point to make. You’ll find out what it is when you watch this Recap.

Video Transcription:

I’m sorry. Did you say something?

No?

I guess all this talk about ears and hearing has me … um … hearing things.

Anyway, I’m hoping you’ll hear me out on this motif … so stay with me.

If you watched Recap 5, you know that Hamlet is a guy who’s obsessed with finding out the truth. Ironically, he spends most of the play interacting with characters who are intent on deceiving him.

Perhaps this helps explain the motif of ears and hearing that appears throughout this play.

Think about it. How do we find certainty? Through words, right? Through language.

But while language can help us get at the truth, it can also be used to distort or obscure the truth.

That’s where Claudius comes in. He distorts the truth to manipulate others and to gain power.

Shakespeare made the connection pretty obvious when he had Claudius kill King Hamlet by pouring poison in the king’s ears. And the corrosive effects of the poison on the king represents the way Claudius’s dishonesty is literally eating away at the health of Denmark.

In other words, any time Shakespeare makes a reference to ears or hearing in this play, listen up. He wants you to remember that truth is hard to come by, and that words can be our friends—or our enemies.