Bridgerton and traditional gender roles

 Response to question 6.

The Bridgerton series if you're unfamiliar is about an alternative history universe that follows the Bridgerton family and their navigation through the marriage markets of London. Despite the alternative history depicted much of the constraints on women of that age regarding occupation, marriage and social hierarchies still remains. On the 3rd season of the show, we are met again with one of the series' most popular characters Penelope Featherington. She is shown re-entering society upon her 5th season. For the women of Bridgerton this is a shameful fact for Penelope. If she doesn't find a husband by now, it's likely that she will become a spinster. A spinster is a woman who remains unmarried, has no family and likely several cats. But why exactly is Penelope at such a risk of becoming a spinster? I mean surely someone out there likes or cares about Penelope and would want to marry her. Sadly, the reason Penelope has no ring is because she's conventionally unattractive. A short girl, on the larger side and from a struggling high society family she doesn't have very many traits that appeal to what the men of that age want in a wife. Eventually however with the help of her friend Colin Bridgerton, Penelope is able to attract a suitor but not without rather drastic physical changes. Fake nails, eyelashes and dresses better suited to her body help Penelope fit the standard mold of perfect wives the London Marriage Market churns out every year to rather ugly men who have never so much as cut their toenails. Penelope isn't unique she's a reflection of a common trope in movie and TV shows for years. The smart unattractive girl gets a makeover to get a boyfriend because somehow that's the one thing she's missing in life. By contrast women like Lady Whistle down (the unknown town gossip monger) are able to sustain their own lifestyle through their resources and writing capability. During a time when most women were expected to remain perfect, wholesome dutiful wives I found the Lady Whistledown character to be the most interesting. She doesn't confine to traditional gender roles in the same way that Penelope has to and can be successful simply based off of her writing. But perhaps the most integral part of this is the fact that Lady Whistledown is an unknown author. She's able to escape traditional expectations by remaining unknown. You can't impose societal constrictions on women who aren't even a part of society. 

But despite having to step out of conventional gender roles to become Lady Whistledown, she herself further perpetuates these gender roles upon the women of London. Rather than using her platform and voice to encourage women to seek solace in something other than her husbands she uses it to attack and publicly shame women who dare to step out of their traditional roles as beautiful, demure, polite figurines. This is shown by Marina, Penelope's cousin who after getting her crush Colin Bridgerton's courtship Penelope donning her alter ego of Lady Whistledown writes an expose piece determined to completely isolate and ostracize Marina from high society which she is successful in doing. So, while Penelope is inherently stepping out of gender roles as Lady Whistledown she does as much to uphold those gender restrictions as anybody else in society if not more.