Shakespeare’s plays are, as we know, populated by some of the most vivid characters ever created. They feel alive to us. When we read them, or see and hear them onstage, we experience each of these characters as fully developed beings, with ways of seeing the world that are, for them when they are speaking, fully true. We know these points of view are inherently limited, but that does not make them any less real. These limitations are precisely what make the characters feel so alive.

The perspectives of the characters conflict, giving the plays their plots and energies. It’s not that we necessarily agree with the characters, or approve of their actions, especially some of the most vivid—Lear, Othello, Iago, Macbeth, and so on—who are the agents of their own disasters. It’s possible to know a character is mistaken, but also to become completely immersed in his or her point of view, especially during a soliloquy.