Governess - Tumblr Posts
Philoise ReWrite
Thinking about how Shonda could tweak Eloise’s story to make it fit the world of Bridgerton the Show better, and now I’ve made myself obsessed with an idea I know we won’t get.
Make Eloise a governess.
Since show!Eloise has more of a feminist independence streak, I’d love it if her desire to do more with her life plus all of her talk of girls needing education inspires her to work, and become a governess. Eloise always talks of hating her society, and the big critique of her character is that she doesn’t do anything to really reject it. A woman of her station becoming a governess would be a step down, but would be a positive direction in her journey to be who she wants to be. Book Eloise was content with being a spinster, but show Eloise wouldn’t be content with relying on her brothers or being stuck in the house her whole life.
With Marina dead, Phillip would be in charge of finding a governess to teach the children, and Eloise would write to him to inquire about the job. Since Eloise and Marina are no longer cousins in the show, maybe Eloise hears about the job from Pen, and that’s how they begin their correspondence. For me, this solves one issue I have from the book where Eloise does not know her cousin had children, Philip never tells her in his letters, and she’s surprised when she arrives. Due to how Phillip and Marina got married, I feel like his show character wouldn’t treat taking on the responsibility of becoming a stepparent so lightly anyway. Show Eloise knows there will be children AND that’s she’s going to mind them on purpose. Instead of using her being surprised as a plot point, they can lean into the fact that Show Eloise has a lot of trauma around the idea of being a mother. Season 1 has her remind daphne about how terrifying it was to overhear hyacinth’s birth and violet almost dying, and season 2 shows daphne singing to her in Anthony’s flashback of the night. I see people saying all the time how Eloise criticizes motherhood so it sucks that her story basically makes her a mother immediately, but in the show it’s so clear that there’s trauma there, and each season so far has dealt with trauma left behind from childhood. This is Eloise’s.
As for the rest of it, I think everything else works for show Eloise- falling for someone over letters before she meets them makes sense for a girl who felt such strong kinship with lady whistledown in season 1 and who’s main resentment of the ton is feeling like she’s being stared at and appraised when she dresses up for a ball. Eloise would be secretive about her letters because she’d want to prove she could do the job before giving her brothers the chance to try to talk her out of it. Instead of Eloise throwing caution to the wind and running away because a man proposed to her by post, she’d be running away because she is looking for independence in a career, but subconsciously is attracted to the potential employer writing the letters. A conflict about independence vs depending on someone would be a great way to frame the season for show Eloise. And instead of giving up one for the other, imagine if Phillip- who had to give up his formal education when his brother died- encourages her to teach/be taught? Opening a village school together would give them more to bond over than her just indulging his love of botany.
But if I can’t watch nice things, maybe I can read nice things, so if anyone has a fanfic like this let a girl know!
Orange satin blouse by SheIn, rear-lace faux leather skirt by Xinbeauty, leather fingerless opera gloves by RZ Bohemia, and heels by Steve Madden.