In every group of friends there exists certain templates. There can be found the outgoing ones, the dreamers, and eager-to-please pragmatists. This formula is latent in humanity, and is often reflected in literature and television. Orson Welles understood and used this in his masterpiece, Citizen Kane. Charles Kane (the title character), Jedidiah Leland, and Mr. Bernstein are Welles's live wired Mercutio, idealist Romeo, and practical Benvolio. As the characters learn, grow, and change, the dynamics of their relationship are continuously altered, and, when at last their threesome fails, Kane suffers most.
Charles Kane is, obviously, the outgoing one. Full of energy and charisma at the beginning, it is his rabid idealism and raw energy that allow the three to carry a failing paper to fruition. It is this nature that drives Charles to do more, to reach for more. This intrinsic ambition is his reason to run for office and to build a Floridian palace. This nature eventually turns into a need, a desire to be noticed. This desire corrupts and isolates him. It alienates him from the other two, and this alienation forces him to find love elsewhere. He emotionally abandons everyone, until they physically abandon him. Knowing the circumstances of his life, he is pitiable. Though most of the negative things that happen to him are his fault, he is still victim of society. His drive to fulfill the American dream is what corrupts him. What is usually considered to be noble and beautiful, becomes a personal defect. In fact, he is, in a certain way, very noble.
Jedidiah Leland is the dreamer. His morals and views are infectious, and influence Charles. The "Declaration of Principles", while Kane's idea, is the result of Leland's idealism. It is Leland who believes in "the sacred cause of reform," and Charles only panders to that, trying to prove to Leland that he is a good man. However, as all dreamers who have seen their dreams crushed do, Leland falls to the bottle.