Will & Me: How Shakespeare Took over My Life (edition 2007)

Beyond the heroes, there are a host of other muddied archetypes that correspond to people who walk through every life. There are the long line of Puritans, the negative forces, the nay-sayers to cakes and ale. Malvolio from Twelfth Night, the man more in need of a blow job than any character in literature. (p. 91)

The separate, individual, aliveness of each of his characters, from Hamlet to Barnardine, from Cleopatra to Pistol, is one of the most particular achievements of his work. It is one of the foundation stones of our internal and external democracy. Shakespeare could grow all these people inside himself, he pulled them out and carved them into minutely detailed puppets, then his creative magic was generous enough to set them free on the stage as real humans, independent of their creator. With such a shining example of rich and creative complexity before us, how can we not attempt to be as human? (p. 155)