Tag Archives: resentment

Can We Be Beowulf Strong?

By Robin Bates | Published: August 3, 2021

“Bowulf,” a poem about rage, violence, and the end of empire.

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Hugo Describes Trump-Style Resentment

By Robin Bates | Published: February 17, 2021

The toxic mixture of resentment and entitlement found in the Capitol Hill insurrectionists is described by Victor Hugo in “Les Miserables.”

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Dante on Life beyond Resentment

By Robin Bates | Published: January 24, 2021

The envious in Dante’s “Purgatorio” shows that one can move past one’s resentments–important for the Biden administration to know.

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Students as Beowulf vs. Covid

By Robin Bates | Published: May 10, 2020

Through describing their essays on “Beowulf,” I recount how five students are responding to the Covid crisis.

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Trump vs. Obama, Hook vs. Pan

By Robin Bates | Published: August 21, 2019

Thursday I was digging around in James Barrie’s Peter Pan the other day and came across something that caught me by surprise. Captain Hook’s relationship to Peter is a lot like Donald Trump’s relationship to Barack Obama. Both Hook and Trump feel outclassed. As many commentators have pointed out, Trump’s hatred of Obama seems deeply […]

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“Beowulf” Understands U.S. Violence

By Robin Bates | Published: August 7, 2019

 Thursday When I launched this blog over 10 years ago, I called it Better Living through Beowulf because Beowulf is the starting text for those of us specializing in British Literature. I used Beowulf to represent all of literature and felt free to write about any literary work that provides insight into the life we […]

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Pelosi, Mueller vs. Grendel Trump

By Robin Bates | Published: January 21, 2019

Monday John Stoehr, who edits The Editorial Board, had a provocative column recently that is worth contemplating on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Stoehr argues that sadism is the animating principle of the Republican Party, with Donald Trump being its purest expression. Whether this is in fact true of most Republicans, Trump himself is certainly […]

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The Ugliness of Racial Resentment

By Robin Bates | Published: February 21, 2017

“The Merchant of Venice” is a story of resentment and thus is only too relevant in today’s political landscape of inflamed passion. Those who have been victimized–or who feel that they have been victimized–are only too ready to stick it to others when they are in power.

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Dickens Understood Resentment Well

By Robin Bates | Published: January 23, 2015

When resentment threatens to hijack our politics, we would do well to turn to Dickens’ “Little Dorrit.”

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