Tag Archives: Scarlet Letter

A House Member’s Scarlet Letter

By Robin Bates | Published: October 11, 2023

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) recently wore a scarlet letter to work. We explore why.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Abortion, Forced birth movement, House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, Nancy Mace, Nathaniel Hawthorne | Comments closed

The Great Books as Assimilation Manual

By Robin Bates | Published: September 15, 2021

Phuc Tran’s “Sigh, Gone” describes how great literature helped him negotiate a difficult immigrant experience.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged assimilation, Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky, great books, immigrant experience, immigrants, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Phuc Tran, Sigh Gone | Comments closed

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.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Altar", Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, eternal sin, Ethan Brand, George Herbert, Man of Adamant, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Sin | Comments closed

Impeachment and the Scarlet Letter

By Robin Bates | Published: February 9, 2021

“The Scarlet Letter” provides several lessons for Trump’s impeachment trial.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Derangement syndrome, Donald Trump, impeachment, John Milton, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Paradise Lost | Comments closed

To Understand America, Read Gothics

By Robin Bates | Published: February 3, 2020

In a course on American supernatural gothic fiction, I argue that Poe pushed back against the Enlightenment and Hawthorne against Puritanism.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Birthmark, Black Cat, Edgar Allan Poe, gothic fiction, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Tell-Tale Heart, Young Goodman Brown | Comments closed

Political Consultants Should Read Lit

By Robin Bates | Published: May 4, 2015

Which literary works would you recommend to a political consultant to stay in touch with his or her soul and avoid becoming lost in the dark side? How about Hawthorne, Melville, Shakespeare, Pinter, and Terrence McNally?

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Antony and Cleopatra, Confidence Man, Harold Pinter, Herman Melville, King Lear, Macbeth, Moby Dick, Nathaniel Hawthorne, political consultants, politics, Terrence McNally, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Social Media, Our Modern Day Pillory

By Robin Bates | Published: April 1, 2015

Social media has become the pillory of the 21st century, shaming people the way Hester Prynne is shamed in “The Scarlet Letter.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Jon Ronson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, shaming, social media, twitter | Comments closed

Lit’s 10 Strongest Female Characters

By Robin Bates | Published: September 9, 2013

Who are literature’s ten strongest female characters? Here’s my list.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged As You Like It, Charlotte Bronte, Daneil Defoe, Doll's House, Geoffrey Chaucer, Henrik Ibsen, Henry James, Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, Mansfield Park, Moll Flanders, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Portrait of a Lady, Wife of Bath, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Campaign 2012: Assorted Lit Allusions

By Robin Bates | Published: March 1, 2012

Literary allusions are flying fast and free in this primary season.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Alice in Wonderland, Herman Melville, John Bunyan, Lewis Carroll, Moby Dick, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Pilgrim's Progress, Presidential campaign, William Blake | Comments closed