Tag Archives: Charlotte Bronte

Rich Bullies in the Admissions Scandal

By Robin Bates | Published: May 6, 2019

Tuesday Several weeks ago I came across an insider’s account of the college admissions scandal from an English-teacher-turned-college counselor. In sharing her view of prep school parents, Caitlin Flanagan cited Jane Eye and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Although Flanagan doesn’t report on any illegal behavior from the ambitious parents she encountered, she daily saw the […]

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The Meaning of Hell

By Robin Bates | Published: December 8, 2018

Spiritual Sunday Stephen Greenblatt, the world’s preeminent Shakespearean, has an article about hell in the latest issue of the New York Review of Books that has me thinking about a subject I generally avoid. It’s a smart piece but fairly grim.  For the most part, my view of hell is the one set forth in […]

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Bronte on Eye Plucking, Hand Severing

By Robin Bates | Published: September 30, 2018

One of Jesus’s most graphic images serves Jane Eyre in a moment of supreme testing.

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Is Sexist Lit Gaslighting Women?

By Robin Bates | Published: February 19, 2018

A Guardian article argues that critical praise for sexist male authors valorizes patriarchal attitudes.

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Literature’s Revolutionary Power

By Robin Bates | Published: October 10, 2017

The concept of “unleashing,” used to explain much of today’s upheaval, can also be applied to literature that changes lives.

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Jane Eyre on Caring for the Sick

By Robin Bates | Published: July 21, 2017

As I support people who are sick and aging, I turn to Jane Eyre as a model of one who considers such activity to be, not a self-sacrifice, but a gift to herself.

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Jane Eyre, Still Groundbreaking

By Robin Bates | Published: May 2, 2017

In her senior project, one of my students looked at four film adaptations of “Jane Eyre” and concluded that Bronte’s novel is more radical than all but one of them.

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Mustering Courage To Become Jane Eyre

By Robin Bates | Published: July 17, 2016

I’m convinced that “Jane Eyre” helped give my great-grandmother the courage to leave her home and launch herself into the world as a governess.

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Lily, Achilles, Bertha & Ishmael on Vacation

By Robin Bates | Published: May 18, 2016

Lily Bart, Bertha Mason, Achilles, Ishmael and Queequeg all go on vacation. Where do they go?

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