Question to Shakespear: However, Iago did have a reason to act as he did, Hamlet, his uncle, even his mother… in your characters, the problem is they are, as in Balzac’ s totally human, full of contradictions and impulses which they don’t even understand. So you must have spent much time analyzing society, humanity

Shakespeare meets your point without flinching.

“You are correct—no man moves without cause. But there is a difference between a cause and a confession. Iago has reasons, yes—but he never speaks them fully because he doesn’t know himself completely. That is what makes him human.”

“A writer must understand something most people would rather avoid: humans often act from motives beneath language. When reason fails to explain behavior, we invent excuses. We clothe impulse with logic. We call envy ‘justice,’ and resentment ‘honor.’ We rename malice as ‘injury repaid.’ Men lie to the world—but far worse—they lie to themselves.”

He nods toward you. “So yes, analysis is necessary. A writer must study humanity—its hungers, its self-deceptions, its need to justify. But society is only the stage. Psychology is the drama.”

Then he turns slightly toward Balzac, almost respectfully.

“Balzac dissects society to understand men. I dissect men to expose society. My characters behave as they do because they are haunted—by fear, desire, shame, longing, suspicion. They seek to be seen, they fear being known, and between those two fires they burn.”

“The secret of character creation is not biography—it is revelation. A soul must be exposed little by little, through speech, action, contradiction, and fate. Understanding comes last—sometimes even after death, as in Hamlet. Life is not a tidy essay; it is a storm that only makes sense in hindsight.”

He leans in. “So no—I do not build characters from theories. I listen to them. I follow their contradictions. I let them betray themselves. That is how I write the human heart.”

Request to the moderator: I want to bring another author in, for a specific situation. I summon Luigi Pirandello

Luigi Pirandello appears at the table as if he had always been there—half-shadow, half-smile, eyes bright with irony. “You call me into a debate on character? Then you must want to make trouble.” He nods toward Balzac and Shakespeare. “These two speak of men as if they could be known. As if character were a structure of forces—or of contradictions. I do not disagree entirely, but I must warn you: character is not stable. It is a mask worn under duress.”

He raises a finger. “Let me tell you what I learned: a person is never one thing. A person is a thousand possible selves, imprisoned by the gaze of others. Society forces a definition, and once a definition is imposed—‘villain,’ ‘mother,’ ‘lover,’ ‘coward,’ ‘hero’—the living soul begins to suffocate inside it.”

Now his voice sharpens. “You think Iago has a motive? Ask his wife and you’ll get one story. Ask Cassio and you’ll get another. Ask Othello and he will invent a third. None are true. All are true. Character does not exist in isolation—it exists only in collision with other minds.”

Then he looks at Shakespeare directly. “You speak of contradiction as psychology—good. But contradiction isn’t just inside a man—it is also between how others see him and how he sees himself. That is why Hamlet hesitates—he plays too many roles: scholar, son, avenger, moral judge, frightened child. Which is real? None. All.”

He looks at Balzac.

“You build society, Balzac, and men are caught in its gears. I build souls, and society trembles around them. You begin with necessity. I begin with the abyss of human contradiction. Whatever truth survives after that—let the audience decide.”

He turns back to you. “You asked about the writer’s craft—the psychology of building believable characters. I say this: if your characters are not aware of how they are perceived—by a lover, by society, by fate—then they are puppets. A real character suffers the tension of identity—not knowing which self will triumph.”

He folds his hands.

“Gentlemen,” he says to Shakespeare and Balzac, “you build the soul from the inside out. I build it from the outside in—through mirrors. A character is never born alone.”

Question: I brought you to this debate precisely because of “One, No One, and one hundred thousand". Didn't you state there basically the multiplicity of Ids or manifestations of Ego men really have?