The Duke and I

As a Regency romance about the lives of the nobility, the Duke and I revolves around aristocratic social norms. Both Daphne and Simon are acutely aware of the social pressures they each face to marry advantageously and have families. Though Simon attempts to reject this role, the plot proves how difficult his goal is in part because his social world is so small. He attends Lady Danbury’s party out of loyalty for her past kindnesses and finds himself an eligible and sought after bachelor; the same power that allows him to refuse marriage makes him a desirable husband. He also meets Daphne there and imagines a fake courtship with her as a means of escape. His own feelings prove to be the main impediment to his goal never to marry, but the dictates of class present an equally insurmountable obstacle. For all his resolve to spite his father, he cannot face the idea that Daphne will be “ruined” after they were seen kissing, and agrees, in the end, to marry her to save her social standing, and that of her family. No amount of Simon’s personal will can thwart the power of reputation. Quinn’s use of epigraphs from Whistledown underlines this: in a small social world governed by social codes, any misstep can become a social scandal, and all social activities are of political and personal interest.