An effective stiffness, analogous to that of a wound spring, can be created by antagonistic redundant actuation of general closed-chain mechanisms. The qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the effective stiffness are investigated through a Four-bar mechanism, and a load distribution method is introduced which simultaneously guarantees the required system motion and the effective stiffness of the Four-bar mechanism. Furthermore, a simulation is performed to understand the inter-relationship among the effective stiffness, the Four-bar geometry, and the actuation effort. Based on this analysis, the Four-bar synthesis problem for effective stiffness generation is discussed.