When Romeo Was a Woman

by Lisa Merrill

At the height of her career, Charlotte Cushman (1816-76) was considered America's greatest actress and one of the most famous women in the English-speaking world. Cushman challenged Victorian notions of gender in her stage portrayals of male characters and of strong, androgynous female characters. Offstage she was a powerful, independent businesswoman whose income supported her family, women lovers, and friends. Lisa Merrill sheds new light on the actress's romantic and erotic relationships and, in turn, on our understandings of the nature of nineteenth-century women's "romantic friendships." She demonstrates how Cushman's androgynous presence served as a symbol to many of her contemporaries and revealed the period's multiple and often contradictory attitudes toward female performers, independent women, and the unspeakable possibilities of same-sex desire. The biography draws on Cushman's personal correspondence, including letters and her diary, as well as on current critical work to e