Fatherlessness
- Benjamin Fearon
- Jan 15, 2019
- 2 min read
"Father-deprivation is a serious form of child abuse that is institutionalized and entrenched within our legal system. Powerful sexist people have a vested interest in diminishing the role of men, especially their role as fathers. Research proves that children thrive with the active and meaningful participation of both biological parents, and is true for post-divorce families." (Dick Feeman, Joseph Maiello, Mike Jebbet, "Child Custody or Child Abuse", Victoria Times-Colonist, Jan 8, 1998).
In Hamlet, the beginning of the play starts with Hamlet mourning the death of his father old Hamlet. The loss of his father turns Hamlet into a string of murders and he commits various other crimes throughout the novel. A world issue that relates to this is the problem of sons who are missing their fathers.
A world issue that has gone under the radar in recent years, is the fact that millions of children are bound to failure because of a lack of a father. With a majority of the time the children have no say if they have a father or not. These are some stats about fatherlessness in Canada:
-72% of all teenage murderers.
-60% of rapists.
-70% of kids incarcerated.
- twice as likely to quit school.
- 11 times more likely to be violent.
These stats should be horrifying because these children with no father represent a large percentage of people who commit crime. In Hamlet we get a brief glimpse of what he is like before his father died from Ophelia. “O, what a noble mind is here o’erthrown!” (3.1.152-163) She is upset that Hamlet has changed so much from before. Throughout this novel Hamlet kills four people all after the death of his father, Polonius, Rosenctantz, Guildenstern and Claudius. Would Hamlet have killed those people if his father were still alive? I believe that their would be less bloodshed without the murder of old Hamlet, but then it would not be a William Shakespeare play.
I think that one reason children with no father are more likely to be violent is because they have no guidance, having a single parent is not easy. A lot of the time they cannot be around because they may have to work more than one job. Also, since they are not around their child as much they cannot instill the same morals into their child. And their child has no one to go to so they are left to figure things out by themselves. In Hamlet I can almost guarantee with Hamlet’s father being alive he would have not been killed so many people. Many times in Hamlet, Hamlet is left to himself to figure things out, but with a father figure he could have gotten sound advice, which would’ve stopped his madness. I think one clear distinction that I have to make is that the murder of Claudius was not because of lack of guidance because the ghost directly told Hamlet to kill Claudius. This murder is not part of the other three because it was because of supernatural reason, and cannot be related to the issue we have in Canada today.
In conclusion, Hamlet actions throughout the novel can to attributed to have a lack of a backbone in his life, which caused him to act violently.
Additional LINK
https://canadiancrc.com/Fatherlessness/Fatherlessness_in_Canada.aspx
Interesting blog post! I think there is unquestionably a correlation between Hamlet's homicidal tendencies and the death of his father. I like how you mentioned that Hamlet is often left to figure things out himself, this can explain why there is a tendency for fatherless children to commit crimes. These children often lack moral behaviour, because single parents do not have the time to teach their children moral values.
- Nick
I totally agree with your points, Ben. Childhood is the most important part of a person's life in terms of development. What children learn at a young age, they will keep for the rest of their lives. It is very important for children to have parental guidance, as it will affect many aspects of their lives as they grow up. The statistics you provide and the connections you made with Hamlet proves this point perfectly. The death of Hamlet's father causes him to go insane, and I like how you connected that with real life examples. Great blog!
Hi Benjamin, I think you make some really good points here. Having two parental figures involved in a child's life can be very crucial in their development. It's both interesting and alarming to read about the statistics you included. I agree with your reasoning that a single parent could be struggling financially and may not be able to spend enough time guiding their children, thus leaving them to make their own decisions. You make a good connection to this point when you say Hamlet would have a better state of mental health if there were someone to guide and advise him instead of having him spend so much time pondering what the right decision is ("to be or not to…
Benjamin, this was a greta blog and I enjoyed reading it as I agree with the points you have made. It is very tough growing up without a mother or father and to see how it shows in a child is very disturbing. I really like how you put the statistics of children with no father in Canada because it helped me see what happens when a child doesn't have that fatherly guidance. Growing up you don't know how to live without having guidance from your parents, without that guidance it leaves a child with questions that they can't find an answer to. I also think that a child who doesn't have a father is very tough because they will…
I enjoyed this post, it had an interesting take on how Hamlet still relates to modern day, and it even included statistics. I feel that with a missing parent, you have issues on both ends of the spectrum, the remaining parent might be at a struggle, whether the other parent left and made them keep the kids, they might have passed away, or anything, in any way the parent will feel some negative feeling relating to the missing parent. While the child can and most likely will feel many things, they will have a lack of guidance, and maybe become stressed even more about life since they may feel neglected or unloved by the missing parent, and they will only…