Mr. Sullivan, my 12th grade English teacher, made us dress up in Burger King crowns and sword fight with paper towel tubes to make sense of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Here at the American School in Guadalajara we are going to use the internet instead. In the posts below, follow us as we seek to understand why this really is the greatest play in the English language.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
II, 2
To what extent do parents have the right to “spy” or check up on their children?What circumstance might allow or prevent this?Do Claudius and Gertrude have the right to spy on Hamlet?
Parents usually have the best interests for their children, and if suicide is a posibility, parents have the right to spy. On the other hand, Claudius is not Hamlets father, nor does he truly have Hamlet's best interest in mind. Gertrude loves her son and wants Hamlet to be happy, any mother would cross lines to save their child.
I don't think parents have any right to spy on their children no matter what circumstances. Their children are independent individuals and if they choose to become suicidal or weird, they should be just left alone because in the first place, the child is not asking for help. And yes, they gave birth to us, financed our education, provided us food, and shelter. But that does not guarantee any right to them to butt into our business because first of all, we never asked the favor to be born to them.
I don't think Gertrude and Claudius have the right to spy on Hamlet because he is an adult and has the right to act crazy.
Depends in the circumstances that the family is in. Though, I strongly believe that there are a thousand ways to understand and participate in your children's life dilemmas. Spying will not only show a bad example from the parents to their children but also, will fail to compromise the trustworthiness between the family. Whatever the circumstance, everyone needs someone to confide to, if the parents show their children that they can be those people then, no spying will ever be necessary.
First of all, I must admit, I strongly dislike Claudius so therefore, I will not even mention his character. Though if Gertrude acted more like the mother she is rather than just this new king's wife then, she probably wouldn't have to spy on Hamlet in order to understand his pain.
No! I don't think parents should ever spy on their children. I'm sure they have their children's best interests at heart and want to help them, but spying is just the wrong way to go about it. Having to resort to spying is a sign that the parent is not doing an aspect of their job well. Children should be able to trust their parents and confide in them. In my personal experience, if a child is keeping secrets, it is because they fear their parents' reactions and would rather not "stir the pot" to say. Furthermore, any information parents may glean from spying can easily be mis-interpreted. For example: reading a child's diary. Nobody ever writes in their diary when they're feeling calm and cheerful. Nobody ever writes "Today I ate pizza and saw a movie.. I'm happy." You write in your diary only when: 1. You've done something incredibly stupid 2. You're angry 3. You're depressed So a sample entry might go "I hate everything and I just *insert foolish action here* and I want to run away". A parent might read this and think that their kid is crazy and overreact, when in reality this is not representational of the kid's daily life.
No, Cladius and Gertrude do not have the right to spy on Hamlet. If they were really concerned about his welfare, they would be able to figure out the likely causes of his insanity pretty quickly. When he tried to tell them about his grief, his uncle brushed him off. Were his mother more, "motherly" as Carolina said, she and Hamlet might have a closer realationship. Not only would she have to wonder why he's so upset, but maybe it would occur to her to talk directly to Hamlet. If he felt able to confide in her, he could reveal the real reasons he is upset (the murder and marriage) and they could work it out. Instead, she assumes its love-sickness and resorts to spying.
As a daughter I worship and love my privacy and hate my mom spying on me but if i try to put myself in my mom's shoes spying on one's child is not that crazy or mean.
I mean Hamlet is like next in line to the throne Gertrude has all the right in the world to be worried about Hamlets sanity and to try to figure out what troubles him.
Plus I do not think the measures taken by the king and queen are precisely spying.
I think there is no way to prevent a parent from wanting to know about their offspring's life and troubles, its just parental nature and i hope one day i can understand this by experience.
I think its inevitable that parents spy on their children. If they think something suspicious is happening they will want to know what it is and why it is happening. It is their nature, they care about their children. I don't think Claudius has any right to spy on Hamlet, he is not his father. Gertrude yes because she is his mother and she is preocupied about his son. If there is something strange going on I believe they have the right to spy. There is no way of making a parent not care about his/her child. If they love the kid they will care and do whatever they think necesary to protect them. And agreeing with Alexa, the only way of understanding why they do it is when you have your own children and understand what that parental nature is.
"...yes, they gave birth to us, financed our education, provided us food, and shelter. But that does not guarantee any right to them to butt into our business because first of all, we never asked the favor to be born to them."
jajajaja that's just hilarious
Plus, although I wouldn't exactly phrase it like that, I do agree with the fact that parents spying on their children is just WRONG.
Instead of wasting time spying on their kids, they should be focusing on building a better relationship with them!
Under no circumstances is it ok for parents to "spy" on their kids. Not to say that parents should stop worrying about their children. On the contary, it is their duty to be supportive whenever their kids ask them for help, or even to be insistent in trying to figure out if there is something wrong with them. But not spying. Specially becasue in the end spying is like torture: you might get some information, but it probably won't be reliable.
Therefore, I don't think Claudius and Gertrude have the right to spy on Hamlet. Mostly because Hamlet is a grown man who should be allowed to make his own decisions, but also because thay don't know about the thoughts and feelings that accompany his actions. So by spying on him, all they will gather will be a sereies of defective facts.
Overall I believe that parents have the right to spy on their children. However this doesnt mean that I think that it is right that they do it. I believe that in any kind of relationship trust is the most important element and when it is missing, sooner or later the relationship will fail. Conclusively I believe that parenmts should not spy on their children because they should trust them. We only spy those who we do not trust so Gertrude and the King "theoretically" should not spy on Hamlet. UNLESS of course they have something to hide from him and therefore that causes them to not trust him... That might be some foreshadowing by the way...
I believe that to start with, parents should NOT have the right to spy their children. They are living their life as teenagers or whatever age they are and have their personal and private things as well as everybody else, and manytimes it is better for everyone that the parents do not know about it. However, in special circumstances of extreeme situations, parents should be allowed to spy their children. This situations should be ones such as suicide, weird behavior of abnormal actions. Personally, I try to keep my personall issues and things very private from my parents because I know they are very curious of everything that goes on in my life. Claudius and Gertrude do have the right to spy on Hamlet beacuse it is a special case. Hamlet is acting very weirdly and they are worried and want to find out what has gone into him, what is the problem.
Thank you, maite lina and mariajose, parents, under NO circumstance, should spy on their children. I think it is one of the worst things a parent could ever do to a child...
because of personal experience i know that spying on your children is not only wrong but a bad decision.. for example in my cas,e i dont know what my mom expects to find... but at least once every week she literally goes through all my room, closet, inside of shoes, pockets in jackets, bags, underneath the matress, etc and just "esculca" everything... its soooo frustrating worst part is, she never finds anything and im the only one form the 3 that she does that too.. also my school bag, agenda, phone: messages, calls, etc; and even messenger, she looks at everything.... she opened a facebook account to look at my friends and pictures.... and what has this cause!? me lying about where and with whom im going, where im staying at sometimes and what im doing, did or will do. its not like im doing anything (really) wrong...but as lina said, its better for them not to know than for them to overreact and stuff. so instead of going to my mom when ive got a problem i have to like deal with it on my own... so it just makes the situation worse.
To an extend, parents should definitely have a right to spy on their children especially when their behavior has proven to create mistrust between parent and child. However, if the child shows responsibility and earns the value of being trusted, parents should be able to allow privacy and most importanly: trust. This is up to the child in showing his or her parents how well he or she can be trusted.
I think Hamlet is acting very very strange to both Claudius and Gertrude and they are only worried about his behavior. They are in all their right to be checking on Hamlet because Hamlet is not showing a responsible behavior. Giselle
I definitely agree with Giselle in that parents should not spy on their children if and only if the children have gained their trust, and feel that if in any way the parents do not completely trust the child they should be allowed and have the right to spy on said child. Additionally, I feel it should only be for the correct motive, that is one that is for the child's best interest.
The thing about Gertrude and Claudius is that, at the moment, I feel Gertrude has the right to spy on him but Claudius does not, as I think that Gertrude probably has the correct motives for doing it (she cares about Hamlet) but Claudius probably has a more selfish end in mind and thus has no right to spy on Hamlet.
Hmm... parents spying on their children... I think that parents shouldn´t have the need to spy on us, specially if we have proven to be well behaved and caring. It has to do with responsibility from both the parents and the child. I know that my parents would just loooove to know every single detail about my life, but I know it´s just because they love me and care about me. At the same time, I think that parents should, well... "spy", on their child if he or she is acting abnormally and in a negative way- I mean he could be on drugs or something. However I was raised to believe that privacy is key to a succesful relationship, so I do strongly oppose to spying if there is not a reason to believe something is wrong.
I believe that Gertrude and Claudius have the right to spy on Hamlet, because as I already said, he is acting in a preoccupying way. Although I do believe that a simple mother-son conversation could help a bit.
I would hate the idea of being spyed on. I could not say anyhthing though, I usually tell my parents where I am or who I'm with, but my conversations are always half-truths. I don't really know what it would be like to be able to tell anything to your parents, that's a creepy idea. Besides, I think that everyone should make its own decisions and errors, so I don't see the point on a parent spying on a child. I think that parents' role is to teach you to make your own aspirations and limitations, but once this is done, its up to the person to decide for him/herself how he/she wants to live.
I find Claudius and Gertrude's "spying" amusing. Mostly because they won't get any important information. But I don't think it's right, Claudius does not seem to care too heartly of Hamlet and Gertrude is only trying to find information this way because Claudius thought it would be a good idea. I'm sure that if the idea was not presented, she would have tried to talk to Hamlet about what was upsetting him.
Parents do have a right to spy on their children as long as it is in their best interest. Only certain situations such as "instanity" do allow for spying. Yes Claudius and Gertrude do have the right because of their honestly belief in Hamlet's insanity.
maria jose celis i don't believe parents have any right to spy on their children or they should not need to spy on their children (as astrid mentioned). Children must trust their parents and vise versa and for that communication and honesty between them is necessary. Without these to elements parents tend to grow suspicious and eventually try to watch every step their children take even if it is not the right action to take. I don't believe Gertrude and the King have any right to spy on Hamlet even if he is acting a little bit crazy. Hamlet's crazy atittude has not appeared to be dangerous to no one.
I strongly believe that parents have the right to spy on their children if danger is present or if the child is not responsible and is apt to make wrong choices. However, with modern technology spying on children has gone way overboard. With your parents having you as a friend on facebook or putting a GPS on your cellphone, parents have crossed the limit and are no longer protecting thier children but invading their privacy.
I believe that King had every right to spy on hamlet because hamlet was in a dangerous state and could have harm himslef or another. While the mannar in which it was done was too sneaky, Gertude was simply worried about her son and his rapid change of personality.
Parents ARE NOT allowed to spy on anyone, even if it's their son they are dealing with. Everyone has the right to make their decision and not be judge because of them, not even a parent. We need our personal space, spying on us is not giving us our space.
Gertrude has no right on spying Hamlet. Hamlet is a big boy that can obviosly take care of himself. He doesnt need his step father or mother checking up on him, it is just damaging the relationship with him.
Parents usually have the best interests for their children, and if suicide is a posibility, parents have the right to spy. On the other hand, Claudius is not Hamlets father, nor does he truly have Hamlet's best interest in mind. Gertrude loves her son and wants Hamlet to be happy, any mother would cross lines to save their child.
ReplyDeleteAlex Verlage
I don't think parents have any right to spy on their children no matter what circumstances. Their children are independent individuals and if they choose to become suicidal or weird, they should be just left alone because in the first place, the child is not asking for help. And yes, they gave birth to us, financed our education, provided us food, and shelter. But that does not guarantee any right to them to butt into our business because first of all, we never asked the favor to be born to them.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Gertrude and Claudius have the right to spy on Hamlet because he is an adult and has the right to act crazy.
Sun Young
Depends in the circumstances that the family is in. Though, I strongly believe that there are a thousand ways to understand and participate in your children's life dilemmas. Spying will not only show a bad example from the parents to their children but also, will fail to compromise the trustworthiness between the family. Whatever the circumstance, everyone needs someone to confide to, if the parents show their children that they can be those people then, no spying will ever be necessary.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I must admit, I strongly dislike Claudius so therefore, I will not even mention his character. Though if Gertrude acted more like the mother she is rather than just this new king's wife then, she probably wouldn't have to spy on Hamlet in order to understand his pain.
Carolina Haddad
No!
ReplyDeleteI don't think parents should ever spy on their children. I'm sure they have their children's best interests at heart and want to help them, but spying is just the wrong way to go about it.
Having to resort to spying is a sign that the parent is not doing an aspect of their job well. Children should be able to trust their parents and confide in them. In my personal experience, if a child is keeping secrets, it is because they fear their parents' reactions and would rather not "stir the pot" to say.
Furthermore, any information parents may glean from spying can easily be mis-interpreted. For example: reading a child's diary. Nobody ever writes in their diary when they're feeling calm and cheerful. Nobody ever writes "Today I ate pizza and saw a movie.. I'm happy."
You write in your diary only when:
1. You've done something incredibly stupid
2. You're angry
3. You're depressed
So a sample entry might go "I hate everything and I just *insert foolish action here* and I want to run away". A parent might read this and think that their kid is crazy and overreact, when in reality this is not representational of the kid's daily life.
No, Cladius and Gertrude do not have the right to spy on Hamlet. If they were really concerned about his welfare, they would be able to figure out the likely causes of his insanity pretty quickly. When he tried to tell them about his grief, his uncle brushed him off.
Were his mother more, "motherly" as Carolina said, she and Hamlet might have a closer realationship. Not only would she have to wonder why he's so upset, but maybe it would occur to her to talk directly to Hamlet. If he felt able to confide in her, he could reveal the real reasons he is upset (the murder and marriage) and they could work it out. Instead, she assumes its love-sickness and resorts to spying.
-Lina
Mmmm, tough question....
ReplyDeleteAs a daughter I worship and love my privacy and hate my mom spying on me but if i try to put myself in my mom's shoes spying on one's child is not that crazy or mean.
I mean Hamlet is like next in line to the throne Gertrude has all the right in the world to be worried about Hamlets sanity and to try to figure out what troubles him.
Plus I do not think the measures taken by the king and queen are precisely spying.
I think there is no way to prevent a parent from wanting to know about their offspring's life and troubles, its just parental nature and i hope one day i can understand this by experience.
I think its inevitable that parents spy on their children. If they think something suspicious is happening they will want to know what it is and why it is happening. It is their nature, they care about their children.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Claudius has any right to spy on Hamlet, he is not his father. Gertrude yes because she is his mother and she is preocupied about his son. If there is something strange going on I believe they have the right to spy. There is no way of making a parent not care about his/her child. If they love the kid they will care and do whatever they think necesary to protect them.
And agreeing with Alexa, the only way of understanding why they do it is when you have your own children and understand what that parental nature is.
Macarena
Oh my god! You tell them Sunny:
ReplyDelete"...yes, they gave birth to us, financed our education, provided us food, and shelter. But that does not guarantee any right to them to butt into our business because first of all, we never asked the favor to be born to them."
jajajaja that's just hilarious
Plus, although I wouldn't exactly phrase it like that, I do agree with the fact that parents spying on their children is just WRONG.
Instead of wasting time spying on their kids, they should be focusing on building a better relationship with them!
Under no circumstances is it ok for parents to "spy" on their kids. Not to say that parents should stop worrying about their children. On the contary, it is their duty to be supportive whenever their kids ask them for help, or even to be insistent in trying to figure out if there is something wrong with them. But not spying. Specially becasue in the end spying is like torture: you might get some information, but it probably won't be reliable.
Therefore, I don't think Claudius and Gertrude have the right to spy on Hamlet.
Mostly because Hamlet is a grown man who should be allowed to make his own decisions,
but also because thay don't know about the thoughts and feelings that accompany his actions. So by spying on him, all they will gather will be a sereies of defective facts.
ps: It's funny how Alexa continues to talk about children as "offspring" :P
ReplyDeleteOverall I believe that parents have the right to spy on their children. However this doesnt mean that I think that it is right that they do it. I believe that in any kind of relationship trust is the most important element and when it is missing, sooner or later the relationship will fail. Conclusively I believe that parenmts should not spy on their children because they should trust them. We only spy those who we do not trust so Gertrude and the King "theoretically" should not spy on Hamlet. UNLESS of course they have something to hide from him and therefore that causes them to not trust him... That might be some foreshadowing by the way...
ReplyDeleteI believe that to start with, parents should NOT have the right to spy their children. They are living their life as teenagers or whatever age they are and have their personal and private things as well as everybody else, and manytimes it is better for everyone that the parents do not know about it. However, in special circumstances of extreeme situations, parents should be allowed to spy their children. This situations should be ones such as suicide, weird behavior of abnormal actions. Personally, I try to keep my personall issues and things very private from my parents because I know they are very curious of everything that goes on in my life.
ReplyDeleteClaudius and Gertrude do have the right to spy on Hamlet beacuse it is a special case. Hamlet is acting very weirdly and they are worried and want to find out what has gone into him, what is the problem.
Maria Jose Fernandez
Thank you, maite lina and mariajose, parents, under NO circumstance, should spy on their children. I think it is one of the worst things a parent could ever do to a child...
ReplyDeletebecause of personal experience i know that spying on your children is not only wrong but a bad decision.. for example in my cas,e i dont know what my mom expects to find... but at least once every week she literally goes through all my room, closet, inside of shoes, pockets in jackets, bags, underneath the matress, etc and just "esculca" everything... its soooo frustrating worst part is, she never finds anything and im the only one form the 3 that she does that too.. also my school bag, agenda, phone: messages, calls, etc; and even messenger, she looks at everything.... she opened a facebook account to look at my friends and pictures.... and what has this cause!? me lying about where and with whom im going, where im staying at sometimes and what im doing, did or will do. its not like im doing anything (really) wrong...but as lina said, its better for them not to know than for them to overreact and stuff. so instead of going to my mom when ive got a problem i have to like deal with it on my own... so it just makes the situation worse.
so no, thhey shouldnt be spying on hamlet.
To an extend, parents should definitely have a right to spy on their children especially when their behavior has proven to create mistrust between parent and child. However, if the child shows responsibility and earns the value of being trusted, parents should be able to allow privacy and most importanly: trust. This is up to the child in showing his or her parents how well he or she can be trusted.
ReplyDeleteI think Hamlet is acting very very strange to both Claudius and Gertrude and they are only worried about his behavior. They are in all their right to be checking on Hamlet because Hamlet is not showing a responsible behavior.
Giselle
I definitely agree with Giselle in that parents should not spy on their children if and only if the children have gained their trust, and feel that if in any way the parents do not completely trust the child they should be allowed and have the right to spy on said child. Additionally, I feel it should only be for the correct motive, that is one that is for the child's best interest.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about Gertrude and Claudius is that, at the moment, I feel Gertrude has the right to spy on him but Claudius does not, as I think that Gertrude probably has the correct motives for doing it (she cares about Hamlet) but Claudius probably has a more selfish end in mind and thus has no right to spy on Hamlet.
Carlos Sisniega
Hmm... parents spying on their children...
ReplyDeleteI think that parents shouldn´t have the need to spy on us, specially if we have proven to be well behaved and caring. It has to do with responsibility from both the parents and the child. I know that my parents would just loooove to know every single detail about my life, but I know it´s just because they love me and care about me. At the same time, I think that parents should, well... "spy", on their child if he or she is acting abnormally and in a negative way- I mean he could be on drugs or something. However I was raised to believe that privacy is key to a succesful relationship, so I do strongly oppose to spying if there is not a reason to believe something is wrong.
I believe that Gertrude and Claudius have the right to spy on Hamlet, because as I already said, he is acting in a preoccupying way. Although I do believe that a simple mother-son conversation could help a bit.
astrid (:
I would hate the idea of being spyed on. I could not say anyhthing though, I usually tell my parents where I am or who I'm with, but my conversations are always half-truths. I don't really know what it would be like to be able to tell anything to your parents, that's a creepy idea. Besides, I think that everyone should make its own decisions and errors, so I don't see the point on a parent spying on a child. I think that parents' role is to teach you to make your own aspirations and limitations, but once this is done, its up to the person to decide for him/herself how he/she wants to live.
ReplyDeleteI find Claudius and Gertrude's "spying" amusing. Mostly because they won't get any important information. But I don't think it's right, Claudius does not seem to care too heartly of Hamlet and Gertrude is only trying to find information this way because Claudius thought it would be a good idea. I'm sure that if the idea was not presented, she would have tried to talk to Hamlet about what was upsetting him.
Aurora van Zoelen
INFLUENZAA
ReplyDeleteParents do have a right to spy on their children as long as it is in their best interest. Only certain situations such as "instanity" do allow for spying. Yes Claudius and Gertrude do have the right because of their honestly belief in Hamlet's insanity.
ReplyDeleteEvan Baker
ReplyDeletemaria jose celis
ReplyDeletei don't believe parents have any right to spy on their children or they should not need to spy on their children (as astrid mentioned). Children must trust their parents and vise versa and for that communication and honesty between them is necessary. Without these to elements parents tend to grow suspicious and eventually try to watch every step their children take even if it is not the right action to take.
I don't believe Gertrude and the King have any right to spy on Hamlet even if he is acting a little bit crazy. Hamlet's crazy atittude has not appeared to be dangerous to no one.
I strongly believe that parents have the right to spy on their children if danger is present or if the child is not responsible and is apt to make wrong choices. However, with modern technology spying on children has gone way overboard. With your parents having you as a friend on facebook or putting a GPS on your cellphone, parents have crossed the limit and are no longer protecting thier children but invading their privacy.
ReplyDeleteI believe that King had every right to spy on hamlet because hamlet was in a dangerous state and could have harm himslef or another. While the mannar in which it was done was too sneaky, Gertude was simply worried about her son and his rapid change of personality.
nicole lukac
Parents ARE NOT allowed to spy on anyone, even if it's their son they are dealing with. Everyone has the right to make their decision and not be judge because of them, not even a parent. We need our personal space, spying on us is not giving us our space.
ReplyDeleteGertrude has no right on spying Hamlet. Hamlet is a big boy that can obviosly take care of himself. He doesnt need his step father or mother checking up on him, it is just damaging the relationship with him.
KARLA.
Closed.
ReplyDelete-Mr. Paul