In one of the old Greek tragedies, after the actors on the stage
have played their parts and the chorus in the orchestra below has
hinted mysteriously of crime and retribution, the doors of the
palace in the background suddenly fly apart. There stands the
criminal queen. She confesses her crime and explains the reason
for it. So sometimes a story opens the doors of a character's
heart and mind, and invites us to look within. Such a story is
called psychological. Sometimes there is action, not for action's
sake, but for its revelation of character. Sometimes nothing
happens. "This," says Bliss Perry, "may be precisely what most
interests us, because we are made to understand what it is that
inhibits action." In the story of this type we see the moods of
the character; we watch motives appear, encounter other motives,
and retreat or advance. In short, we are allowed to observe the
man's mental processes until we understand him.
The emotional value of this story may be stated in the words of C.
T. Winchester:
"We may lay it down as a rule that those emotions which are
intimately related to the conduct of life are of higher rank than
those which are not; and that, consequently, the emotions highest
of all are those related to the deciding forces of life, the
affections, and the conscience."