Dearest gentle readers, when the Backstage team asked you to share your favorite “Bridgerton” monologues, you were most forthcoming with your answers. You took us on a trip down memory lane to when Phoebe Dynevor’s Daphne Bridgerton convinced Regé-Jean Page’s Simon Basset that he was worth loving, and to when Jonathan Bailey’s Anthony Bridgerton realized he could never escape his feelings for Simone Ashley’s Kate Sharma.
Of all the speeches you shared, several were continually voted among the best—and here they are. From swoon-worthy outpourings of love (and lust) to salty takedowns of the Ton’s marriage market, these are the monologues that made your eyes prickle, hearts pound, or fists raise in defiance.
1. Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton (Season 2, Episode 5: “An Unthinkable Fate”)
“And it is not far enough! Do you think that there is a corner of this Earth that you could travel to far away enough to free me from this torment? I am a gentleman. My father raised me to act with honor, but that honor is hanging by a thread that grows more precarious with every moment I spend in your presence. You are the bane of my existence. And the object of all my desires.”
2. Regé-Jean Page as Simon Basset (Season 1, Episode 5: “The Duke and I”)
“I have never been a man that much enjoyed flirting, or chatting, or, indeed, talking at all. But with Daphne, Miss Bridgerton, conversation has always been easy. Her laughter brings me joy. To meet a beautiful woman is one thing, but to meet your best friend in the most beautiful of women is something entirely apart. And it is with my sincerest apologies, I must say it took the prince coming along for me to realize I did not want Miss Bridgerton to only be my friend. I wanted her to be my wife. I want her to be my wife. And so I plead with you not to make us wait.”
3. Yerin Ha as Sophie Baek (Season 4, Episode 5: “Yes or No”)
“Why do you find it suitable to kiss me? Why was it suitable to kiss me by the lake or in the stairwell? Would you have found it suitable to kiss the lady that you met at that ball? Or would you have been a gentleman and refused to ruin her? Would you have asked her to be your mistress? Do you truly understand what you are asking me with that question? You are asking me to relinquish my virtue, my dignity, my self-respect—all to be reduced to a glorified courtesan who will never be able to marry. I may not be as high as a lady, but I refuse to be that low. As a maid I am respectable, I am necessary, and now here you stand attempting to rob me of that too. And for what? Tell me, please. What?”
‘Bridgerton’ Star Yerin Ha on Doing Her First British Accent, Chemistry Read & Intimate Scene on the Netflix Series4. Phoebe Dynevor as Daphne Bridgerton (Season 1, Episode 8: “After the Rain”)
“Just because something is not perfect does not make it any less worthy of love. Your father made you believe otherwise. He made you believe that you needed to be without fault in order to be loved, but he was wrong. Should you need any proof of the matter, then look just here. I am tired of pretending. And I cannot continue acting as if I— As if I do not love you. Because I do. I love all of you. Even the parts that you believe are too dark and too shameful. Every scar. Every flaw. Every imperfection. I love you. You may think you are too damaged and too broken to ever allow yourself to be happy, but you can choose differently, Simon. You can choose to love me as much as I love you. That should not be up to anyone else. That cannot be up to anyone else. It can only be up to you.”
5. Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton (Season 2, Episode 8: “The Viscount Who Loved Me”)
“I love you. I have loved you from the moment we raced each other in that park. I’ve loved you at every dance, on every walk—every time we’ve been together and every time we’ve been apart. You do not have to accept it. You do not have to embrace it, or even allow it. Knowing you, you probably will not. But you must know it, in your heart. You must feel it, because I do. I love you. I want a life that suits us both. I know I am imperfect, but I will humble myself before you because I cannot imagine my life without you, and that is why I wish to marry you.”
6. Luke Newton as Colin Bridgerton (Season 3, Episode 4: “Old Friends”)
“What if I did have feelings for you? I have spent so long trying to feel less—trying to be the kind of man society expects me to be—and for a moment, I thought I had succeeded. But these past few weeks have been full of confounding feelings. Feelings like a total inability to stop thinking about you, about that kiss. Feelings like dreaming of you when I’m asleep, and, in fact, preferring sleep because that is where I might find you. A feeling that is like torture, but one which I cannot, will not, do not want to give up. It is everything I have wanted to say to you for weeks.”
