Tag Archives: cynicism

GOP Operatives as Dorian Gray

By Robin Bates | Published: July 11, 2022

Cynicism marks many of those who have sold their souls to Trump, making “Dorian Gray” a good lens through which to view them.

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Depressing News? Read Gulliver

By Robin Bates | Published: September 23, 2013

If you ever feel that humans are nothing more than Yahoos, Swift urges us to remember that there are good Samaritans amongst us.

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Obama as Wycherley’s Country Wife

By Robin Bates | Published: September 15, 2009

As I teach William Wycherley’s The Country Wife, I am struck by the resemblances between Restoration society and our own.The play was written in 1676 during the age of Charles II, and in some ways our worlds couldn’t be more dissimilar.This was a monarchy and a very formal society in which sincerity was viewed with […]

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Swift’s Attack on Cynicism

By Robin Bates | Published: May 29, 2009

Venturing into the heated atmosphere of Supreme Court confirmation politics yesterday is a nice lead-in to my topic for today, which is the temptation to become so disgusted with human behavior that we throw up our hands and walk away. Or, since walking away is not really an option, the fantasy of doing so. Jonathan […]

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