Pierce writes that there are many, many different characters in Shakespeare's plays. There are the fluffy, nothing characters that don't have any deep thoughts and are always doing stupid things. But then there are the really deep, dimensional characters. As Pierce writes, "Shakespeare seems to have devoted considerable attention to portraying how ideas impinge on the human experience, and especially to studying moral idealists" (267).
Shakespeare's later plays are "unusually idea centered for him and are especially concerned with characters who try to apply moral ideas in the world" (268). Using many examples Pierce looks at different characters. I know all of us haven't read Julius Caesar, but he begins by examining Brutus - a character that wants to create right in the world, but is conflicted as to how he can do so. We have read Hamlet, which is his next subject. Hamlet has the same moral problem of wanting to do what is right, but not knowing how to act.
