Watching Bridgerton is a fun game, so long as I have a certain emotional distance from all the characters.
It depicts a horrifying & deeply misogynistic society, which hurts everyone in it. But it’s interesting watching them navigate the rules…
Watching characters navigate the rules of a regency romance is a little like watching characters in a hard sci-fi try to survive the harsh reality of life on Mars — fascinating in its structure and precision, but not a life I’d actually want to live. Not at all.
So, of course, I relate most strongly to Eloise who hates all the rules and strictures and nonsense around her. If I’d lived in her time, I’d have wanted to opt out of all of it and just read too. No question.
But then she found someone who would actually talk to her…
My heart breaks for Eloise. Her only friend would rather become her antagonist than confide in her. Everyone in her family, except maybe Benedict, either ridicules, misunderstands, or is at best quietly disappointed in her.
And when Eloise finally finds someone who will talk to her seriously about things that actually interest her…
She seems to be faced with a choice of either losing him or having to throw aside all the comforts of her life in trade for… well, probably having and raising babies.
I just want better for Eloise than any of the options available to her. Any of the options available in that society at all.