When I first started watching “Bridgerton,” I was immediately drawn to the character of Eloise Bridgerton. She reminded me of myself when I was younger: constantly questioning the world around her and daring to push back against the status quo. In a Regency-era show where women are lower-class citizens, Eloise’s bold take on marriage and gender roles was refreshing.
Unfortunately, the rest of the internet does not seem to agree. Despite the fact that none of the characters in the show are perfect, Eloise seems to receive the bulk of the criticism.Â
So why do people hate Eloise so much?
I think the most obvious misunderstanding of Eloise comes from fans judging her from a 21st-century perspective rather than a Regency-era one. People complain that she is a “bad feminist,” as she is often depicted criticizing other women for enjoying the aspects of society she believes exist to enslave women. However, she isn’t wrong. No matter how much the show tries to romanticize the marriage market, women have next to no rights in this society. They cannot attend university, own a home or leave their houses without a chaperone. Their only option is to get married — often to someone they hold no love for — and bear children.Â
Whether Eloise genuinely wants these things is irrelevant; the point is that she isn’t allowed to want anything else. She detests getting dolled up for society events just to be paraded around like a cow at auction. Not to mention, she has deeply unprocessed trauma from listening to her mother almost die in childbirth and nearly watching her older sister, Daphne, get engaged to a man more than twice her age. Though she doesn’t understand the specifics of sex and consent — as no one in her life bothers to inform unmarried women of these things — she does understand the very real possibility of losing her agency at the hands of a husband, and the thought terrifies her.
Yet despite these — very valid — reasons to rage against the system, fans and other characters constantly dismiss and demean Eloise’s concerns. These fans bring up “choice feminism,” which is the idea that any choice a woman makes is inherently feminist. While this concept can be applied to the modern era, it is unfair to apply it to a time period where women fundamentally do not have choices. Feminism as we know it today did not exist back then. Women did not have the luxury of choice, and progress was not made by being quiet. Real feminists were like Eloise — bold, outspoken and even unlikable at times. While other strong-willed female characters, like Kate and Penelope Bridgerton, are praised for their “better depiction” of feminism, at the end of the day, they are still operating within the confines of what a woman was capable of in the Regency era. Meanwhile, Eloise wants to break out of the system entirely.
So what does this mean for Eloise’s future?
In any other show, Eloise’s character arc would conclude with her forging her own path and engaging in radical new political ideas. However, “Bridgerton” is a show about romance above all else. Every Bridgerton sibling is destined to get married, whether it is a satisfying conclusion to their character development or not. Eloise will be no exception.Â
But how will they do it? I believe the writers have written themselves into a corner with Eloise. After all, if her ultimate destiny is to be married, then there’s hardly any point in giving her something else to do.Â
Don’t get me wrong — they’ve tried. In Season 2, she met Theo Sharpe, a revolutionary who introduced her to the world of underground political rallies and the feminist perspectives outside the Ton. While interesting, this storyline ultimately went nowhere, as it wasn’t really about Eloise at all. Instead, it was used to create drama with Penelope and the Queen, leading Eloise to be nearly shunned from society.
When she returns in Season 3, it is alongside the formerly cruel Cressida Cowper. Like Theo, Eloise’s relationship with Cressida challenges her beliefs and pushes her forward. But also like Theo, Cressida is written off in yet another plot surrounding Penelope, and Eloise is set back to square one. She ends the season with goals of travelling to Scotland to “find herself,” but returns in Season 4 having gained nothing from the experience. Instead, she is miserable and lonely. There is a brief moment where she is excited to be “on the shelf,” but she is quickly punished for this by everyone around her, who insist that she is being ridiculous.
It is depressing to watch Eloise, who was once such a lively character, be reduced to this. And after reading Eloise’s book “To Sir Phillip, With Love” by Julia Quinn, I think I understand the direction the writers are heading in.
In the book, we meet spinster Eloise, who is lonely after all her friends and siblings are married off. In her desperation for human connection, she runs away to meet her pen pal, the stoic Sir Phillip, only to find that he expects her to be a wife and mother to his two children. After some initial resistance, Eloise eventually gives in, and they live “happily ever after.”Â
Personally, I struggled to find this story romantic. In fact, I was frequently disgusted by Phillip’s blunt — and frankly misogynistic — internal dialogue about Eloise. It’s a disappointing end for such an interesting character, and I’m hoping the show decides to make some drastic changes. I have no problem with Eloise finding love. Her character, after all, is not anti-love, but anti-oppression. However, she deserves more than being forced into the role of mother and wife by the narrative, and I hope the writers realize this. It’s not too late to give Eloise a passionate, whirlwind romance that builds on her preexisting character traits, instead of an ending that negates everything she has ever stood for.