The Viscount Who Loved Me

Despite her hopes to avoid Anthony all night, Kate finds herself unable to stop looking at him while attending Violet’s musicale. She claims her interest is only about evaluating him as a suitor for Edwina, but how she feels tells a different story. Anthony also hopes to avoid Kate at the musicale, since he dreamt of her in a sexually intimate way in Chapter 5. Anthony’s desire for Kate blindsides him, but instead of confronting those feelings, he compartmentalizes them again and focuses his attention on Maria Rosso, because their relationship is one he can understand.

The conversation Mary and Violet have about their hopes for their children’s marriages reveals much about their respective privilege in London society. Both women are widows, but Violet is still wealthy and secure, whereas Mary is the de facto head of a financially unstable family. Mary’s children must marry into status and wealth to keep the family afloat; love is a secondary consideration for their matches. Since Violet is still part of a wealthy family, she places titles second and wishes for her children’s happiness through love in an uncharacteristic wish of the time. Marrying for love is a preference the Bridgertons can pursue with ease; marrying at all is a necessity the Sheffields must attain to survive. Kate notices how determined Violet is for her children to get married at all, especially Anthony. For the Bridgerton line to continue, they must wed and have children, but the survival factor is not as urgent for them as it is for the Sheffields. The Bridgertons will have to wed eventually, but their wealth affords them the time and security it takes to find partners they love, like Violet wishes.

After escaping Mrs. Featherington’s interrogation, Kate’s instinct is to be alone, so no one sees how stressed she is. This instinct demonstrates that Kate does not feel like she is able to express her feelings to anyone; if no one sees her true feelings, then they see only the version of herself that she allows them to. This concealment allows Kate to project a constant image of strength, despite the turmoil she feels inside. Kate especially does not wish for Anthony to see her stress, because if he sees her “weakness,” she thinks he will mock her or use it against her. That Kate hides from Mary illustrates that Kate does not trust Mary with her true self either. It matters to her that Mary thinks of her as the strong one, and she does not want to break that image.

Kate’s unintentional eavesdropping on Anthony and Maria’s conversation in the study makes her think she is seeing Anthony’s true colors. What she overhears is further proof that he is a Rake, and Kate’s emotional reaction is a combination of outrage at what his attitude toward marriage and love means for Edwina, as well as a sense of personal injury because she feels he has lied to her as well. Kate’s assumptions only lead her more astray, since Anthony keeps everything in his life so compartmentalized and adopts different behaviors for different relationships, presenting separate selves to separate people. On an ironic note, Anthony is unconcerned about the risk of being caught alone with Maria, whereas he was practically nauseated by what might happen if he was caught with Kate in previous chapters.

Anthony’s treatment of Kate is physically aggressive, as he “accidentally on purpose” steps on her hand, much in the same way Kate previously stepped on his feet. When she digs her nails into his knee, Anthony kicks her like a dog, and he smiles when he hears her stifled squeak of pain when the blow lands, indicating that he feels satisfaction at causing her physical pain. Anthony drags Kate from her hiding place by force, and tries to intimidate her into talking. When he realizes the effect his proximity has on her, how it provokes desire rather than fear, he weaponizes her desire against her. It is a sexually-charged coercion that ironically backfires on him, since Anthony quickly finds his own desire for Kate too powerful to ignore and he kisses her. The link between sexual desire and acts of physical violence this scene establishes may strike a modern reader as problematic. Readers may consider how people in the novel’s time had different conceptions of sexuality, violence, and consent. After this altercation, Anthony and Kate converse in the gardens at the Aubrey Hall party and he wants to apologize for his cruelty. Anthony knows his behavior was wrong and that he hurt her, and he recognizes that Kate did not deserve how he treated her. His desire to apologize does not come from a place of personal gain; he does not do it so he can have a better chance at courting Edwina. Anthony had to learn on his own how to be a good man, and as soon as he threw the study key at Kate’s feet, he knew it was not how a good man behaves.

Kate interprets Anthony’s apology to mean that he was sorry for everything that transpired between them, including their kiss. Kate does not think of herself as desirable, so she thinks Anthony regrets kissing her. Although Anthony does eventually include the kiss in his apology, the narration gives the reader Anthony’s true perspective: He apologizes for it not because he regrets it, but because he believes Kate’s reaction meant she is upset with him for it. Their conversation in the garden is reminiscent of a classic trope of romance novels: miscommunication between romantic leads. Neither Kate nor Anthony says what they mean, so the other can only make assumptions from the cues they have. This degree of manipulation can be contributed to the time, since frank conversations between men and women about sex and love were considered highly improper. Kate’s recognition that the kiss will always be between them even if Anthony marries Edwina is a mature realization that some things, whether done accidentally or on purpose, out of pity, curiosity, or love, simply cannot be undone.