Shakespeare and the Real

It would be almost a miracle if anyone who has read, understood, and formed opinions around the works of Shakespeare agreed perfectly with any other person who has done the same. Any work that is deeply rooted in reality, that truly holds “a mirror up to nature,” will be the subject of controversy. Shakespeare seems, at times, too big; and the sheer weight of secondary literature that he supports, Atlas-like, upon his back is a testament to his strength and our weakness. On the other hand, this mass of opinions surrounding Shakespeare is more often the cause of what Plato called “misology;” one might easily fall into a kind of “via negativa” style of Shakespeare mysticism that seeks to undermine or ironize every possible interpretation, because secretly one believes that no authoritative reading is possible. And yet, most readers of Shakespeare think they alone have read him well.