Hamlet – A Psychological PlayShakespeare's Hamlet is a psychological play for the fundamental reasons that it treats the protagonist's mind as the critical force in the play and shows a dimension of that mind – the melancholic dimension – as a general concern of almost all the protagonists of the work. Helen Gardner in “Hamlet and the Tragedy of Vengeance” explains how Hamlet's psyche is the basis for his victory over the antagonist Claudius: Hamlet's mental agony and indecision are the very things that differentiate him from that agile and quick conspirator Claudius, and by the rude and reckless Laertes, ready to "dare damnation" and cut off the threat of his enemy on a cemetery. He quickly learns from Claudio how to trap the unwary and the generous, and improves his education. (222)The psychological aspect of Hamlet that is shown most prominently is his melancholy. Lily B. Campbell in “Grief That Leads to Tragedy” explains: If my analysis is correct, then Hamlet becomes a study in the passion of grief. In Hamlet himself it is a passion that is not moderated by reason, a passion that does not yield to the consolations of philosophy. And being an intemperate and excessive pain, Hamlet's pain is therefore the pain that makes the memory fade, that makes reason fail to orient the will, that makes him guilty of indolence. . . . (95-96) At the beginning of the play, the prince is dejected by his mother's “too hasty marriage” to his uncle. His first words say that Claudius is "a little more than kin and less than kind", indicating a disapproval of the new king's values ​​– another cause of his melancholy. Hamlet's first soliloquy, about his mother, is quite depressing... middle of the paper... "Hamlet's World." Yale Review. vol. 41 (1952) p. 502-23. Rpt. in Shakespeare: Modern Essays in Criticism. Rev. ed. Ed. Leonard F. Dean. New York: Oxford University P., 1967. Rosenberg, Marvin. "Laertes: an impulsive but serious young aristocrat." Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardò. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from Hamlet's Masks. 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 n. Wright, Louis B. and Virginia A. LaMar. "Hamlet: a man who thinks before he acts." Readings on Hamlet. Ed. Don Nardò. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1999. Rpt. from The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Ed. Louis B. Wright and Virginia A. LaMar. Np: Paperback books, 1958.