guiterman was born rosine lion in london in 1886 and came to australia with her family in 1893. she matriculated from high school and enrolled in arts at sydney university. she had a great love of shakespeare's plays, this love having been instilled in her since early childhood by her mother. her interest in shakespeare came to the notice of sir mungo maccallum, sydney university's foundation professor of modern language and literature, and he inspired her to a lifetime study of shakespeare. she graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1908.