Characteristics of Women: Moral, Poetical and Historical (Cambridge Library Collection - Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama) - Softcover

Jameson, Anna

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108000991 ISBN 13: 9781108000994

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2009

Synopsis

Characteristics of Women (1832) by Anna Jameson was the first attempt by a woman to analyse the characteristics of twenty-three heroines of Shakespeare's plays. In this book, Jameson, an English writer, feminist, and art historian, addresses problems of women's education and participation in public life while providing insightful and original readings of Shakespeare's women. Jameson classifies the heroines into four categories, two of which - characters of affection and historical characters - are presented in Volume 2. Hermione, Desdemona, Imogen, and Cordelia are the characters in whom moral sentiments and affections predominate, while Cleopatra, Octavia, Volumnia, Constance of Bretagne, Elinor of Guienne, Blanche of Castile, Margaret of Anjou, Katherine of Arragon, and Lady Macbeth are examples of historical characters. Illustrated with fifty attractive etchings made by the author herself, this eloquent book is a must-have for Shakespeare collectors, students of women's studies and others interested in nineteenth-century literary criticism.

About this title

Book Description:

Shakespeare's heroines had been critiqued primarily by men until Anna Jameson published Characteristics of Women in 1832. In this remarkable two-volume study, she analysed twenty-three of Shakespeare's female leads from a woman's perspective. This reissue will be welcomed by scholars of nineteenth-century literary criticism and women's studies.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1108000991
• ISBN 13: 9781108000994
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 344