It’s often said the genius of Shakespeare lies in his psychological truth. Recent advances in the sciences of the mind show the extraordinary degree to which this is correct. Shakespeare had always been sceptical of ‘accounts, whether psychological or theological, of why people behave the way they do’. In his scepticism he’s been proven entirely correct. As we’ve learned, none of us know why we do what we do – not King Lear, not Iago, not me and not you. Leaving his audiences to guess at the precise causes of a character’s actions enabled the playwright to toy wonderfully with their
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