Tag Archives: Macbeth

Was Jan. 6 Just Sound and Fury?

By Robin Bates | Published: June 16, 2021

Is rightwing militancy in America no more than “sound and fury, signifying nothing”? We can but pray that it is.

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Can GOP Wash Its Hands of Capitol Blood?

By Robin Bates | Published: January 11, 2021

While the Macbeths share many traits with Trump and his GOP enablers, they had least have the capacity for self-reflection.

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Trump & Covid: Tragedy or Farce?

By Robin Bates | Published: October 4, 2020

Was the Rose Garden event for Trump’s new SCOTUS pick–which became a Covid superspreader event–a Shakespearean tragedy? How about a farce?

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Pratchett’s Witches to the Rescue

By Robin Bates | Published: June 14, 2020

Terry Prachett’s comic fantasy sometimes describes our political reality as well as sophisticated political science.

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Hand Washing and the Coronavirus

By Robin Bates | Published: March 3, 2020

The coronavirus is leading to a focus on hand washing, which brings Lady Macbeth to mind.

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Check Out the Bard for Halloween

By Robin Bates | Published: October 30, 2019

Shakespeare does a great Halloween. Check out Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth, and Midsummer Night’s Dream.

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“Et Tu, Brute!”–Betraying the Kurds

By Robin Bates | Published: October 13, 2019

Which Shakespeare play best captures Trump’s betrayal of the Kurds? Julius Caesar, perhaps, for pathos, Othello for the cold-blooded way it was done.

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Are We Watching Shakespeare or Beckett?

By Robin Bates | Published: March 7, 2019

Friday When assuring my English majors that they will find jobs in the world beyond college, I sometimes point out that they are experts in narrative. Increasingly we are learning how much we process reality through stories, and political operatives talk ceaselessly about “controlling the narrative.” How you organize facts (or for that matter, lies) […]

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Which Shakespeare Character Is Trump?

By Robin Bates | Published: January 2, 2019

Wednesday It’s satisfying to see national pundits take a page out of Better Living through Beowulf and turn to the classics to understand Donald Trump. Okay, so NeverTrumper conservative Bret Stephens has probably never read this blog, but we both recognize how literature deepens our understanding of the world, including American politics. I particularly appreciate […]

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