Hamlet – A Psychological Drama In 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 integrity against the tendency to confuse the parts with the whole, Leone Vivante, he particularly alludes to modern psychology's practice of letting certain parts take over. In Shakespeare, Vivante argues, “consciousness” is complete, definitive, evident, not a façade for more limited elements. Shakespeare “does not replace consciousness with the subconscious, the unconscious, the complexes, the instincts, the subliminal”. (11) Gunnar Bokland in “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 blood feud is justified or not; it is raised only once and very late by the protagonist (v,ii,63-70) and never taken seriously into consideration. The dramatic and psychological situation, rather than the moral question, is what seems to have attracted Shakespeare, and he chose to develop it, despite the difficult to digest and, at times, somewhat dark elements it might entail [. . .] . (118-19)The psychological aspect of Hamlet that is shown most prominently is his melancholy. This condition is rooted in the psyche and emotions, the former causing the latter to go wrong. Lily B. Campbell in “Grief That Leads to Tragedy” underlines… in the center of the sheet… the world of Hamlet”. 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.