Netflix confirming Benedict will be Bridgerton season 4’s protagonist makes it imperative for some things from his story to be kept the same or adapted in a way that reflects the book’s motifs. Third in order among the Julia Quinn Bridgerton books, An Offer from a Gentleman focuses on Benedict’s Cinderella-inspired romance, as what kickstarts the fateful meeting of Benedict and his future love interest Sophie is a masquerade ball, which conveniently hides Sophie’s identity, a key issue in the novel. Bridgerton season 3’s finale had already hinted at it with Benedict’s farewell to Eloise as she left for Scotland.
An Offer from a Gentleman is the only Bridgerton book focusing on class differences and how the working class lives a very different life from the members of the ton in Bridgerton. Sophie’s position as the Earl of Penwood’s ward who finds herself first becoming a servant of his new wife after his death and then a staff member of other ton families gives her the chance to tell a story unlike any others in the Bridgerton books, despite technically being the earl’s illegitimate daughter. This makes it particularly important for Bridgerton season 4 to get some key things right.
10 Benedict & Sophie’s Time At My Cottage
Sophie Caring For Benedict Lets Them Develop Their Feelings In The Safety Of The Countryside
While the context of Benedict and Sophie’s meeting three years after the masquerade ball can easily be changed in Bridgerton season 4, their time at My Cottage should be kept as a key part of the story. In An Offer from a Gentleman, Benedict saves Sophie from the son of her employer and proposes to accompany her to his mother’s, so she can find new employment as part of Violet’s household. However, they are forced to stop at Benedict’s place in the countryside by the limitations set by their traveling at night and Benedict’s fever.
Benedict and Sophie’s time at My Cottage gives them the chance to really get to know each other, as their being alone frees them from the societal constraints that would force them not to mingle with each other. Moreover, Benedict needing Sophie’s help being sick makes them grow close in a speedy manner, essentially kickstarting their feelings for each other. The freedom of the countryside and My Cottage also foreshadows what their lives together will be like in the future as a family, as the nature of their bond forces them to live far from the ton.
9 Araminta’s Villain Role
Sophie’s Stepmother Is One Of The Biggest Bridgerton Villains
Bridgerton season 4 should also keep the role of Araminta, Countess of Penwood, as the story’s villain. Although Bridgerton season 3 proved book villains like Cressida potentially redeemable because of how their role in society shaped their actions and forced them into a villain role, Araminta’s vicious hate of Sophie in An Offer from a Gentleman makes her too important a character to change. With Araminta’s abysmal behavior effectively upending Sophie’s life after the Earl of Penwood’s death, making her more sympathetic or changing her role would undercut the key role she has in Sophie’s story.
How Araminta upholds the ton rules and believes them right, behaving terribly toward Sophie because of her being the earl’s illegitimate daughter as a consequence, makes her more similar to Lord and Lady Sheffield from Bridgerton season 2. Araminta’s unequal level of care for her own daughters also makes her even less redeemable in An Offer from a Gentleman. Whether Bridgerton season 4 keeps this detail or not, it should nonetheless keep Araminta’s core features from the book, as without those, Sophie’s story and trajectory would be less impactful.
8 Sophie’s Heartwarming Bond With Violet & The Younger Bridgertons
Benedict Falls For Her Even More When He Sees Her With His Siblings
Once Sophie is employed by Violet as part of the Bridgerton household, she immediately feels at home with them. Her kindness and ability to keep up with the younger Bridgerton siblings delight Violet, making her welcome Sophie as part of the family even before Benedict has any intention of asking her to marry him. Sophie’s bond with the Bridgertons shows her for the first time how loving a family can be, making her long to be part of one even more, considering her sad childhood.
The ease with which Sophie captivates Violet and the Bridgertons convinces Benedict of how her place in the Bridgerton household is right. Seeing Sophie interact so fondly with his family makes Benedict fall even more in love with her, prompting a proposal that becomes one of the biggest plot points of An Offer from a Gentleman, kickstarting their fallout and the action-packed ending of Benedict’s book story. This makes Sophie’s bond with the Bridgerton family something Bridgerton season 4 needs to explore if it wants to tell properly Benedict and Sophie’s story.
7 Benedict’s Apathy Toward The Ton, The Social Seasons & What They Signify
Being Away From The Ton Leads Benedict To Sophie & A New Perspective
Benedict’s dislike for what the ton has to offer could already be glimpsed in Bridgerton seasons 1 and 2. However, it becomes an established belief in the time between Benedict’s meeting with a masked Sophie makes him fall for her at a society function and his encounter with Sophie as a servant cements how little he cares for the ton’s rules. Having to choose between the ton’s values and rules and his love for Sophie, Benedict chooses to be shunned from society, making this belief a core part of his story that Bridgerton season 4 should keep.
After he can’t find the unknown woman from the masquerade ball, Benedict retreats from the social seasons, only spending time with acquaintances or in clubs in An Offer from a Gentleman. Meeting Sophie, getting to know and falling in love with her knowing she doesn’t belong to the upper class convinces Benedict of how foolish the ton rules are, cementing a feeling he always had and giving him a reason to leave the ton because his and Sophie’s bond is more important. Given how Bridgerton already introduced such a topic, season 4 could finally expand it with this Benedict story.
6 Sophie’s Bond With Araminta’s Daughter Posy
Posy Is The Only One From Araminta’s Family Who Cared For Sophie
Sophie’s bond with her stepsister Posy is one of the few positive relationships she has before meeting Benedict and the Bridgertons in An Offer from a Gentleman, and a big reason behind their alliance lies in Araminta’s mistreatment of both. Araminta hates Sophie because she reminds her of Penwood’s commitment to take care of his illegitimate daughter, but Araminta also neglects Posy because she doesn’t deem her pretty or poised enough to attract an eligible bachelor who could better their social standing.
Despite being a secondary character, Posy’s journey mirrors Sophie’s in An Offer from a Gentleman in the way they both free themselves from Araminta’s influence, finding their place in the world and rebelling against the Penwood matriarch. Moreover, without Posy, Violet, Benedict and Sophie wouldn’t have known about the existence of Sophie’s dowry in An Offer from a Gentleman, making her appearance in prison to free Sophie after Araminta had her arrested a key moment in the book, which could do justice for what Posy and Sophie suffer because of Araminta also in Bridgerton.
5 The Masquerade Ball With A Twist
Focusing More On Benedict’s POV Can Show How Life-changing Meeting Sophie In Disguise Is
The masquerade ball is the event that kickstarts Sophie and Benedict’s romance in their Bridgerton book, despite the two not becoming romantically entangled for another three years after it. It’s an event that needs to be part of Bridgerton season 4 if Benedict and Sophie’s story is to keep its key features in the Netflix show, but one change in how it happens can make sure Bridgerton season 4 enhances it.
The masquerade ball happening after Sophie’s perspective was introduced first in An Offer from a Gentleman makes her experience of it the focus in the book’s first chapters. However, were Bridgerton to keep the ball the same without sharing Sophie’s identity until their second meeting, it could center Benedict’s character and his feelings when meeting the masked woman in silver. The twist would work also based on the fact Benedict is the one already known to the viewers, making Sophie’s eventual introduction later more seamless if Benedict’s POV is the one first established.
4 Sophie’s Class Position
Her & Benedict’s Status Differences Play A Huge Part In The Novel
Sophie being the Earl of Penwood’s illegitimate daughter relegates her to a position as Araminta’s unpaid maid after his death in An Offer from a Gentleman, as Araminta must continue to let Sophie live with her if she wants to pocket a bigger yearly income. Sophie’s tragic backstory nonetheless offers the sole insight into how those belonging to the lower classes live in Bridgerton. Sophie’s time as a servant in her own home and far from it makes her the thrifty, sensible woman attached to her values with whom Benedict eventually falls in love.
Sophie and Benedict’s story would work in an entirely different way had Sophie not been forced to work as a lady’s maid. Sophie and Benedict’s different statuses prompt Benedict’s proposal that Sophie refuses, causing their biggest rift, which is also instrumental in making Benedict accept it’s better to lose a comfortable place within the ton than lose Sophie. Without Sophie belonging to a different class, Benedict’s happy ending would be wildly different.
3 Benedict’s Return To Painting & His Future As An Acclaimed Painter
His Love For Painting Was Too Big Of A Story In Bridgerton Season 2 Not To Reappear
Bridgerton season 2 saw Benedict quit art school, leading him to abandon painting in season 3. However, Bridgerton season 4 should bring back Benedict’s love for drawing and painting. While very few had seen Benedict’s painting in An Offer from a Gentleman, Sophie seeing his drawings and believing in Benedict is what pushes Benedict to get better.
Given how Benedict seemingly put down the brush in Bridgerton season 3, season 4 seeing Benedict hone his artistic skills far from the academy could let him find his passion for painting again. The Bridgerton books make a point to show how Benedict becomes an acclaimed painter with works of art hanging in the National Gallery by painting in the countryside, far from the ton, and living his life with Sophie and their family. Such a storyline in Bridgerton season 4 could finally complete Benedict’s season 2 story while also showing how Sophie inspires him.
2 Benedict & Sophie’s Argument About Their Relationship’s Future
Benedict Wanted Sophie As A Mistress But Her History Made Sure She’d Never Agree
Benedict and Sophie’s biggest argument that prompts Sophie to leave her employment in the Bridgerton household and lands her temporarily in jail is directly connected to their societal status differences in An Offer from a Gentleman. Because of her being a servant, Benedict marrying Sophie would make him a pariah. This leads Benedict to ask Sophie to become his mistress, as he can’t imagine living without her, which Sophie refuses no matter how deeply she loves him.
