This is a new, third edition of this pioneering work in feminist and literary criticism. When first published in 1975, Shakespeare and the Nature of Women inaugurated a new wave of Shakespeare scholarship, offering a sustained critique of inherited male thinking about women, theological, literary, and social issues in Shakespeare's plays. Almost thirty years later, it continues to be the cornerstone of writing about women in this period and the springboard for new research. This new edition includes a new preface, and updated bibliography, and developments in feminist thinking about Shakespeare.