Regency Romances over Time: A Comparison between Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton: The Duke and I and Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, and Sense and Sensibility.

Abstract

[Abstract] This present study intends to demonstrate the evolution of novels set in the Regency period but written in the twenty-first century through the comparison of the novel Bridgerton: The Duke and I by the American author Julia Quinn and Jane Austen’s classics Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. Incorporating the differences and similarities found in these three works; this analysis attempts to demonstrate that narratives set in the same era not only can resemble but also differ from one another depending on the social context in which the authors are writing. As a consequence, in order to establish these factors, different main common topics in both novels of manners explored by Austen such as marriage, gender, love, education, courtship, family, the role of letters, property, social pressure, manners, and her style of writing will be analysed and contrasted with the approach in which they are presented in Bridgerton: The Duke and I. The themes will include an actual explanation of society context from Regency times when needed to contrast the novels. In addition, the analysis will be supported with textual evidence chosen from the three works mentioned before. The results obtained show that the authors' style of writing, the description of love, and the importance of manners, are portrayed with a very different view from Austen’s to Quinn’s novels. Due to the fact that the contemporary author applies a perspective from the twenty-first century, not only by using romantic and vulgar language but also by seeing manners as an obstacle to happiness. However, subtle changes are made in the topics of education and letters. Firstly, because Quinn also includes interpersonal growth of the characters to the field; and secondly, because messages lack importance in Bridgerton: The Duke and I. However, the rest of the topics provide a very similar panorama of the Regency era. The findings further indicate that Quinn’s novel combines conventions prevalent in British society during Austen’s life while blending them with twenty-first century issues to the plot so that it enables contemporary readers to establish a deeper connection with the characters.