Ear in the Scene of Murder
Old Hamlet reveals in his meeting with young Hamlet that Claudius had murdered him and that the passageway of poison to the body of old Hamlet was the ear. Why the ear in particular? Considering several meanings of the word ear at different times gives hints to the reason. By choosing the ear as way of delivering the poison, irony is created while heightening the visual effect.
First, one example of the word ear being used to mean the “organ of hearing” is when Hamlet meets Horatio who comes to tell Hamlet of the appearance of the ghost of Hamlet’s dead father (OED, 2nd ed., s.v. “ear,” I). Hamlet says, “I would not hear your enemy say so, / Nor shall you do my ear that violence / To make it truster of your own report / Against yourself” (I.ii.170-3). But even here, when the violence is verbal violence, it eerily foreshadows, or is reminiscent of, the violence done to old Hamlet’s ear.
One way to consider the reason for having Claudius deliver poison through the ear is in the outcome the poisoning has. The Ghost delivers to Hamlet the circumstance of his murder.
Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole
With juice of cursed hebona in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment. (I.v.59-4)
In the OED, one of the definitions of ear is “to be free from anxiety” when it is used in phrases such as “to be able to sleep on both ears” (OED, 2nd ed., s.v. “ear,” 2e). Ironically, it is when old Hamlet is taking a nap in the orchard, his “secure hour” “free from anxiety” that he is poisoned. In one sense death would free one from anxiety for eternity but in the play, what the old Hamlet loses are his life, crown, and queen. Only more anxiety is produced by the murder and demand for revenge. Another meaning of ear is “one of the auricles of the heart”—it is not so absurd that Claudius poisons old Hamlet through the ear then (OED, 2nd ed., s.v. “ear,” 7). Claudius gets right at the heart by pouring poison through the ear both in the method and figuratively.
A second way to consider the reason for the use of ear is on a theatrical and visual level (if not when the Ghost tells the story, then when the play within the play is carried out). The word ear can also be used to refer to “the handle of a pitcher or drinking vessel” (OED, 2nd ed., s.v. “ear,” 8a). In other words, the handle of the medium from which Claudius carried and poured the poison into the old Hamlet’s ear. A resemblance in the shape of the handle and the ear will have a visual effect as the handle gets closer to the ear as Claudius pours the poison. Another effect is when the Ghost describes his process of death: “So did it mine, / And a most instant tetter barked about / Most lazardlike with vile and loathsome crust / All my smooth body” (I.v.70-3). The poison, having spread throughout the body, causes blood to gush out and cover his body. Interestingly, another meaning of ear is “to plough, till; also, turn up (the ground), to throw up (an object) with a plough” (OED, 2nd ed., s.v. “ear”). The poison ears the blood within old Hamlet’s body.