#anti Edwina

[ladyenamoured]

If They Hadn't Gone to Sleep

Summary:

Canon divergence - Before they go to sleep in the gazebo Kate talks about her conflicted feelings and Anthony is honest with himself and Kate about his feelings. They talk and everything changes.

Link to fic

(Please note that this is not Edwina friendly, if you don't like that, please don't read.)

Big thank you to @kateandanthonyaremyparents for all the amazing help! 😊🥰

[steelrosewrites]

I saw your post about Edwina being a spoiled brat how do you think she should have reacted on the wedding day? how would you have improved the scene?

I did delete it for a reason. When I wrote that post it was a small rant that I didn’t expect to show up in the Edwina tags because I didn’t explicitly tag Edwina - that was my mistake. But I wrote it as a rant because I was sick of seeing things painting Kate as this big manipulator. However, when I said that Edwina was a spoiled brat, I was generalising because I was ranting, and not because I planned to have a comprehensive conversation about it. So this is the only time I’m going to discuss this topic again because I don’t generally engage in character arguments etc, so I won’t be mentioning it again. 

I don’t hate Edwina, I’ll say that for starters. Some of the things that she’s says do upset me, but I’ll touch on that in a moment. Her characterisation compared to the books was disappointing, since book!edwina was definitely more switched on. But I get that in the TV show they wanted to up the stakes by having the failed wedding, rather than it being a mutual decision based off their lack of compatibility. 

When Edwina first flees the wedding, I think her reaction is justified and it’s sad to watch it all unfold. I really pity her in that moment because her world has definitely just been flipped on it’s head. So up until the point when Mary tells Kate to leave the room, I have no problem with how things happen. In the grand scheme of things I wish it didn’t have to happen at all, but that’s because I would’ve preferred them to follow the original book plot - but again, it is what it is. 

It’s these specific lines which I dislike from Edwina, and where I find her to be out of order and spoiled. 

“Half-sister” This was spiteful and cruel to say, and it triggers me every single time that I hear it. I have a very similar family dynamic and it would break my heart if my brother said that to me, so I know how that must have hurt Kate.

“Today you have lost your power, while I have made up my own mind." While Kate is in many ways considered the family's leader, due to Mary taking a step back after Miles death, beyond protecting her family and ensuring they didn't drown in debt...what power was she wielding exactly? I mean up until this point Edwina was very eager to have Kate's assistance, and Kate was bending over backwards to make things happen for her sister.

“..at least I know I’m kinder-hearted than you.” When Edwina says this, I think it feels quite hollow. What evidence is she basing this on? Kate has made mistakes, yes, but it has only ever come from a place of love. She was willing to break her own heart to ensure that Edwina's didn't. Edwina is saying words which she knows will hurt Kate, which is the opposite of being kind-hearted.

Edwina argues that she never asked for any of it, but she did! I've seen many compilation videos proving how she contradicts herself here, as well as watching the show more times than I can count. So I find her arguments to be weak on that front. She had the privilege of being the younger sister and never having to face the burdens that Kate has. Of course, Edwina doesn’t know of all the sacrifices that Kate is made, and she can’t be blamed for her ignorance completely. I also don’t think she can be blamed for falling for the charming Viscount that Anthony was putting on (Although I do believe that if Kate wasn't in the picture at all, he wouldn't have tried half as hard at that. He was only really trying to prove Kate wrong in the beginning.) However, Edwina is so focused on her own life and how everyone shifts around her to make her dreams come true, that she doesn’t consider doing something for others.

I’m glad that they did make attempts to redeem Edwina in the last episode. But I’m sad that they damaged the sisterhood in this way. I knew they would though, from that first episode when Kate says, “This place may feel different, but it will never change the way you and I see each other .” It definitely felt like a dark sense of foreboding. 

I do want to reiterate that I don't hate Edwina, but I do hate the way that she treated Kate after the fact (up until the accident). She was entitled to be upset by what had happened, and I'm not saying that she should've just merrily gone on her way after Kate and Anthony were making eyes at one another, but she was cruel to Kate afterwards and I do stand by that belief.

[sukibenders]

Bridgerton states from season one, through Simon and Lady Danbury, to season two, with the Sharmas, to Queen Charlotte, from the beginning episode to the end spelled out clear as day, that racism exists in this world and many of the characters of colors have been impacted by it in some way. And, supposedly, I'm supposed to believe that Marina, that Kate and Edwina, that they all had more privilege and power than Penelope? No, I don't think so, a lot of things aren't right with that statement.

[mariailoveyou-guerin]

Colin was always an Edwina stan, ofc he knows as little bro to a trash big sibling of course he didn’t get devil Kate anything 🤭 why would he the girl that betrayed backstabbed her own sister for a man! And that’s why Colin will always be so real and the only Bridgerton boy

Colin always had best taste and was always sucker for smart direct outspoken pretty smiley girl in pink dress

the fact that Anthony gave Edwina a horse and they bare knew each other only because she said she liked animals and he would’ve gotten something for Edwina too and pen when it’s not normal to give gifts to non family members but it’s cutee Edwina is so loved by all

The Bridgerton family loves Edwina so much like same!Oh she’s my favorite Bridgerton sister love her down🥹

[moonflower91]

Eloise is a mean girl. A really mean, non girls-girl.

She’s the Janice Ian of the Bridgerton universe. She thinks she’s special, innocent and a victim because she’s different, but in reality, she’s just as bad as Cressida.

She rolled her eyes at other girls having hobbies that are traditionally feminine. She hates that they want to marry, not acknowledging in all her spoiled rich girl privilege that is how a woman of that time secured her future out of poverty. She even acknowledges she can’t stand women who don’t share her thoughts and opinions.

All in all, I don’t like Eloise Bridgerton

[shewhotellsstories]

“Penelope was only 17,” rings a lot more hallow when you think about the fact that no one seems to care that Marina, Edwina, and Eloise are roughly the same age and received so little compassion. Their actions cost them something from the embarrassment of an aborted wedding to public humiliation to thinking your sister would die before you mended fences with her. Penelope however has consistently gotten off scot free.

[dollypopup]

sorry, just had to get this off my chest but like

colin, a young and attractive guy, supposedly having a threesome and watching a sex show performed by professionals whom he pays for their service when he is single and exploring what he does and doesn't like is bad for penelope, somehow

but debling a 30+ year old man feeling all up on her waist in public when she is a teenager and he has power and privilege over her and has known her for a grand total of like a week and a half is good, somehow

like this fandom has legit called Colin, a 22 year old man with like. . .2 UNCONFIRMED sexual interactions in the past a groomer for getting with Penelope and maybe introducing her to his interests (after spending YEARS listening to her and cherishing her and thinking she's fantastic) but will root on the actual 30+ year old man with an enormous power imbalance over her via his money and title to have his way with her in a backroom somewhere after knowing her for like a month

make it make sense please

[astridthevalkyrie]

I would fully be on edwina’s side if she was angry with kate and anthony for, yknow, having feelings for each other and not telling her and almost letting her enter a marriage where her husband would be in love with her sister. that’s terrible. but why does bridgerton make her say…so many things that have nothing to do with what kate and anthony actually did? what is all this about “I’m leaving your dreams behind and not mine” “you’ve lost your power” “at least I know I am kinder-hearted than you” babe what are you talking about why are you acting like you’re getting out of a marriage kate forced you into 😭

[poohsxhunny]

A female character can do bad things and be flawed and be annoying and say things she shouldn’t and get angry and be slutty and be loud and be unlikeable and do unhinged things and take up space all while being a good character to the story. I hate seeing women who are overly perfect on screen.

This also extends to real life when we talk about how women are inherently kinder, mature, emotionally stable, detail oriented, better at communicating, and natural care takers. No the fuck we’re not!! We are fucking human beings too who make mistakes and we hate to admit when we do, get angry with others and ourselves for the wrong reasons, ignore or ghost people instead of having that hard convo, use people to get what we want, etc. I’m not inherently good because I have a uterus. That’s gender essentialist bullshit!! It just causes women and girls to be put on this moral pedestal and when they make a mistake we can tear them down. But when a man makes a mistake “he’s still learning” and still gets more chances to prove himself. This is all in the way we socialize girls vs. boys!!

[maomao92]

So I just found out that there are people who blame Edwina for what happened to her saying that "Kate tried to warn her and Anthony told her he wasn't going to Marry for love" when firstly, Kate never actually said anything she just basically kept indirectly giving hints but never just being upfront about it and secondly Anthony may have told her he wasn't trying to marry for love but at the end of the day barely anybody was at that time it was mostly about marrying for money and power and honestly Anthony was a very good choice for both of those, so to say that Edwina was in blind would mean that mostly all the women in that setting were blind

[nesta-attorney]

okay but the way that kate is sooo nesta coded and it pisses me off that edwina is so fucking ungrateful she literally reminds me of elain💀

[mychildhoodtraumamademeapathetic]

I feel bad for Edwina because she genuinely got ruined in the court of public opinion by Kate and Anthony. They straight up murdered her reputation by everything they did. She was left for her sister by her fiance, in a time period were not only was that not okay or in any time period but it also made it seem like something was wrong with her, not only that but her sister and fiance had been having an affair behind her back and had sex at her sham of a wedding, and then she was going to have to see them all the time and expected to regularly interact with them and their kids. She says she's okay with it because of how well matched they are but in the actual time period Mary and Lady Danbury would have been furious with Kate. Lady Danbury because Kate had been having an affair and could effect her reputation because it was unseemly for lady Danbury to host a women who is doing such things but also because she was ruining Edwina's standing and her actions could have lead Edwina a girl who desperately wants to marry and have children to the life of a spinster because the men of the ton could find her having made it all the way to the altar and left at it for her older sister by a Viscount to be spoiled or some such nonsense. Kate carried on an affair with the man courting her sister, even sleeping with him and getting mad at him for proposing to Edwina, visibly being upset with Anthony for proposing and basically throwing a fit in those times about the man her sister is being courted by proposing the entire point of courting him and her for accepting the proposal. Yes Edwina was a little blind to their interactions but they were also going out of their way to hide it and Kate had seemingly kept Edwina a little naive and hoping for a storybook romance and life. Everyone seemingly went out of their way to keep Edwina in the dark of Anthony and Kate's affair even when it was mostly them basically courting each other in a strange by that times standards way, nobody telling Edwina that she could do better or that the man she thought herself in love with was not the man she was actually courting or that her sister was in love with the womanizing Rake she was constantly disparaging. Edwina deserved better than everything that happened during her first season.

[vicontheinternet]

Ppl talking abt Penelope: she's young

Ppl talking abt edwina: she's a spoiled bitch who didn't deserve to be spoiled because they were poor. Poor kate she told edwina abt antony she deserves better.

[folklauerate]

“Edwina isn’t a lesbian” “there’s no canonical reason for Edwina to be gay” “Edwina isn’t bi” okay well have you considered the fact that Edwina told me herself she kisses girls? Have you considered the fact that she threw the first brick at Stonewall? Have you considered that you are very fucking stupid?

[mariailoveyou-guerin]

ever since QueenCharlotte the Edwina Sharma rapture is coming and I cant wait for her season with her pretty prince becoming a princess then a queen of England it’s a million times better then just being a boring rich lady of the court that only got her/their titles bc a King like her future husband gave her man her them titles!

[alicenttully]

I feel like a lot of people will say they love angry female characters/love it when they get angry and while that's definitely true for some the truth is for some you don't actually mean it.

Because when these characters DO feel this emotion in situations where it's not unreasonable at all for them to feel this way, y'all more interested in lambasting them for it.

Because why else is Edwina Sharma regarded as this terrible person for calling Kate her half sister after she's just been publically humiliated? In a society where reputation is everything, btw. After she had her heart broken? The way y'all act so dismissive of Edwina's feelings is gross.

"Oh, but she didn't really love Anthony-"

So? You do realize that love isn't the only way to break a person's heart? Trust is another way. And from Edwina's perspective, she was betrayed by two people - the person she trusted the most - her sister, and the person that she thought would be that for her for the rest of their life because of the promises HE made - Anthony and y'all surprised she wasn't jumping for joy?

Furthermore a lot of y'all who resent Edwina for her words don't seem to understand the situation she would have been if she and Anthony HAD married. Because if Edwina had learned the truth after marrying Anthony she would have been stuck. No wonder she was so pissed! I would be too, and maybe some will just dismiss this post as projection but whenever I see people get mad at Edwina for the half-sister comment all I can think is that I would have said a lot worse *shrugs*

Anyway I guess my ultimate point is some of y'all don't actually care for angry female characters/female characters when they get angry despite saying so, because the truth is it's an ugly emotion and women/girls are expected to be appealing/soft/forgiving/digestible at all times.