Publisher's Synopsis
First published in 1832, the book is the first in-depth study of Shakespeare's female characters as a topic in themselves, and can be deemed the origin of all subsequent studies of Shakespeare's women. It is a unique hybrid of Shakespeare criticism, women's right activism, and conduct literature. Some of the characters included in the study are Portia from Merchant of Venice, Rosalind from As You Like It, Juliet from Romeo and Juliet, Ophelia from Hamlet, Desdemona from Othello, Lady Macbeth from Macbeth, and Imogen from Cymbeline. The analyses included in the book possess critical insight and fineness of literary touch. They are the result of a penetrating but essentially feminine mind, applied to the study of individuals of its own sex, detecting characteristics and defining differences not perceived by the ordinary critic and entirely overlooked by the general reader.
