Characteristics of Women (1832), later known as Shakespeare’s Heroines, is Anna Jameson’s pioneering study of the female characters in Shakespeare’s plays. Cast partly as a dialogue, the book analyses figures such as Portia, Juliet, Imogen, and Lady Macbeth, treating them as serious studies of moral and emotional life rather than mere dramatic devices.
Jameson was among the first women to write influential criticism of Shakespeare, and her sympathetic, psychologically acute readings shaped how generations of readers understood his heroines. The work also reflects on the situation of women in her own time, using literature to argue for the depth and dignity of female intelligence and feeling. Graceful in style and earnest in purpose, it remains a notable document in both Shakespeare criticism and the history of women’s writing.