Abstract

Mrs Annie Besant was one of the most completely extraverted individuals of an extraverted epoch; the inward doubts and uncertainties of the twentieth century were as foreign to her as is pole to pole. Courage was another aspect of Mrs Besant’s character which was apparent at all times. Those who knew Mrs Besant as contemporaries think of her merely as an honest, energetic, able and eloquent woman. She lacked the magic touch. Nor had Mrs Besant great intellect, though she was without doubt a woman of quite exceptional ability. Mrs Besant as a public figure was endowed, exceptionally endowed, at almost every point but one; she was devoid of the creative spirit of a Defoe or a Shaw, to mention only two publicists to whom she had many points of resemblance.