Happy Benophie Week!
Day 1: The Waltz
Cosimo Galluzzi
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Janaina Medeiros

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@ohsocaleypsoeman
Happy Benophie Week!
Day 1: The Waltz
My love has made me selfish. I cannot exist without you – I am forgetful of everything but seeing you again – my Life seems to stop there – I see no further. You have absorb’d me. I have a sensation at the present moment as though I was dissolving – I should be exquisitely miserable without the hope of soon seeing you … I have been astonished that Men could die Martyrs for religion – I have shudder’d at it – I shudder no more – I could be martyr’d for my Religion – Love is my religion – I could die for that – I could die for you.
"The Human Seasons" by John Keats // Benedict & Sophie
... one analysis that might be proposed is that the poet is submitting his hand for either acceptance or rejection, in a formal manner: he is, quite literally, offering his hand. "This living hand, now warm and capable" by John Keats // Benedict and Sophie
...the world needs more of it. francesca bridgerton and benedict bridgerton: on queer hope
... in the temple of Castor and Pollux at Ostia, a calm smoothed the sea, the wind changed to a gentle southern breeze, and the ships entered the harbour under full sail and again crammed the storehouses with grain. anthony and benedict bridgerton - who parents the parents?
benedict bridgerton and violet bridgerton - who is the mother and who is the mirror?
francesca bridgerton and sophie baek - on mothers and the inescapable bonds they share with their daughters
benedict and sophie as the sun and the moon
benedict and sophie and the orpheus and eurydice of it all
Still thinking about Bton s4 and Benophie because like
Sophie and Benedict constantly demonstrate agency and participation in their relationship. Sophie's love for him has him revive his passion for art, which literally brings him back to life. Benedict's love for her has her do away with her views on love as something purely transactional, and has her change fundamentally as a person.
There's no need for them to get together, to choose the other despite the risks but they do. The other couples always have this prior groundwork upon which their relationship's inevitability is built on. Saphne had the fake romance that kept them obligated to each other. Kate and Anthony were arch enemies, so surely they should channel in that excess passion to love, right? And Polin have known each other all their lives, so it is inevitable they get together. Almost always, in romance shows or just rom-coms in general we have this reasoning for their compatibility- not a possibility, rather a certainty that two people are destined to be together for so and so reasons.
There's no inevitability with Benedict and Sophie which is the best part. There's no rigid rationale, no secret algorithm behind their union. It is entirely built on empathy. Benedict falls for Sophie because she sees him, she gives him a chance. Sophie falls for Benedict because he is kind. It isn't written in the stars. It isn't destiny, it isn't obvious from the beginning with their longing looks or whatever (for god's sake they kiss in episode one!). It happens because well, it happens and it stays alive not because of the Queen or Lady Danbury or some external force, rather because Benedict and Sophie keep it alive.
Sophie's sooo amazing because she's so unsubtle with her flirting. Like in the previous seasons, you have all these leads eyeing each other, giving subtle glances and it's all so heated and romantic, meanwhile Sophie just fucking stares directly at Benedict when they were taking their meal in the cottage, tells him to his face that 'she cannot help but notice him' not even bothering to take her words back and in the masquerade, literally flirts with him by going, "Do you not wish to wade deeper with me?" and fucking initiates the kiss and just dips out, like she is NOT subtle at all and I love that so much for her. She's so open and honest, that it prompts Benedict to be open and honest with her.
Like Benedict here is thinking of poetic things to say to woo Sophie, meanwhile she's all, "I don't have time for all of this. I'm just going to stare at you and tell you exactly what I'm thinking."
I really hope the LiS reveal is not dramatic or earth-shattering as it is in the books. I hope it is a very quiet revelation that is for Benedict and Benedict alone to figure out. I'd love for the realisation to sink in slowly and all at once, as he connects the dots.
I do think in the show, he would be more understanding of Sophie so as to not react poorly (?) if that makes sense? In the books, he is obviously hurt, but in the show he is sort of desperate to understand her. He wants to know all her secrets and genuinely feels remorse and confusion when she quietly refuses his offer. I heard that the Offer part would be wrapped up by Episode 5, so I'd think Benedict would get some clarity as to what Sophie fears. I do think he would be a little sympathetic (and very, very depressed because Sophie felt the need to actively hide this secret from him and he must interpret it as a 'back to square one' situation where he must, again, prove to her he is worthy to be trusted) to her situation, and let the realisation just dawn on him.
I'd also hate it if Anthony or anyone, really, was involved in this part. Much like in the books, I'd like for him to figure it out on his own.
Worthy to note that Benedict did not fall in love with Sophie because she was the LiS, he fell in love with the LiS because she is Sophie.
He takes an interest in the Lady in Silver, feeling devastated and lost in the absence of her but when he later recounts the experience, he confesses he has never known her at all. He doesn't remember what she looks like, he has vague sketches of her- each leading him astray in his search and abruptly decides his search is pointless - his search, consisting of publishing his woes in Whistledown, attending soirees and basically participating in society and conforming to what is expected of him. When he participates in the society that is very quick to shun people for being any different, his search yields him nothing. He is quick to give up, comforted by an old fantasy and eager to move on.. and that is when he meets Sophie.
Benedict meets Sophie in the most unlikeliest of ways. He's drunk, vulnerable and has no interest in well, living his life as a gentleman anymore. He sees Hazel in trouble, he sees Sophie rescue her - putting herself in danger in place of her friend and he's overcome by this swell of righteousness, confusion and anger and decks Cavender in the face before he does more harm. He doesn't know Sophie. He doesn't know Hazel. He knows his gentlemanly friends, but it is when he is confronted with this uncomforting reality where his gentlemanly friends and the rest of the Ton see maids as disposable, forgettable and exploitable, he really truly sees it all. When he is detached from the fantasy, ever-spring land of Mayfair, he sees the cold cruelty and wishes to colour it with kindness.
Sophie is.. disturbingly honest. She doesn't thank him, not yet, because he's cost her her employment. Sophie knows how good he can be, but that was before. That was when she had pretended to be some noble woman and he gave her dance lessons. She is only a maid now. Benedict pleads with her, desperately and convinces her to come with him. He promises he'll find employment for Hazel as well, knowing how important it is to Sophie. He goes the extra mile, all for a maid, because he cannot possibly grapple with a world that is so deeply broken and unkind. He's not used to it, for he's used to bright colours, pleasures and familial comfort. Sophie is wary because she knows how people tend to treat maids - even the kindest of gentlemen cannot be trusted, constantly waits for Benedict to simply discard her somewhere, but.. he doesn't. He fixes his kite for her. He encourages her to leisure. He doesn't tell her he's .. insanely injured, therefore subjecting her to the role of a housemaid yet again. He writes to all his friends on behalf of Sophie and Hazel.
And he's also drawn to her. Sophie doesn't know. Benedict loves her whimsy, her enthusiasm, her curiosity. He notices all the small things, even noticing her change of clothing. She's witty, she humbles him a lot, she is achingly honest and doesn't see vulnerability as a weakness (going as far as to talk about how she flew kites in her childhood and how important it was to her - she never had to tell him all of that!) and genuine.
Benedict confuses her with the Lady in Silver ("When we were at My Cottage, did you ask me about feeling out of place?") not because he thinks the LiS is Sophie, rather he recognises Sophie in the LiS, subconsciously. He now associates genuineness, openness and kindness with Sophie, to the point where he is visibly offended when Miss Hollis (indirectly) calls her a fool. His memories of LiS are so tied to Sophie, again, not because he thinks the mystery woman is her, but because he loves Sophie's kindness so much, he lets it superimpose his memories of LiS ("Lakes, deep waters", "French", basically the whole Miss Hollis scene lmao).
The LiS is a fantasy, because she can never be seen again. She was a temporary, passing ember of goodness in a society that rewards gossip over truths and perpetrators over survivors. Sophie is a reality, a permanent ember of everything good in the world. Benedict's reality invades his fantasy so much until he can only see the reality of it all - that he ought to be with Sophie, whatever it takes. Benedict's choosing of Sophie over the LiS is not a reality vs fantasy thing, rather him considering reality as the fantasy itself, taking reality as the one he is meant to strive for - instead of trying to construct a dreamscape to escape into - this thing that can "change him entirely".
Another thing I really love about Benophie as a concept is that it is totally in-character for Benedict to fall in love with Sophie. He loves contradictions. It is the first thing he notices about her ("you're at a ball but you cannot dance, you have a remarkable sense of self-preservation but you feel like an outsider") and the first thing he notices when they meet again, in the library scene, when she shows him that she can read, speak French but somehow wishes to be a lowly maid. He is full of contradictions as well ("the style is unrestrained, but it gives the impression of reality").
And it is very in-character for Sophie to fall in love with Benedict as well! She sees right through him in the masquerade, because she too feels like an impostor. "Will you not wade deeper with me?" she means it! She sees a certain goodness in him (which makes the mistress offer even more heartbreaking, but i digress) and she knows how society never rewards goodness, nor does it take kindly to "impostors" who strive to be earnest either. When they meet again, she becomes the recipient of his kindness once more. She notices he has not changed in the slightest. (Plus, given how hopeless Sophie feels, as if the world is against her and there's no kindness ever, to have Benedict in her life prove her wrong is just incredibly important to me)
No wonder they're so tethered, even in scenes where they are not together. Benedict sees Sophie everywhere, in contradictions and beautiful crookedness - in broken, frustrating buttons to start. Sophie sees Benedict everywhere - in the kindness the family treats her with, the friendships she has in her new household. It's crazy. They're crazy.
I hope Benedict actually goes against his family. I hope he garners support from seemingly no one and I hope he fights them all off. The Bridgertons are very accepting, but they're so comforted by palatable love stories that they can pass on to their children. Violet, as gentle as she can be, personally ensures her children are all respectably married - akin to her marriage to Edmund (I do hope her new relationship would help her deepen her understanding of relationships). Benedict marrying someone mountains in stations below him would not only upset the social order, but would also provoke these characters to actually think about these social hierarchies. It'll make up for some very interesting conversation and seasons to come (that is, if the showrunners decide to forget the existence of the 'downstairs' in the forthcoming seasons) and I'm glad the Mondriches are involved here.
Love the queer undertones in Benedict's story a lot. While yes, he ends up with a woman, she is still deemed "unsuitable" and not of Benedict's world. This takes me back to Granville's speech from S1, when he confronts Benedict over his whole free-spiritedness, "You want to live a life outside of society's expectations, but you're all talk. It takes courage to act on it."
For the majority of the past seasons, Benedict's companions have always been of his own class - or in and around it. He is pansexual, but he practices his queerness away in this nice sphere of isolation, along with like-minded people who are also of his station. He's comforted to conform to society's expectations, while keeping his life of debauchery a personal secret that does not spiritually affect him. He thinks he can have a similar life with Sophie - where she's like his Tilley or Paul, or Genevieve even - a happy little secret, a life they can agree on.
When Benedict and Sophie do return from the Cottage, he actually faces the reality. The mistress offer is a shortsighted, yet a necessary consequence of his thought process. He's always been easy-going, he doesn't want to upset social order, his art is provocative but safe, he likes it here, where it is all warm and pleasant, he cherishes his family.
He is drawn to things he cannot love openly - widows, maids and men - and doesn't attempt to conform, but he doesn't want to give up his comfort to truly lead a life away on his own terms.
I know we are all waiting for Francesca's season to really delve into queer themes, but Benedict's story is just as important and is such an excellent precursor to Eloise's and Fran's stories. While his sisters are more outspoken against the discomforts they face, Benedict.. doesn't have to. He's a bachelor from a respectable family. He can do whatever he likes. If not for Violet's constant pushing, he can, ideally, abstain from marriage.
Sophie is such a beautiful foil to him, because while he has it all and struggles to preserve it all, she has none but preserves all of herself very well. To have Benedict, in Part 2, say a "fuck you" to society to give Sophie everything is just incredible because he's finally accepting of himself. He doesn't want to swim in shallow waters, wear faces and feel like an impostor - a conformist by day, but a free-spirit at night. It is not him. As he fights for Sophie, he finds his true self along the way and it's just so wonderful.