Tag Archives: Christopher Marlowe

A GOP Senator as Doctor Faustus

By Robin Bates | Published: September 17, 2023

Mitt Romney has accused Sen. J.D. Vance for selling himself “so cheap.” Think of the “Hillbilly Elegy” author as Faustus.

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Hawthorne Explains the Eternal Sin

By Robin Bates | Published: June 5, 2021

Hawthorne explores what Jesus means by the “eternal sin” in a number of stories, including “Scarlet Letter.”

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Who Gets to Be Called “Dr.”?

By Robin Bates | Published: December 17, 2020

Alexandra Petri satirizes a dismissal of Jill Biden’s doctorate by imagining herself as Dr. Victor Frankenstein.

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Does Lit Lead to Illicit Sex?

By Robin Bates | Published: August 25, 2020

Dante’s beautifully tragic account of Paolo and Francesca captures–as many great works do–the dangers of total absorption in a relationship.

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Better Living through Virgil

By Robin Bates | Published: August 11, 2020

When lost in deep depression, Dante turns to his favorite author, Virgil, to help him out.

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Go High When Trump Goes Low?

By Robin Bates | Published: August 19, 2019

Tuesday Given that a recession would doom Donald Trump’s already shaky reelection chances, how will he behave if the economy suddenly tanks? On Nicole Wallace’s NBC program last week, the Rev. Al Sharpton said that Democrats must be prepared to deal with a man who has no boundaries and will do anything to win. Of […]

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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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The Year in GOP Soul Selling

By Robin Bates | Published: December 29, 2017

This blog’s “post of the year” compared the GOP’s embrace of Trump to Faustus selling his soul to the devil.

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My Teaching Mission: Keeping It Real

By Robin Bates | Published: May 22, 2017

In which I reflect back upon my teaching career and focusing on my students “keeping it real.”

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