Chels

We’re on a Bridgerton kick at the minute. 

I’m not good at watching long-running television these days (but then again, I also seem to have lost my attention span for films). The problem is, pretty much all of my friends are into it, and I’m nothing if not influenced by my friends’ Instagram likes. So, here I find myself invested in a show I am yet to sit down and watch in order, having dived headfirst four seasons in.

Can you blame me, though? If there weren’t 32 hour-long episodes, it would be right up my alley. I love period dramas, I love book adaptations, and I certainly love developed female characters. Enter: Violet Bridgerton. 

One of my main interests at uni was the portrayal of womanhood and motherhood in female written literature (because, I always argued, even if a woman wants nothing to do with motherhood, that still becomes a defining characteristic). It was inevitable really that Violet’s season four arc would pique my interest. Here is a woman previously defined by motherhood (and widowhood), learning to find herself, and not always knowing what she really wants. Violet’s second-chance romance story doesn’t exist in the books, it was added for the adaptation, adding another layer to her character. What struck me, though, is one other key change for Violet. 

The season opens with a masquerade ball hosted by Lady Violet Bridgerton herself. It’s an event which sets up the main story of the season – the romance between Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Baek, the Lady in Silver. In the books, Violet attends the ball dressed as Queen Elizabeth I, a figure quite unlike her character. In the show, however, she dresses as Titania, Queen of the Faeries, from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the costume, on reflection, was a huge clue to how her storyline for the season would play out.

Titania

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania is Queen of Faeries, along with her husband Oberon, the king. The couple are symbols of, and within the play, protectors of fertility. Violet Bridgerton certainly reflects fertility as a mother of eight, along with her late husband. While Violet does not influence the fertility of the Ton (Bridgerton isn’t a fantasy, after all), she certainly has a large impact on the marriage mart. She encourages each of her children to marry, especially those who seem most reluctant to commit – namely Benedict and Eloise – and, specifically, she wishes for them to marry for love, like she had their father. While she perhaps does not prepare her daughters for marital relations as well as she would like to, she is always thrilled at the arrival of grandchildren.

The events of A Midsummer Night’s Dream begin as the result of a marital quarrel between Titania and Oberon over a changeling child. Oberon wishes him to be an attendant, and Titania wishes to raise the boy, the son of a mortal who died in childbirth, as her own. While Edmund is not around to quarrel with Violet, this parallels the choices that Benedict and Violet must face throughout the season. Benedict has always been a wayward child – as the second born, he doesn’t have the same responsibilities as Anthony. It’s still his duty to marry well, though, as the choices made by the elder sons impact the futures of their younger sisters. Violet herself is torn between encouraging Benedict’s love match, the marriage she has always sought for her children, and her worries for her daughters, and how a cross-class match would impact their family. The quarrel between Oberon and Titania reflects Violet’s internal struggle, and, in a way, reflects the tense scenes with Benedict throughout the season.

Violet admits to her wild and carefree youth, and it’s clear that she sees herself in Benedict. We see glimmers of her less restrained side in her developing relationship with Marcus.

In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Titania falls victim to an enchantment that causes her to fall in love, temporarily, with Nick Bottom. While Violet is not under a love spell, and while I hope Marcus will return to her story, she was certainly infatuated by the man. Titania’s brief new desire reflects Violet’s rediscovery of her own desire,  and it becomes a real turning point in her story. She’s willing to open herself up to love again, even despite her loss. 

It’s believed that Shakespeare wrote Titania’s storyline to explore the ‘complexities of love and desire’, and I think Violet and Marcus’ story does the same. Violet has experienced a love match in the past, and Marcus has not. They approach love and desire with a shared understanding, but not from a shared history. For Marcus, despite their maturity, there is still an innocence of first love, reflecting Bottom’s innocence (he does not know Titania is under enchantment), whereas Violet has loved and lost before. 

Titania and Bottom’s romance is played comedically – Bottom is unaware that his head has been transformed into a donkey, and neither party understands that Titania’s affection is borne from enchantment. The audience sees this, though, and understands the absurdity. There is no absurdity in Violet and Marcus’ story, though there are moments of charming comedy to be found. Not at Marcus’ expense, nor Violet’s, really, but in their innocence and hesitance.

Violet’s inability to give voice to their romance, instead describing him as her friend, and her nervous ramblings during their early conversations are charming, more so when Marcus doesn’t mock or belittle her, instead giving her the time and space to find her confidence. We are not laughing at them, but at their tentative fumbling.Like Titania and Bottom’s fate, Violet and Marcus end the season calling off their romance. Really, if I’d paid more attention to her costume change earlier on, perhaps their ending wouldn’t have blindsided me as much as it did. I do hope they will return to one another – their storyline was so sweet and compelling – but I can still appreciate the parallels with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The costume change was such a great touch for Violet’s season four arc.