Anthony Bridgerton and the Weight of Patriarchy

Yes, I am talking about Bridgerton again, because honestly one of the best parts of this season was how much meat it added to characters allowing for multiple levels of discussion.

Season one’s Anthony was a deeply unlikeable character, a patriarchal brute who wielded his privilege with a mighty arrogance even when it harmed the people he reported to love. Thankfully, in addition to cutting off those sideburns, season two explores why Anthony is like that and it is due to the sudden death of his father.

Spoilers for Bridgerton Season Two

It has been known since the previous season that the former Bridgerton patriarch, Edmund, died suddenly. In episode three we get to see that he died from being stung by a bee in front of his wife and a teenage Anthony. Upon Edmund’s death, Anthony became head of the household, supplanting his mother, and forced to make very difficult decisions.

At the time of his death, Violet Bridgerton was pregnant with their eighth child, Hyacinth. Due to the stress of losing Edmund, her labor was going poorly and the doctor brought Anthony in to make the decision if things went poorly if he should save the child or Violet.

Imagine being forced, right after the death of your father, to be responsible for deciding if your sibling or mother lives?

Violet’s distress is so painful to watch as she cries out that it should be Edmund there making the decision because he loves her. It is painful for Anthony to hear and witness. Thankfully, mother and child are saved, but Violet is in such a state of grief that she really can’t function, leaving it up to Anthony to guide the family.

He may not have been a “child” but that is too much responsibility to put onto someone just because they are the eldest son.

It was also made a lot clearer this season that this has made Anthony a de facto parent to all of his younger siblings. To some of them, he is the only father figure they have ever had.

That sort of adultification can only turn toxic when you live in a society that hasn’t invented therapy yet and has told men that they can and even must wield that sort of authority so young.

Anthony’s previous bad behavior didn’t appear out of nowhere, it comes from being told he had to be a man right after emotional trauma. After seeing his mother fall apart, his detachment from love is so heavy on his soul, that when we finally do see him cry in relief that Kate is okay after she falls from a horse later in the season, you feel the weight of that moment.

It is only when he allows himself to cry that he really starts healing and figuring out how to be a whole person again—sharing the burden rather than carrying it alone to the point where it hurts everyone around him.

The patriarchy f*cks all of us up.

(image: Netflix)