Regency Romance - Common Elements

Common Elements

Many Regency romance novels include the following:

• References to the Ton (le bon ton)
• Depictions of social activities common during the social season such as carriage rides, morning calls, dinners, routs, plays, operas, assemblies, balls, etc.
• References to, or descriptions of, athletic activities engaged in by fashionable young men of the period, including riding, driving, boxing, fencing, hunting, shooting, etc.
• Differences of social class
• Marriages of convenience: a marriage based on love was rarely an an option for most women in the British Regency, as securing a steady and sufficient income was the first consideration for both the woman and her family.
• False engagements
• Cyprians (sex workers), demireps (women of ill repute), mistresses and other women employed by rakehells and men from the upper classes
• Mistaken identity, deliberate or otherwise
• Mystery or farce elements in the plot