Psychology According to Shakespeare: What You Can Learn about Human Nature from Shakespeare's Great Plays

by Philip G. Zimbardo, Robert L. Johnson

William Shakespeare has undergone psychological analyses ever since Freud diagnosed Hamlet with an Oedipus complex. But now, two psychologists propose to turn the tables by telling how Shakespeare himself understood human behavior and the innermost workings of the human mind. Psychology According to What You Can Learn About Human Nature From Shakespeare's Great Plays, is an interdisciplinary project that bridges psychological science and literature, bringing together for the first time in one volume, the breadth and depth of The Bard’s knowledge of love, jealousy, dreams, betrayal, revenge, and the lust for power and position. Even today, there is no better depiction of a psychopath than Richard III, no more poignant portrayal of dementia than King Lear, nor a more unforgettable illustration of obsessive-compulsive disorder than Lady Macbeth’s attempts to wash away the damned blood spot. What has not been revealed before, however, are the many different forms of mental illness The Bard described in terms that are now identifiable in the modern manual of disorders known as the DSM-5. But, as the book shows, the playwright’s fascination with human nature extended far beyond mental disorders, ranging across the psychological spectrum, from brain anatomy to personality, cognition, emotion, perception, lifespan development, and states of consciousness. To illustrate, we have stories to tell involving astrology, potions, poisons, the four fluids called “humors,” anatomical dissections of freshly hanged criminals, and a mental hospital called Bedlam—all showing how his perspective was grounded in the medicine and culture of his time. Yet, Will Shakespeare’s intellect, curiosity, and temperament allowed him to see other ideas and issues that would become important in psychological science centuries later. Many of these connections between Shakespeare and psychology lie scattered in books, articles, and web pages across the public domain, but they have never been brought together into a single volume. So, here the authors retell of his fashioning the felicitous phrase, nature-nurture for Prospero to utter in frustration with Caliban and of how the nature-nurture dichotomy would become central in psychology’s quest to understand the tension between heredity and environment. But that was still far from all, for they discovered that his work anticipated multiple other psychological tensions. For example, in Measure for Measure, he made audiences puzzle over which exerts the greater influence on human internal traits or the external situation. And in Hamlet, he explored the equally enigmatic push-pull between reason and emotion in the mind of the dithering prince. Aside from bringing together The Bard’s known psychology, the book is unique in several other respects. It reveals how his interest in mind and behavior ranged across the full spectrum of psychology, including topics that we now call biopsychology and neuroscience, social psychology, thinking and intelligence, motivation and emotion, and reason vs intuition. Further, we show how the psychological concepts he used have evolved over the intervening centuries—for example, the Elizabethan notion of sensus communis eventually became “consciousness” and the old idea of the humors morphed into our current understanding of hormones and neurotransmitters. We also note that some of Mr. Shakespeare’s concerns seem especially timely today, as in the subplot of queer vs straight issues complicating the story of Troilus and Cressida and in Shylock’s telling of prejudices inflicted on ethnic minorities.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

344 pages, Hardcover

Published June 18, 2024

About the author

Philip George Zimbardo was an American psychologist and a professor emeritus at Stanford University. He became known for his 1971 Stanford prison experiment, which was later criticized severely for both ethical and scientific reasons. He authored various introductory psychology textbooks for college students, and other notable works, including The Lucifer Effect, The Time Paradox, and The Time Cure. He was also the initiator and president of the Heroic Imagination Project.

Reviews

[BJ Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1971 a Stanford University Professor conducted the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment. For those who are unfamiliar, this experiment took random students, who were paid a minimal amount for volunteering, and divided them in two groups: prisoners and guards. Given very little oversight or direction, these guards became more and more cruel and arbitrary in their "punishments" and the experiment was allowed to continue way beyond the point it should have been shut down.

I bring that up because that professor is the author of this book. And surprisingly, there was no torture and very little controversy in this book. Zimbardo here explores Shakespeare's plays and bio to examine how he viewed human psychology as well as what lessons we can learn from the Bard on key psychological issues like: nature/nurture, childhood development, sleep, humors and personality, emotion/reason, and love. The book is decent and makes for a great cross between English Literature and introductory psychology. I have recommended it to the AP Psych teacher and requested it for our high school library. But I don't think it is a book someone very familiar with Shakespeare would necessarily enjoy.

[Layla · Rating 1 out of 5]

way too basic. written for someone with little knowledge of either Shakespeare or psychology. I found the writing style quite irritating as well.

[A.J. Sefton]

The Lion King, West Side Story and Kiss Me Kate all have one thing in common - they are all updated versions of Shakespeare plays. Works that were written four hundred years ago are still popular and relevant today. One reason is the sheer poetry of Shakespeare's language and wordplay, but the other is that he really knew people. In terms of the human condition, nothing has changed.

In this book, two psychology academics argue that the Bard had a psychological insight into human nature. Not only emotions like revenge, jealousy, ambition, love and procrastination, and mental health conditions such as OCD, depression, anxiety and psychosis. But it also covers Shakespeare's broader psychological concepts of personality, perception and consciousness.

The book is divided into four parts with two or three chapters in each. They cover themes of Nature vs. Nurture, the Person vs. the Situation, Into the Mind and Reason vs. Emotion. Fascinating to discover that Shakespeare had so much influence over the developing field of psychology in the 1800s, when terminology was calling out for a wordsmith.

Despite the authors' credentials, the the book is not dry and academic but written in an engaging style and is easy to follow. At times it is surprisingly light and therefore accessible to the layman while also useful for the student. Of course, analysis of Shakespeare's plays is nothing new (don't we all do it at school after all) and opinions differ on what the playwright's intentions were, and in that sense this book is not different. Well illustrated with photographs, diagrams and paintings as well as quotes from the plays, the book also includes context, explaining the beliefs of the English Renaissance period in which Shakespeare lived, so a fair bit of history is included too. Shakespeare's ideas (in the form of his plays) are compared to modern psychology and the Greek philosophers views.

History, literature and psychology. This is an absorbing and captivating book and I highly recommend it.

[Ellina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wspaniałe podejście do tematu!
Próba przeanalizowania sztuk Szekspira pod względem psychologicznym, ukazując niuanse.
Dodatkowo autorzy nie stronili od humoru, który dużo dodaje tej pozycji!
No i oczywiście, znając już większość motywów, znając bohaterów, kontekst społeczny i historyczny (i oczywiście psychologiczny), jesteśmy zainteresowani samymi sztukami!
Ja mam ochotę się zapoznać ze wszytskim co kiedykolwiek stworzył Szekspir, a nigdy wcześniej jakoś nie czułam chęci, by poznać te sztuki - jest to WIELKI plus tej książki, zachęca do przeczytania innych książek!
Tutaj również warto wspomnieć o całej, ogromnej bibliografii, z której autorzy korzystali, gdy coś nas bardziej zainteresuje, można swobodnie poszukać innych pozycji w tym temacie!
Polecam osobom, które są zapoznane z życiem i twórczością Szekspira, osobom, które z jego twórczością nie są zapoznane, ale interesują się może psychologią, osobom, które nauczają i chcą zainteresować Szekspirem swoich uczniów i uczennice. Jeśli jesteś osobą, która spojrzała na okładkę i pomyślała 'hmmm, ciekawe' - tak Tobie też ją polecam!🩷💜

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love learning about Shakespeare and this was an interesting new approach. The authors look at many of Shakespeares most famous plays and characters and consider them in light of the latest discoveries in psychology. They also take a crack explaining Shakespeare's own personality, using his plays as well as the descriptions of him left by those who knew him.

[Ans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Potwierdzone info: Zimbardo oglądał Hamiltona

[ania.bag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nie ukrywam, że zawiodłam się na tej pozycji. Choć książka jest dobrze napisana i jasna, szczególnie dla osoby niezapoznanej (nieobytej) z dziełami Shakespeare'a, to język czasami był zbyt prosty, zaś treść oczywista.

Były również fragmenty zaskakujące, lecz była to owa mniejszość.

Brakowało mi tutaj analizy kilku wielkich dzieł Shakespeare'a, na które liczyłam że pojawią się w owej pozycji.

4/5 ★

[Andrea Wenger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book delves into the remarkable psychological insights of William Shakespeare, revealing how he understood the human mind and behavior with astonishing accuracy. Two psychologists show how Shakespeare anticipated the modern understandings of mental illness, even describing conditions now listed in the DSM-5. They explore his masterful depictions of love, jealousy, betrayal, and the lust for power, demonstrating his profound knowledge of human nature.

This book is thoughtful and well-researched. The problem with writing about Shakespeare, though, is that there’s so much to say. I’m trying not to hold it against the authors that this book is eye-rollingly trite and reductive. Because, how could it not be, when you try to address such an enormous topic in a single volume?

Still, when the most insightful thing you can say about Lady Macbeth is that she had OCD, I feel like telling you to go back and read the play three more times, because you clearly didn’t understand the assignment. Lady Macbeth isn’t just a diagnosis in the DSM-5. She’s so much more than that. Her OCD is the least interesting thing about her.

And that’s probably why I didn’t like this book more. Because I think the point of it was to show how Shakespeare illustrated diagnosable behaviors and mental illnesses. And if the authors had stated that, and stuck to that, this would have been a better book.

I don’t really understand why two psychologists would claim their book is interdisciplinary when they’re both from the same discipline. They don’t know enough about literature, storytelling, biography, and history to wade into many of the subjects they addressed in this book. In the ARC, there were glaring errors, which I hope will be corrected in the published version. Errors that an Elizabethan historian would never have made.

And trying to draw conclusions about Shakespeare’s mental makeup based on the literature he wrote, and the few facts we know about his life, is a fool’s errand. He wrote for his audience. He gave them what they wanted. Did he also write for himself? Sure. But it’s impossible to know where the line is.

Ultimately, this is an academic work that did what it set out to do, but not in a very fun or focused way. The interdisciplinary aspects didn’t work. The authors should have stuck to psychology.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Shireen · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars

I am a rather ardent fan of Shakespeare: I work at a Shakespeare theatre company, and I read both the plays and literary criticisms of said plays for fun. So any time a new book pops up about Shakespeare I am instantly interested. This book did not disappoint!

The psychological aspects of Shakespeare's plays are one of, if not the most, important reasons why they've stood the test of time and are still performed today. Why would we keep rehashing and producing these same stories in films, television, other play adaptions, etc., if not for the fact that they tell us something uniquely valuable about the human experience? And isn't the human experience, in no small part, psychological?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book; the chapters and ideas therein were well laid out in thoughtful ways. The conversational aspect of the writing style I also found appealing, making the whole text feel less clinical overall and it was easier to absorb core concepts. I am honestly looking forward to getting my hands on a physical copy of this book to reread and keep in my Shakespearean library now that it's available for sale.

Thanks to NetGalley, the authors Drs. Zimbardo & Johnson, and Prometheus (a branch of Globe Pequot) Publishing for the digital ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

[Emily Erickson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Psychology According To Shakespeare is simultaneously a primer on Shakespeare’s creative corpus, psychological theory, and the historical context of each. I know a fair amount about psychology and some about Shakespeare, but I don’t think knowledge of either is a prerequisite for appreciating this book. Plus, pre-existing familiarity will only enhance your appreciation of the authors' fascinating observations about Shakespeare as a prescient, intuitive psychologist.

This is nonfiction of the type I like best — a novel view into the stuff that’s all around us, done expertly. Not only are there 60 pages of endnotes (and a bibliography), but the authors really are luminaries in the field (Dr. Zimbardo is *that* Dr. Zimbardo of the Stanford Prison Experiment fame).

This book is intellectual, for sure. You’ll find it’s driven more by clever analysis than breezy storytelling. For me, that’s a recipe for a page-turner. But if that literary style is not your jam like it is mine, you might not enjoy this book as much as I did.

Recommended for fans of psychology, Shakespeare, and history.

Check out my blog for a full recommendation coming soon: https://emilypgerickson.com/blog/

Thank you to Rowman & Littlefield for the advance copy.

[Goodnight Sweet Prince · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nnno nie było to do końca to, czego oczekiwałam. Nie wiem, w swojej naiwności założyłam, że to będzie po prostu omówienie poszczególnych dramatów i niuansów w kreacji bohaterów w nich zawartych, a to były takie informacje ni z gruszki ni z pietruszki. A np. w rozdziale zatytułowanym Burza dostałam trzy zdania o tym utworze, a resztę o budowie ludzkiego mózgu.
I ponownie, to wszystko było bardzo ciekawe, ale dość losowe.
Informacje, które sprawią, że na niektóre tragedie spojrzę w inny sposób, ale raczej nie wplotę tego losowo w rozmowę(i guess, bo może porozmawiamy o ewolucji słowa CUNT na przestrzeni wieków albo o tym, że przecież nie wiemy, czy wuj Hamleta nie był w rzeczywistości jego ojcem)
Ale naprawdę dobrze się to czytało, chociaż niektóre tezy były sformułowane na zasadzie : Nooo, jakby Szekspir to widział, to powiedziałby to i to
PS.1 Dlaczego w przypisie transpłciowość została przypisana do zaburzeń psychicznych? WTF?!
PS.2 I eksperyment więzienny z Zimbardo, to nie jest tak jak autor próbuje to przedstawiać, to było od początku wątpliwe moralnie

[Emma Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this. I've studied Shakespeare a lot in school and I loved seeing how the characters reacted to it and try to understand the psychology but I am not a psychologist so it was me guessing half the time. Reading this book and being able to see how my interpretations of the characters and their psychology compared to actual psychologist added another layer to the plays I've studied and loved for years. Both authors broke down the characters and their analysis in a way that is easy for people who haven't studied psychology to understand and that is a true nod to how much they know about this field. You can see a true love for Shakespeare and his character by these authors which makes this a great book for Shakespeare lovers who want to learn and understand more about the plays.

[Rebecca Doss · Rating 3 out of 5]

Psychology According to Shakespeare is an interesting overlap of psychology, history, & literature from the creator of the Stanford Prison Experiment. It compares modern concepts to what it claims to be their Shakespearian counterparts, and while the analysis is interesting, I found it made too many assumptions. The writing was engaging and the organization was clear, I just wish there had been more research about the historical aspects to support some of the claims.

[Megan J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

An approachable read at just the right depth.

[amarylis · Rating 2 out of 5]

bardzo płytkie, zwłaszcza w kontekście hamleta

[emila · Rating 1 out of 5]

strasznie plytka, slaba overall