Bridgerton covers a lot of topics that we’d have seen in the past. There is the focus on women finding a good match to help their families succeed, and a focus on lifestyles of the upper class. Of course, for the most part, it’s a romance series.
That doesn’t mean that everything is a happy story. We just have to look at how many marriages were for position and money rather than for love. Those that were for love weren’t all that easy to gain as families has other opinions.
One of the topics that comes up is marital rape. Some fans think that there is almost a humor in the subject when it comes to Lady Danbury. Does Bridgerton have a problem with downplaying it?
We have to avoid putting a 21st century view onto the topics in Bridgerton?
One of the scenes brought up is where Lady Danbury simply complies with her husband to “do the deed.” In a way, this is marital rape. She doesn’t want to do it, but it’s not like her husband will really give her the choice. Instead of arguing back, she just accepts that it is the way it is.
Putting a 21st century view onto this is where there’s a problem. We could view the show as downplaying what is really happening here. However, at the time, it wasn’t viewed as marital rape. That wasn’t even a thing that existed until 1979. That’s when the term was first used, and it took a long time to have it taken seriously.
Up until then, it was an expectation in marriage. In the time of Bridgerton, women were little more than property. Husbands expected what they expected and women simply had to conform. For Lady Danbury, it becomes part of a chore of being a wife. Yes, if that was done in a show set now, it would be downplaying what it really is. In terms of a show set in the 18th century, it is showing the realities of the time.
Bridgerton is available to stream on Netflix.