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The secret is out and the ton now finally knows who is the mysterious Lady Whistledown. A Regency Era version of a gossip columnist, Penelope was the protagonist of this season of Bridgerton and as she came out with her secret identity in front of her peers and accepted how she had hurt them, betrayed them, and caused them a lot of mental anguish by dragging their names through the mud, it felt like Penelope deserved some kind of punishment for her actions. Instead, she walked away scot free as her sisters released some butterflies and the Queen forgave her by just flicking her hand. Penelope, however, promised to use her pen wisely in future but her actions in the past continue to be just as unforgivable.
We don’t live in the Regency Era anymore but the Whistledowns continue to exist. Be it in the form of ‘Bollywood blinds’ or anonymous trolls on the internet, the idea of spreading gossip about someone, that doesn’t land you in any sort of trouble, has plagued us all. In India, for instance, the concept of writing ‘Bollywood blinds’, which is basically gossip about film celebrities without mentioning their name, has been a common practice for decades now. The practice started getting vicious in the last few years and after the tragic passing of Sushant Singh Rajput in 2020, it was seen as one of the things that could affect the mental health of a vulnerable human being. On paper, we know that this practice of discussing intimate details about someone’s life is borderline immoral, yet, somehow we can’t stop ourselves from doing it. In any social setting, cliques are made when they bond over a common interest but they thrive only when they find someone to oppose, or to hate.
In Bridgerton, much like in real life, there are two sides to this argument. There are those who have been hurt by Whistledown and see her as the woman who unnecessarily interferes in their business, and reveals it to the rest of the world, but there are those who are jealous of the power she holds. Penelope too recognises the power she holds but doesn’t understand the responsibility that comes with it. At one point, even her mother is jealous of what Penelope has made of herself, and the money that comes with it, is a bonus for the Featherington family. Eloise and Colin are completely cognizant of the damage that has been done through these gossip articles as their reputation has suffered because of it, and if it wasn’t Penelope, they wouldn’t have been kind to the person who scarred them. Of course, Penelope found a job and became financially independent but the cost was paid by the rest of the ton. And the cost wasn’t certainly worth it.
But this isn’t the conversation that Bridgerton wants to have. This is the show where the most talked about segment of this season is the ‘mirror scene’. Even though every episode of the show has opened and closed with the voice-over of Lady Whistledown, and the show’s central narrative has been all about what she will write in her issue, Bridgerton chose to forgive the actions of the gossip columnist with just a wave. After Penelope’s confession, and her plea to the ton where she promises to be more responsible with her writing, you see her with a baby, and learn that she is editing her husband’s travelogues, while also writing her own column. As her her real name is attached to the column, she can’t afford to be hateful, so being kind isn’t really a choice but a necessary compulsion.
For every other character whose life has gotten affected because of Whistledown, she is the vamp. She is another version of the ‘pados-vali-aunty’ who cares more about what’s happening in other people’s homes and somehow finds joy in others’ misery. She has tricked herself into thinking that she is like the newswoman of the town, but she is actually the gossip writer who can break marriages, and destroy families. Because she does not realise the power of her quill, she also does not understand that her actions have consequences.
In real life, the Whistledowns don’t cease to exist because of someone’s moral crisis. In fact, if someone tries to shut down one troll, five others pop up in their place. The trolls don’t need anyone’s permission to make stuff up about others, and they certainly don’t need actual information to educate their readers. And much like the world of Bridgerton, they would get away with it just as smoothly, and here, they wouldn’t even have to out their identity.
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