Hamlet – A Psychological DramaIn writing Hamlet, William Shakespeare plumbed the depths of the mind of the protagonist, Prince Hamlet, to such an extent that this play can rightly be considered a psychological drama. Robert B. Heilman in "The Role We Give Shakespeare" explores some of the psychological aspects of the play and concludes that it is psychologically "whole": One of the defenders of Shakespearean wholeness against the tendency to confuse the parts with the all, Leone Vivante, particularly alludes to the modern psychology practice of allowing one part to take pre-eminence. In Shakespeare, Vivante argues, “consciousness” is complete, definitive, self-evident, and not a facade for more limited elements. Shakespeare “does not replace consciousness with the subconscious, the unconscious, complexes, instincts, the subliminal”. (11)Gunnar Bokland in "The Judgment in Hamlet" explains Shakespeare's attraction to the psychological dimension of drama: In the tragedy of Hamlet, Shakespeare is not concerned with the question of whether bloody vengeance is justified or not; it is only mentioned once and very late by the protagonist (v,ii,63-70) and never seriously considered. It is the dramatic and psychological situation rather than the moral question which seems to have attracted Shakespeare, and he chose to develop it, despite the difficult to digest and sometimes somewhat obscure elements that it could contain [. . .] . (118-19) The psychological aspect of Hamlet that emerges most clearly is his melancholy. This condition is rooted in the psyche and emotions, with the former causing the latter to malfunction. Lily B. Campbell in "Grief That Leads to Tragedy" points out...... middle of paper...... World of Hamlet. Yale Review. flight. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rep. in Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Rev. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. New York: University of Oxford P., 1967. Rosenberg, Marvin. “Laertes: an impulsive but serious young aristocrat.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Masks of Hamlet. Newark, NJ: Univ. of Delaware P., 1992. Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Hamlet, prince of Denmark. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 1995. http://www.chemicool.com/Shakespeare/hamlet/full.html No line nos Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. “Hamlet: a man who thinks before he acts.” Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardo. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar. N.p. : Paperbacks, 1958.