“Bridgerton”: the exhilarating romance that has taken the world by storm for the past half of a decade with its heartwarming storylines of true love. Though, with the approach of the second part of season 4, some concerns have surfaced within the fandom, specifically regarding our very own marriage abolitionist, Eloise Bridgerton. – By Bücherstädterin Vesa

The Rebellious Daughter

During the show’s run, Eloise’s character has consistently and adamantly rejected the idea of marriage, finding it to be an institution that oppresses women and restrains their freedom. Of course, she is a privileged woman born into an abundantly rich family, and in the previous seasons she has had to reckon with her own ignorance in terms of class and wealth; through her brief connection with Theo and her doomed friendship with Cressida, she learned of struggles she had never before conceptualized, and widened her view on why her peers engage in society the way they do.

The lonely Spinster

This season’s plans for Eloise, however, seem to be taking a bleak turn. Surrounded by happy married couples, Eloise finds herself isolated, and in order to combat this, she intends to befriend the other debutantes and spend the season forming friendships. Abruptly, this initiative is shut down as her mother, with complete disregard for her daughter’s wishes and in a shocking character regression, enforces an ultimatum on Eloise: either enter the marriage mart, or chaperone Hyacinth during her marriage preparation classes. She is, of course, miserable, and showing it toward Hyacinth – but instead of empathizing with her disdain for having to deal with marriage at every turn, the takeaway that many fans seem to have is that “Eloise should respect other women’s choice to be married.”

Disappointingly, it seems that the narrative is insistent on breaking Eloise’s spirit and suffocating her by demonizing spinsterhood and overtly romanticizing marriage – to the point where she finally relents and conforms. Marriage is not a choice in the world of “Bridgerton”, but an enforced expectation: a social norm, a financial necessity, and most importantly, a man’s ownership contract over a woman. A woman’s individual choice to marry is an illusion in a society where they are indoctrinated to want wife- and motherhood. But uniquely, there is no real necessity for Eloise to be married. With her several brothers and her family’s good reputation, she is perfectly capable of staying a spinster and being safe, content, even successful. In fact, most female writers of the past that we know were spinsters, as it allowed them freedoms marriage did not – Jane Austen, Emily Dickinson, the Brontë sisters, etc. Violet’s insistence on Eloise’s marriage is based on her deluded idea of ‘love matches,’ as if she is playing a game with her children’s romantic lives.

The Clash of Romance and Feminism

And this is where the core of the problem arises: “Bridgerton” is a show about romance in the Regency era. If realism were to play a large role, many of the protagonists would find themselves in horrifying, unhappy, loveless marriages of convenience; many more of the women would have died during childbirth. But while feminist ideas do not necessarily reject romance, a show that puts marriage on a pedestal cannot truly advocate for female liberation. Eloise can absolutely be a feminist and in love, as illustrated by her time with Theo in season 2; she simply does not want to be forced into the gilded cage of marriage, regardless of whether it is based on love or not. But it seems the story is intent on having her replay the same plotline as all of her siblings: fall in love, and eventually marry and have/take care of children. I believe this would be a disservice to her character.

With this, I am hesitant and expect little of Eloise’s season in terms of character consistency and viewer satisfaction. Nonetheless, Shondaland has shown a tendency to make drastic changes, which leaves me with a glimmer of hope that Eloise can receive the love story she deserves, even within the confines of the marriage she seems to be headed toward.

Bridgerton (Season 4). Regie: Jaffar Mahmood. Romantic leads, Luke Thompson und Yerin Ha. England. 2026. // Copyright Liam Daniel. Netflix.