We Need To Talk About The Bridgerton Rape Scene

We Need To Talk About The Bridgerton Rape Scene

Once again, Shonda Rimes has pulled through with another fantastic TV show. Following in the footsteps of Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and How To Get Away With Murder, Bridgerton was as captivating and as much of a hit as her previous successful shows.

In fact, Bridgerton has been named as Netflix's biggest drama as of date, with a whopping 82 million households around the country tuning in to binge the series within only 28 days. And it's no surprise! With a gorgeous cast, a humorous take on regency social etiquette, compelling characters, and stunning costumes and scenery, it makes sense why the series has captured the hearts of so many people.

In case you haven't watched the show, Bridgerton's main storyline follows a wealthy woman named Daphne who has come of age and has entered society (aka, she's on the hunt for a man.) At the same time, notorious rake (19th century slang for fuckboy) the Duke of Hastings has returned to London for 'business'. In the fashion one of my favourite romance tropes - let's pretend that we're dating and whoops we accidentally fall in love - Daphne and the Duke strike up a faux-mance so that a) the other men in society get jealous of the Duke, and start competing for Daphne's attention, and b) the Duke is able to pretend that he is courting Daphne and thus fend off the advances of other women and their pestering mothers.

It's no surprise that eventually the two start to develop feelings for each other, but for some reason, the Duke seems unwilling to commit (we've all been there, ladies.) Until one night when Daphne runs off into the garden during a late-night ball, only for the Duke to follow after her. After a tense conversation, they kiss! much to the audience's delight. That is until Daphne's older and extremely possessive brother catches them, and demands that the Duke marry his sister immediately so as to avoid shame being cast upon his family. Because, as we all know, an unmarried woman is certainly ruined and lost of all value after she makes out with a rich handsome man. Duh.

The Duke refuses, and says he will duel Daphne's brother instead because apparently, he'd rather risk death than marry her? Ouch. Daphne then goes on to interrupt this ridiculous performance of toxic masculinity to say that she will marry the Duke because someone else spotted their steamy session in the gardens and may potentially tell society. In a hushed moment, the Duke tells Daphne that the reason he didn't want to marry her is that he can't have children, something he knows she wants. She says it doesn't matter, and they get married.

Cue a few days of awkward interactions and sexual tension, and they finally admit their feelings for each other. This is where things get steamy. The next few episodes essentially make up a montage of Daphne and the Duke having sex in various locations around his estate, in the library, on the grounds, and pretty much anywhere else with a fairly stable surface.

But here's where it gets interesting.

For the eagle-eyed viewer, they'd notice that every time the Duke and Daphne have sex, the Duke... ahem... interrupts the session right at the end. Daphne, who up until meeting the Duke had never had sex and received absolutely no sex education from her mother, isn't able to recognise why this is.

That is until she starts to grow suspicious, and asks one of her servants to give her a sex education lesson. Because, obviously, poor people know about these things. After being filled in, young Daphne is able to put 2 + 2 together. It's not that the Duke can't have children, it's that he doesn't want to. Hence the coitus-interruptus method.

So what does Daphne do? Does she calmly confront her husband and have a mature discussion about this? 

No, she rapes him.

That's right. We need to address this moment and say it how it is - Daphne rapes the Duke. After finding out this new information, she initiates sex with the Duke, but this time she's on top. This allows her to dominate the Duke, and right before he usually pulls away from her towards the end, Daphne forces the Duke to remain under her. Thus unable to withdraw from her.

Immediately upon watching this I was extremely uncomfortable. It's clearly visible on the Duke's face that he is distressed and doesn't want to do this. In fact, he audibly says to her "Wait. Wait. Daphne - Daphne." But Daphne continues, forcing the Duke to engage in a sexual act that he very clearly isn't consenting to. Now, if the roles were reversed and it was the tall and dominating Duke on top of poor feeble Daphne, and she was begging him to stop, we would be screaming from the rooftops about this appalling rape scene. So where is the same energy for Daphne?

Within the show, no one mentions this moment again apart from them waiting to see if Daphne is pregnant. The Duke doesn't talk about this violation, instead, he just sulks and punishes her with his silence. And, at the end of the series, there's no retribution or even mention of it either. We see a montage where Daphne is pregnant with the Duke's child and eventually gives birth - and that's it! Roll credits. No mention of it again.

Outside of the show, I'll admit, I haven't seen many people talking about it either.

And, when people do talk about it, it's often in defense of Daphne. Whilst one could potentially argue that her lack of sex education and experience within the area has left her unable to grasp the concept of rape and consent, this argument does have some flaws. Earlier on in the series, another man attempts to force himself on Daphne, and she fights him off. For the rest of the series, she mentions this moment and how what he did was improper and wrong. If she has such an idea of consent here, why does she not understand it when it comes to her marriage?

The rape scene certainly raises questions about the issue of marital rape. Maybe Daphne feels entitled to the Duke now that he is married to her. Or, perhaps, a racial element comes into play. Daphne is a white woman and the Duke a Black man, and thus Daphne holds a much greater position of power in this dynamic. There's a possibility that this, whether consciously or subconsciously, is what allowed her to assault the Duke. 

It's true that Daphne is a vulnerable woman due to her lack of sexual knowledge, coupled with the fact that her mere existence was to find a nice man and marry him. She lacks very little agency and perhaps the sexual assault scene was her attempt at reclaiming it.

But, at the end of the day, it was and still is rape. And it was disappointing to see that this wasn't addressed properly inside or outside the show. Male rape is a very prevalent issue, and whilst the biggest perpetrators of male rape are other men, women are perfectly capable of raping men too. I was let down to see that Shonda Rimes and the other writers and producers didn't choose this moment to tackle such an important issue, but rather brush it under the rug and pretend it never happened.

In the book the series was inspired by, Daphne's rape is even clearer, made by the fact that the Duke is intoxicated and Daphne is sober. The author of the book, Julia Quinn, says to BooksAndKrys that “Yes, it was shocking, but no one seemed to feel that Daphne had done anything morally wrong. It was only as years passed and we gained new understanding of ‘consent’ that people started to question her actions.”

For clarification, the book was written in 2000.

And, given that Quinn was the consultant on the show, this would have been the perfect opportunity for Quinn to address this issue and tackle it with a more modern and current lens. Quinn could have rectified the issue which she seems so willing to dismiss.

In any case, I will be watching Bridgerton series 2 to see if the rape scene is brought back up and mentioned. I'd like to think that as more people speak about it, the writers and producers may feel compelled to address it and remedy the situation.

In the meantime, Bridgerton is still a great series. But this certainly makes it a lot more problematic and unenjoyable.