impenetrable puzzlement

More than for any other writer, Shakespeare's words stand separate from his life. This was a man so good at disguising his feelings that we can't ever be sure that he had any. We know that Shakespeare used words to powerful effect, and we may reasonably presume that he had feelings. What we don't know, and can barely even guess at, is where the two intersected.

-- Bill Bryson Shakespeare: The World As Stage
Quoted by Terry Teachout here