Bridgerton Season 4 takes Eloise Bridgerton on a journey where she changes her mind about matters of the heart. That arc isn’t to immediately set her up as the romance series’ next lead. Those spots belong to Hannah Dodd’s Francesca and Masali Baduza’s Michaela. Nevertheless, the character work in this season is critical in setting her up as someone ready to become interested in romance.
She starts in a place entirely removed from it all. Eloise definitively and joyously places herself on “the shelf” as a spinster. That lifestyle is more appealing to her than engaging with the Marriage Mart and entertaining suitors. It’s a believable place for Eloise to be after three seasons of making her beliefs about marriage and society known. The second season sharpens Eloise’s perspective with meetings on workers’ and women’s rights. Bridgerton’s third and fourth seasons don’t directly pick up that specific thread, which is an undeniable letdown.
While the show can repurpose familiar arcs fo Eloise, Bridgerton Season 4 demonstrates how Eloise has grown since Season 1. Gradually, her perceptions of love, marriage, and how they may or may not intersect change. The season leaves Eloise in a place where she says, “Oh, I do love a wedding. All the best people in the same place.” She does clarify that she means “as an attendee.” Regardless, the shock among her loved ones underlines Eloise’s development.
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Hyacinth Helps Change Eloise’s Perspective
The season finds its best and most natural catalyst for Eloise’s development (and vice versa) in the dynamic between her and Hyacinth. Eloise pokes fun at Hyacinth’s finishing lessons and intentions to marry. When Hyacinth ices her out, Eloise has to use those same touchstones to reconnect with her sister. Whether it’s complimenting Hyacinth’s dancing at her recital or trying to get her a feather for that very event, Eloise goes through the motions to get back in her little sister’s good graces. However, Eloise’s superficial interest is evident to Hyacinth, who wants Eloise not to diminish Hyacinth’s passions to uplift hers.
It’s a really compelling conflict that extends back to Season 1 for Eloise. Then, she tells Daphne that she worries marriage and the role of wife that comes with it supersede a woman’s ambitions. She expounds that she sees childbirth as traumatic after seeing Violet nearly lose her life giving birth to Hyacinth after Edmund died. Eloise’s picture of marriage is, understandably, wrapped around so much loss. She can’t see what’s to be gained – not until Season 4 opens her up to that, ironically, through the loss of John Stirling, Francesca’s husband.
That sudden loss reframes so much for so many of the characters. For Eloise, it gives her a chance to see the community and love that marriage can produce. So, she can offer that anecdote when Hyacinth states, “I have been taken up with foolish fantasies when all love truly brings is hardships and sorrow.” Eloise has seen both sides of that coin now in a way that she can no longer deny.
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Eloise Understands Marriage’s Benefits
Eloise’s curiosity about the context of Cressida’s match suggests that Eloise is willing to open her mind. It’s not as clean-cut as marriage is all good or all bad. After all, for Cressida, marriage is a critical step to getting out of a toxic household. Cressida chooses who she gets to marry, too, a stark difference from her circumstances in Season 3. Eloise accepting that means that she can pass on good-faith advice to Posy, encouraging her to marry Lord Barnaby, without feigning interest or the sentiment ringing hollow.
It helps that Eloise watches Benedict fall in love with the Lady in Silver – and Sophie Baek. Part of the season’s success with its earlier montage comes from Eloise’s evolving expressions throughout it. She starts with the intention of helping her brother and ends up being struck by how serious his feelings for the Lady in Silver are. Otherwise, it doesn’t work for Eloise to tell Benedict, “I thought we would be unyielding together in regards to marriage, but you have crossed over to the other side.” She sees – in real time – Benedict change for love. Eloise watches Benedict’s life expand with love and, eventually, a marriage.
All of which folds nicely into Viscountess Kate Bridgerton asking, “But does every young woman not deserve a chance to reform?” This season – this show, really – supports that they do. Eloise can learn from her biased and selfish past by listening to Hyacinth and understanding Cressida. She hears Cressida say that marriage “has the power to change one’s life” and accepts it as true because she knows it. Eloise sees it in so many of the people she loves, including those she’s lost. It makes more sense than ever for Eloise to start to want that companionship and love for herself, even if it’s scary to risk such things.
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