In 'Psychology According to Shakespeare', renowned psychologist Zimbardo and Shakespearean scholar Johnson provide an exploration of Shakespeare's timeless insights into the human psyche. Drawing on their respective areas of expertise, they make connections between Shakespeare's profound understanding of the human condition with modern psychological principles.

From the tragic downfall of Macbeth to the manic obsession of Hamlet, the authors explore the motivations, behaviours, and inner turmoil of Shakespeare's most iconic characters, using them as springboards for universal truths about the human experience.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The authors have concocted a perfect blend of Shakespeare study and psychology in a way that is accessible to the educated reader. For those of us who are decades out of literature class, it was a welcome refresher to the major plays. I had not known that the soliloquoy was a device used by Elizabethan playwrites to offer a window into the thoughtws of characters. I also did not know that the term "Nature vs. Nurture" was first found in the Tempest. For the psychology, the authors avoid jargon and keep itinformative and interesting. They did a particularly good job of furnishing appropriate illustrations. Recommended.

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.

Review: Psychology According to Shakespeare
by philip G. Zimbardo PhD & Robert L. Johnson PhD

Title: Psychology According to Shakespeare
Authors: Philip G. Zimbardo PhD & Robert L. Johnson PhD
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield (Globe Pequot/Prometheus)
Publication date: 18-06-2024 (US)
Length: 344
ISBN: 9781633889606

Looking at Shakespeare’s work from a psychologist’s view is nothing new. It has been done over and over, even by Freud. Now, Dr. Zimbardo and Dr. Johnson are taking things to the next level, by showing how Shakespeare himself understood human behaviour and the wonders of the human mind. They analyse every single play and character, but also take a look at Shakespeare’s knowledge on psychology, from nature-nurture to cognition and from state of consciousness to reason vs. emotion, and how all of this worked out in Elizabethan England.

"Shakespeare's greatest innovation may have been his opening of a "window" on the mind far wider than any playwright had done before -- into the private minds of his characters."

When I started this book, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I have read bits of Shakespeare, know quite something about his work, but have never really been tempted to actually read all of his works. I do, however, have a big interest in psychology. I am fascinated by the human mind and human behaviour and to add to that, I love a good literary rabbit hole.

What Zimbardo and Johnson did, is impressive to say the least. They managed to gather all those plays and not only look at the individual plays or characters, they also looked at the culture of that time, modern psychology, knowledge in Elizabethan times and how Shakespeare himself fits in. It’s basically a very, very extensive research on the mind of Shakespeare and what that mind produced.

"While our Bard knew nothing of evolutionary psychology, he was quite concerned with the very issues that this new psychological domain explains: infatuation, jealousy, cuckoldry, and infidelity. This tells us that his brain, too, was wired to be sensitive to these evolutionary forces."

Overall, I liked the book. As said, it’s extensive, full of relevant information, and contains a lot of examples and matching illustrations. It really gave me more insight into Shakespeare’s work, even though I have not yet read all his plays. And as I am interested in psychology, this ticked quite a few boxes. There were some minor things I enjoyed less, although they didn’t really influence my positive opinion on the book.

Firstly, the introduction. Apart from being very long, it felt a little like reading the introduction to a dissertation of a tiny bit insecure student. It had a lot of small disclaimers, so the first thing I read were a lot of tiny disclaimers that felt like apologies and gave me the feeling that the authors were not sure about what they were writing. Which is a shame, because when you read the book itself, it is very obvious that they know what they are talking about. Secondly, the style of writing. Writing a good, gripping and thought-provoking book is incredibly difficult, so I get it, and I don’t mean it was really bad or unreadable. You could maybe compare it to a 60-year old maths professor, who’s trying his utmost best to make his lessons interesting for a group of 14 year old students.

So conclusion: I really liked it, and if you like Shakespeare’s work and love psychology, this book is definitely for you. Be aware though, that this is not an easy, Sunday afternoon read. It’s non-fiction, written by two psychologists with a PHD, not by Jane Austen..

I obviously always love to hear your thoughts on this, and if this would be a book you would consider reading!

You can pre-order the book directly from Rowman & Littlefield or of course ask your local bookseller.

It will be out on the 18th of June for the U.S. and as an ebook, and it will be available in Europe and the U.K. from August this year.

Stay salty!
xx Marie

As a lover of Shakespeare and psychology, I thought I would enjoy this book more. I was hoping this book would be more insightful for an academic style book.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was an extremely quick read despite the material & very witty in language. I have not had the change to study a lot of Shakespeare in school but i'm a casual enjoyer of his work & i try to study every play i read in excruciating detail as to not even miss a single thing he might've meant so this is perfect handbook for me to have that i can refer back to as i make my way through the plays the authors explored in detail.

Almost to obtuse to handle. This book attempts psych 102 with an obvious reference. I thought surely this will be fun, I was wrong.

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.

This book addresses a much-needed conversation and something that I had personally been on the lookout for many years.
This is an academic book before anything - it is interdisciplinary and detailed in its argument and analysis, easily connecting the dots via neuroscience, psychology, literature.
The argument is easy-to-comprehend by the reader and thanks to the use of language and the supporting examples from Shakespeare’s work, this book can be enjoyed by those outside of academia, and those who work in various fields. The work also offers one of the first and in-depth insights into Shakespeare as an artist/human who explored, intended to explore, understand and write about human nature and psychology.