#anti penelope featherington

[torchwood-99]

Not Sure if This is Exactly What's Going on With the Writers, but I Wouldn't be Surprised...

[juju-or-anya]

It's hard not to find irony in the criticisms directed towards Eloise Bridgerton and the elevation of Penelope Featherington as a more genuine and hardworking figure in contrast with Eloise's supposed privileged circumstances and her discourse on feminism. Indeed, some voices have pointed out Eloise's feminism as something white and privileged, and while this is not without merit, it's akin to rediscovering what others have already noticed, akin to Christopher Columbus "discovering" America.

Understanding the context in which "Bridgerton" unfolds is essential. The series is set in Regency England, between 1813 and 1825. This historical period is marked by a highly stratified and conservative society, where women, especially those of the upper class, were relegated to traditional roles and lacked basic legal rights. In this context, any discussion of feminism must consider the unique limitations and challenges of the time.

It is true that Eloise Bridgerton, being part of a respected family in English nobility, embodies many of the characteristics associated with the white and privileged feminism of the time. However, this should not diminish the value of her role in advancing feminist ideas in her historical context. It is thanks to women like Eloise, who challenged social expectations and dared to question the status quo, that doors were opened for future, more inclusive feminist movements.

On the other hand, when analyzing Penelope Featherington's role in contrast with Eloise Bridgerton's, intriguing nuances worthy of a more detailed critical exploration are revealed. Although both come from upper-class families, Penelope's experiences differ significantly from Eloise's. In the society depicted in "Bridgerton," Penelope is portrayed as a more marginal figure, overshadowed by the prominence and glamour of the Bridgerton family. She is often seen in the background, struggling to find her place in a world where her social status does not put her at the center of attention.

Throughout the series, Penelope exhibits a distressing lack of empathy and solidarity towards other women. Instead of fostering unity and support among her peers, her writings are propelled by feelings of envy, resentment, and desires for revenge. Striking examples of this include her actions to publicly reveal Marina Thompson's pregnancy, intending to undermine her relationship with Colin Bridgerton, or defaming individuals such as Daphne, Edwina, and Kate Sharma, often with no apparent reason other than personal gain.

Penelope's behavior as Lady Whistledown sheds light on her complex nature and motivations. While it may represent an attempt to find her voice in a world dominated by more powerful figures, it also reveals a tendency towards manipulation and selfishness. Ultimately, her role as the mysterious chronicler is more than just a quest for identity; it is a reflection of the moral and ethical complexities underlying the society of "Bridgerton."

In summary, asserting that Penelope is more feminist and hardworking than Eloise due to her role as Lady Whistledown is, at best, simplistic and, at worst, deeply misleading. Both women, while privileged in their own right, have chosen different paths in life and have faced their own challenges. However, the narrative of Penelope as a morally superior and more genuinely hardworking figure should be questioned in light of her actions and motivations, which often reveal a lack of integrity and empathy towards her peers.

It's important to note that when Theo confronts Eloise, questioning her understanding of the real world and her privileged position, Eloise doesn't reject this criticism but uses it as a catalyst to seek greater understanding. Recognizing the validity of Theo's observation, Eloise actively seeks to broaden her horizons. She engages in conversations with Theo and John, seeking to break free from the bubble of privilege in which she has lived so far.

On the other hand, Penelope takes a different stance towards her own privileged position. Instead of acknowledging her situation and seeking to understand the realities of those less privileged, Penelope vehemently denies any suggestion that she also benefits from the system. Rather than accepting her position of privilege, she portrays herself as a victim, despite her actions suggesting otherwise. Ultimately, this divergence in attitudes between Eloise and Penelope highlights the complexity of individual perceptions of privilege and personal responsibility in an unequal world.

PS: The comment: "Penelope saved Eloise by writing that she hung out with radicals, she doesn't know what it's like to be grateful" is shit. Whose fucking fault is it that the Queen is on a crusade with torches and pitchforks, looking for blood and a rolling head? From Penelope because she doesn't know when to keep her hand still and stop writing, if it weren't for Penelope, the queen wouldn't think that Eloise is Lady Whistledown, Penelope wasn't looking to help Eloise, she was looking to save her skin.

[hamletshoeratio]

Penelope:

Betrayed the trust of those closest to her including friends, namely Eloise and Marina, and her own family

Nearly ruined/ruined multiple people's reputations out of jealousy (Daphne & Marina)

Straight up attacked people who never had a bad word to say about her (Kate, Edwina, Anthony, Daphne)

Nearly ruined her own family's reputation

Nearly destroyed the Bridgerton's reputation

If she truly had Eloise's best interests at heart THERE WERE OTHER WAYS TO GET HER OFF QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S SUSPECT LIST. Eloise wasn't out in season 1, she wasn't present for most of the events Lady Whistledown described. Tell the Queen directly about Theo as she loves a love story. Or you know reveal herself. But no protecting her secret identity took priority.

Destroyed an actual working woman's business (the seamstress from last season) for personal gain (to get Genevieve Delacroix on side after she discovered her lady whistledown secret)

Her comments about George III's mental health are shall we say yikes in qc

The way she handled the Marina and Colin situation. If she truly had Colins best interests at heart, she could've told him or Eloise directly or through another anonymous means. By publishing it, she nearly destroyed her own family's and colins reputation, and trapped Marina in a marriage that if it goes anything like the book will kill her.

But Eloise is the villain for being a young woman and pettily starting a duo with her ex best friend's enemy after learning about the above? Yeah nah.

[angrydemonfawnbaby]

maybe one day i will be over bridgerton season three and my hatred for penelope but that day is not today

i understand that the books are different and that book polin and penelope are not what their show counterparts are but i need book polin and penelope fans to take a step back and examine the absolute psychological horror of what show polin is.

genuinely there is something so insidious about a girl who meets a guy, believes it's love at first sight, and then befriends his sister. in fact, her ONLY friend is his sister. she spends years pining, sitting and staring out of her window so often that everyone in her life knows this is a common occurrence for her. a habit. she loves him, she wants to be with him, she wants to be a part of his family, and that family treats her well, they treat her with kindness.

and she tears them down. secretly. she uses her friendship with the daughter, her closeness to them, to prop herself up. to write vitriolic things about them, to cast shame on them, to bring their reputation into question time and time again. there is something so irredeemably manipulative about a girl who takes the secrets of those who trusts her and reveals them publicly when it best suits her--when she does not want the boy she loves to marry a girl who has been kind to her, a girl who considers her a friend, who has shared her anxieties and heartbreak. it does not matter that this girl would be a good wife, or that the boy truly cares for her, because this girl is not her. and she could've told the boy herself, but that boy is kindhearted and sensitive and good and he might still marry this other girl. and that is what is truly unacceptable, that is what can't be allowed to happen. so she destroys it, thoroughly. it does not matter who is caught in the blast.

it did not matter how this embarrassment would effect the family she claimed to love as her own, the family she wanted to be a part of. it did not matter that it would ruin marina, the only other person to consider penelope a friend. it led to marina nearly dying, it led penelope's own family being shamed and shunned. it did not matter, because to penelope, the only thing that mattered was that colin remained unmarried so that he may one day love her the way she loves him.

it did not ever matter that colin already loved her as a friend, because to penelope that was not a love worth having. not from colin, or marina, or eloise.

she does not care who she hurts. again and again. with daphne, with anthony and the sharma sisters, with her own best friend. eloise confides in penelope things that not only could destroy her reputation and that of her family, but things that could get her in trouble with the queen--views that are dangerous. and despite what she says, she does it to save herself first and foremost, to keep eloise from discovering her secret.

and when she thinks that the boy she loves will never return her interest, when he returns from his time away different from the boy she has spent years obsessing over from afar, she writes about it once more. to make herself feel better, to make him feel bad. for not loving her, for daring to try and change, for daring to be something he is not--something different from the boy she supposedly loves.

penelope actions as whistledown have shown her to be a callous, selfish, manipulative person. she understands that being whistledown means having power, admits it, and she has constantly used that power to destroy other women--regardless of how kind they were to her (marina), how much they trusted her (eloise), or if she even knew them at all (kate and edwina, the queen and her infant grandchild). she is a vicious and mean person on paper, with no loyalties to anyone but herself. her actions as whistledown are undefendable and cruel. and she is whistledown, they are one and the same.

i cannot see how anyone can look at the two and see anything to romanticize. she knows eloise would not want her in bridgerton house, rightfully so, but she goes to be close to colin, and then she invades his privacy by reading his journals. she continuously lies and crosses boundaries, but her eyes well with tears immediately after and so all is miraculously forgiven--nevermind that she will go home to write something cruel by candlelight later.

even their first kiss feels like a manipulation. a coersion. she begs, cries, pleads, claims she could die never having been kissed and she knows colin is a soft, sensitive boy. he was going to marry marina after a short courtship, convinced of love, he might've went ahead married her if he'd found out about the pregnancy privately because he is a good and kind man. so of course he will kiss her.

and then he proposes, and before they can go about it properly, before he can rethink it or back out--she publishes it in whistledown. so that the whole ton knows that she has finally won. she has succeeded in becoming a bridgerton. and she continues to lie to them all. she continues to lie to colin. she smiles and plays the role of the innocent girl next door, when she has been their primary antagonist force behind the curtains for years now.

even her declaration of love is said to distract, to protect herself, when he has discovered her secret, her true identity, and she can no longer hide. she shouts it at him, like it is meant to make everything okay, to make all of the bad things she's done go away.

and in a well written story, with well written characters, it would not. it would be seen for what it is. desperate. manipulative. but this season of bridgerton is a let down in many ways, and all of them are rooted in how the narrative has catered to washing away how horrible of a person penelope has been, instead of acknowledging it and moving forward with a true redemption arc.

so instead, we get to watch a gossiping mean girl who has spent years stalking and preying on one family in particular, manipulating her way into her happy ending with said family. and everyone just has to be gaslit into believing this is okay when it's not.

[shewhotellsstories]

“Eloise got into her business,” is such a weird way to frame the second half of season three because Colin isn’t a random stranger, he is her brother and, therefore very much her business.

Not all families are close, but with the way Penelope stans expected Eloise to shut up and let Colin marry someone lying to him, I question if you like your own siblings.

[navree]

"that you could be so cruel" ok correct me if i'm wrong but does penelope featherington not run a gossip rag that exist solely to publish unsubstantiated rumors about women she doesn't like for various reasons that have profoundly negative repercussions on those women (didn't the publication of marina's pregnancy lead to marina almost dying in her quest to terminate said pregnancy??????) and has in fact used that same rag to put not just colin's entire family but also specifically colin's sister, her best friend, through a significant amount of grief and strife that came as a direct result of that rag?

but colin's the cruel one? because she happened to eavesdrop on a conversation where he said he doesn't wanna date her? that's cruelty but all the other stuff isn't?

[dusty-daydreams]

I think Bridgerton ruined itself when it stopped giving scandals their proper weight.

In the scene between Colin and Cressida in the final episode of season three Colin seems pretty convinced that Cressida just needs to spend the off season or perhaps a year or two being quiet in the countryside and then people will forgive her and let her back into society.

This feels ludicrous- because that’s not how societies based on reputation work.

However, for all that Bridgerton claims to be about the dynamics of reputation, it shies away from consequences.

This is perhaps most clearly seen in Eloise’s story. At the end of season 2, Eloise is ruined - outed as convorting with not only men unchaperoned but working class political radicals. Her name, and to a large extent her family’s name should be mud. Should be poison.

Then in the first episode of season 3 Eloise is out and about at society events with no comment on it at all.

If the show actually did what it claimed too - be telling a romance story in a setting where scandals can make or break you, Eloise would not be welcome back in society.

Another example of Bridgerton failing the follow through with the scandals is how they decided to partially write Anthony and Kate out of the show.

The writers were confronted with a problem - Johnathan Bailey has outgrown this show - so how do we write him out?

They decided first to send him and his wife on an illogical second honeymoon and then they decide that Anthony ‘overprotective’ Bridgerton would be fine taking his pregnant wife across the world on a multi-month journey.

This is all especially illogical when the answer to their problem comes in taking the scandals of last season properly.

They could have easily had Anthony and Kate decide to stay home at Aubry Hall and spare his family the direct association between himself and the HUGE scandal that was their relationship last season. They could still have had Anthony and Kate pop back up to do the scenes they need to as the couple “visiting the family in London” but if the scandals consequences were taken seriously, it would make sense why they aren’t in the show that much, they just decided to avoid society and stay home in the country.

Which brings me to the reason why they seemingly decided to abandon the scandals having consequences.

Because the biggest scandal monger suddenly became the main character this season. Which meant that if her actions had REALISTIC visible negative consequences it would be hard to root for her.

Which means that Bridgerton sacrificed its Stakes and its Drama so that Penelope Featherington would be likeable - because they weren’t willing to have her put in the work to truly improve

[orangepeelshortbreadcookies]

Snorting at Penelope swaying on the dancefloor with Debling over the stringquartet cover of Happier Than Ever, precisely at the lyrics: And I don't talk shit about you on the internet/Never told anyone anything bad . When it's literally all she does.

This has to be comedy right? The show does realise how ridiculous the song choice for this particular scene is?

[lovelyo]

aight, why didn’t the show, since it wants to firmly believe that they’re all about feminism and what not, try to counter Cressida’s mom’s ideology of women being enemies by having Pen and Cressida put their differences aside and work together to get through their situations, show a sign of solidarity amongst women.

if the writers didn’t dope Eloise up with dumbass gas, she could’ve convinced Penelope to help Cressida, since she’s the bastion of women’s right and she wants to help young women see that their rights don’t have to be compromised cause of the patriarchy, right? Start small and be the middle man between Pen and Cressida and get them to see that they’re more alike than they really think and see that both their reasons come from feeling powerless. The rest really takes care of itself.

but alas, that requires thinking and not wanking off Penelope.

[emilykaldwen]

the friendship break up hurts, I totally get it, and it was big of Eloise to tell her that she was too hard on herself. But also I think it's really important that you know what? sometimes there's fuck ups you can't come back from, and actions have consequences. Because the whole Whistledown plot says a lot about pen's character and there needs to be long lasting fallout from that. Because it's not just Eloise Pen hurt, Pen hurts and continues to fucking hurt so many people.

[theothergal]

I'm not done defending Eloise.

You really want me to believe that SHE Is treating Penelope badly?

As far as we've seen, she has given Penelope much more grace than people are willing to recognise.

First, She didn't reveal her secret even thought Penelope threw her under the bus to save her skin. Hell, she kept her secret after Penelope wrote that article about Colin! After what she discovered, even if Penelope still talks shit about her brother, she still protects her.

She even protects her from Cressida, and when Cressida rips her dress, Eloise tells Penelope that she's sorry.

Then there's their confrontation at Penelope's house where Eloise wishes her well even thought she doesn't want her as a friend anymore, which Is an incredibly mature way to handle the situation.

So, Eloise so far has covered, protected and even shown sympathy to Penelope, despite what she had done to her and her family, and you still think she's the bad guy?

What else Is she supposed to do?

[torchwood-99]

If you can "understand" Penelope refusing to tell Colin she's LW because she's too scared to face the consequences of her actions, then you can damn well bloody understand Marina not telling Colin about her pregnancy when she's in literal danger of being thrown onto the streets or being forced into marriage with an old, lecherous man.

[icedsodapop]

How can I enjoy watching Penelope Featherington as a feminist of colour when my first impression of her is her White ass publicly humiliating a Black female character becos she felt threatened by said Black female character.

[hamletshoeratio]

Colin telling Eloise that she's fortunate because she has never been in love when it's his other half's fault she had to walk away from "one of the only good things" in her life because LW put him in harm's way.

[angrydemonfawnbaby]

the irony of having eloise call cressida "the viper that she invited into her home" to penelope of all fucking people. I turned the show off after that and i doubt i will ever turn it back on.

penelope, who eloise invited into her home, who spent years using her closeness to the bridgertons for her own gain. penelope, who eloise confided so many secrets in, who turned around and published them knowing full well it could spell ruin for the bridgertons--specifically the bridgerton women.

penelope is the viper, and to try and play it any other way, to try and push that label onto cressida, and to assassinate eloise's character(and colin's, the rest of the bridgertons, and lady danbury and every other character that was forced support this LW bullshit to prop penelope up) isn't just lazy. it's a fucking joke.

[shewhotellsstories]

I'm so glad someone said it. Between the writing and the racist fandom, I can't blame the Black actors for not wanting to stick around long.

"Bridgerton seems to reserve its true horrors for its Black characters in a similar way, with even the cast working to bring this show to life suffering for it. With every new season that is released of the Netflix phenomenon, a new wave of toxicity is unleashed on social media, varying from racist TikToks with thousands of likes disparaging how “ugly” Black characters like John Stirling supposedly are, or tweets harassing any actor of colour who they deem to be a “bad character” on the show as fans did with actress Ruby Barker (Marina Thompson).

The fun of a show like Bridgerton lies in its romantic escapism; we want to watch pretty people fall in love and court scandal in frothy gowns. We want the angst and the drama we were promised, but at every turn Black and brown fans of the show are reminded that they are simply guests in the Bridgerton universe."