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Comment by InvisibleCities | Hacker News Reader

> Also reveals Tolstoy's own perspective on writing as a moral endeavor which he feels Shakespeare failed at, as if Shakespeare had a morality it was "people should be good, but not too good"

I couldn't agree more, which is why I like Shakespeare so much better than Tolstoy.

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We need more writing where people are the best they can be. Imagine the good Shakespeare could have done by making his characters the best role models. People imitate, and Shakespeare has incredible reach.

As I get older, I have little patience for flawed characters, and love it when I see someone act good all the time in fiction.

Edit: Tintin, for example, is one of my favorite fictional characters of all time. He is smart, athletic, capable, dependable, and, most importantly, always acts in good faith.

I get that, and it's a challenge for me as a Shakespeare actor and director. I often work with these "flawed" characters, and early in the process there's this question of "do I really want to tell the story about this person?"

I've got only limited patience for people being stupid and/or mean. Can't we tell stories about good and smart people? Those stories exist, but they're depressingly rare.

I have ways of turning Shakespeare's text into a story that I think you will want to hear. Or at least, trying to. It's the hard part of my job as an artist.

> I've got only limited patience for people being stupid and/or mean. Can't we tell stories about good and smart people? Those stories exist, but they're depressingly rare.

I don't think there are good or bad people. Every person contains both within them.

Stories like that tend to go campy and obvious Hollywood happy endings. Life isn't like that. The good guy rarely wins for being good.

What repertory do you work with?

Part of why Shakespeare became so popular is that his plays portrayed more realistic characters.

Well yeah. If it would be only about all nice and loving saints, who would want to see that?

Because that is not real. Real people have flaws. Or not, depending on perspective and subjective morals.

Another perspective: when I was younger, I liked Hardy Boys and Tom Swift because of their earnest niceness. As I get older, I realize that the world is a complex place and people (characters) are nuanced. Reduction to black/white (good/bad) squeezes the nuance and thus the humanity.

For similar reasons, I don't enjoy reading about the good works of (Western) holy people. (Buddhism and Hindu stories, the small exposure I have, seem to contain nuanced characters.)

I can help with suggesting some good reads on mythological books in Hinduism if you like

I understand reality is nuanced, but I want to be exposed to ideals when I read. I'm not too interested in recreating reality. I want to see what to strive towards. I recall the Hardy Boys with a lot of fondness. They meant a lot to me as a child.

Sometimes you need the flaws to show the ideals in relief

Yes. I get enough real life in real life, thank you very much.

Oh gosh I feel the exact opposite. Of the Tolstoy books I've read I don't think any of his characters are martyrs as one might expect "someone too good is" but you see examples of people thoughtfully trying to helping others and it paying off, while others who thoughtless do it end up, uh, not so great.

I guess I don't consider myself as much an expert on Shakespeare to critique his side though.

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