Tag Archives: William Shakespeare

Harry Kane as Henry V Redux

In which I compare England transcendent goal scorer Harry Kane to Shakespeare’s Henry V.

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What to Make of the Resurgence of Macho

With Pete Hegseth’s over-the-top exhibition of macho, I look at the history of literary cuckold jokes, which reveal the anxieties of insecure men.

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How Sports Spurred My Literary Imagination

In which I examine my longtime relationship with sports, along with some of its literary associations.

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The Tempest and Our Own Coup Attempts

We can see our current electoral politics, and the threats to social order, in Shakespeare’s “Tempest.”

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The Loneliness of the Tyrant

Trump is a Richard III figure. A Robert Hayden poem tells us how to counter him.

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Obama’s Election and a Blog Launched

The political high point of my life has been Obama’s 2008 election. I began blogging the following spring, and many of my posts have been about racial resentment.

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Mercutio’s False Equivalence

Mercutio’s words, “A plague on both your houses,” can be damaging if applied to our current two political parties.

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Measure for Measure and Our Religious Hypocrites

Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, about a pious but corrupt judge, captures many of our own political figures that are brandishing their religion.

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The Madness of Donald Trump

In which I compare Trump’s madness with that of King Lear.

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