Histrionic Hamlet

According to psychological research on acting, the histrionic personality consists of a compulsive tendency to play-act, exaggerate emotions, succumb to illusions, to seek attention through speech, body language, and costume, to be seductive and impulsive. An original intervention in the critical history of Shakespeare’s most famous play, Histrionic Hamlet argues that the Danish Prince is a stage representation of just such a personality—a born actor and a drama queen rather than a politician—in