"Selecting 25 of Shakespeare's most well-known female characters from 21 of his plays, Jameson places each of them in one of four categories: Intellect, Passion and Imagination, The Affections, and, Historical Characters. From Viola in Twelfth Night and Opehlia in Hamlet, both of whom she considered to be "characters of passion and imagination," to the "historical character" of Lady Macbeth, the one of "the affections" seen in King Lear's Cordelia, and that of Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, as a "character of intellect," Jameson creates a three-dimensional life for each. She builds on Shakespeare's paper creation and invites the reader to grasp the essence of that particular female, her "womanliness," and projects how she would think, and moreso, how she would be viewed, within the social context of the Victorian era. Rejecting a solely political agenda, Jameson -- hardly a radical feminist herself -- effectively uses this device as a means to expose the very stereotypes she apparently deplores. Both Anna Jameson and Shakespeare's Heroines have found a particular resurgence of interest in recent years. The audience has grown, from avid students of Shakespeare and Victoriana, to those studying the history of the reform movements and specifically that of women's rights, to a revisit by feminist scholars. To new readers Jameson will surprise, as her Victorian prose reveals a keen understanding of the most contemporary of issues. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET.