Is Bridgerton Season 2 a Feminist Adaptation of the Shakespearean Character of the Shrew?

Abstract

William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew (c. 1590-1591), categorized as a comedy, foregrounds the place of women in an utterly patriarchal society by depicting the character of Kate, labelled as a shrew, as starved and deprived of sleep by her new husband Petruccio. The play generally proves discomforting to a contemporary audience. Yet, Bridgerton, season 2 (2022), broadcast on Netflix, borrows from Shakespeare’s comedy and revives its shrew. Originally adapted from a series of books by Julia Quinn, the series shows Kate (Simone Ashley) come to London to have her younger sister Edwina (Charithra Chandran) married. The series shares several features with the original playtext of The Taming of the Shrew: a dichotomy between two opposite sisters, an enemy-to-lover trope, and a form of final redemption. This article explores whether Netflix’s Kate may be considered as a feminist version of Shakespeare’s shrew by examining the discrepancy between seemingly feminist strategies and what can be identified as feminist-baiting elements.