History Main / ReformedRakes

* Deconstructed in ''A Dangerous Compromise'' by Shannon Donnelly, in which the heroine thoroughly believes this trope, and her (decidedly not a rake) love interest decides to pose as a reformed rake to win her over while battling for her affections with an actual rake who has absolutely no intentions of reforming.

* One episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}'', [[spoiler:"Food To Die For"]] has a victim that was trying to ''become'' this. [[spoiler:After he got his foster brother's girlfriend pregnant, she rejected him, telling him that she couldn't rely on a man that slept around. However, he was honestly in love with her, to the point where he planned to quit his promising career as a chef and spent two weeks going to a cafe near her job, trying to get up the nerve to propose to her. Unfortunately, the foster brother found out and killed him.]]

Reformed Rake are what happens when the heroine of a romance story wants to [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys eat her cake]] and [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan matrimonially have it too]], ending up with a former womanizer with a penchant for criminal activity who doesn't just accept monogamy but thrives in it. Rakes--[[TheCasanova men famous for cutting a swathe through the wives and mistresses of the town]]--not only know how to please a lady and protect her from harm, but they are only waiting for that one special woman who will cause them to reform and turn into the perfect husband and {{family man}}. The converse is that any man [[VirginShaming who didn't sleep around as a bachelor]] is [[LousyLoversAreLosers bad in bed]] and will be a boring wimp as a husband.

--->'''Anthony:''' Even if he were in want of a wife, you would most certainly not have the Duke anywhere near Daphne.
--->'''Violet:''' I fully subscribe to the belief that reformed rakes make the very best of husbands.

-->'''Creator/StevenMoffat:''' "Sally said yes to Patrick, they got married and are very happy... especially as Sally beat Susan to the altar, and finally did something first. Patrick is now a completely devoted husband, who lives in total denial that he was anything other than an upstanding member of the community. Or possibly he's actually forgotten. He doesn't like remembering things because it's a bit like thinking.

Reformed Rake are what happens when the heroine of a romance story wants to [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys eat her cake]] and [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan matrimonially have it too]], ending up with a former womanizer with a penchant for criminal activity who doesn't just accept monogamy but thrives in it. Rakes--[[TheCasanova men famous for cutting a swathe through the wives and mistresses of the town]]--not only know how to please a lady and protect her from harm, but they are only waiting for that one special woman who will cause them to reform and turn into the perfect husband and {{family man}}. The converse is that any man who didn't sleep around as a bachelor is [[VirginShaming bad in bed]] and will be a boring wimp as a husband.

* Creator/JaneAusten, who inspires a lot of Regency Romance though she didn't exactly write it, liked to {{Deconstruct|ion}} the idea that people could reform their spouses, and used the ReformedRake variant specifically in ''Literature/MansfieldPark''. Fanny Price's AbhorrentAdmirer Henry Crawford boasts that he will be the first person to ever treat her as well as she deserves, and the narrator agrees in the epilogue that he would have been successful...if he'd only had enough principle to stop [[IntentionalHeartbreaker trifling with other women's feelings to gratify his vanity]]. Instead, he is forced to acknowledge that Fanny's harsh evaluation of his character -- that he lacks 'constancy' -- was completely accurate.

[[folder:Film]]

Reformed Rakes are what happens when the heroine of a romance story wants to [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys eat her cake]] and [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan matrimonially have it too]], ending up with a former womanizer with a penchant for criminal activity who doesn't just accept monogamy but thrives in it. Rakes--[[TheCasanova men famous for cutting a swathe through the wives and mistresses of the town]]--not only know how to please a lady and protect her from harm, but they are only waiting for that one special woman who will cause them to reform and turn into the perfect husband and {{family man}}. The converse is that any man who didn't sleep around as a bachelor will be a boring wimp as a husband.

Common in {{period|piece}} romances, especially those set in RegencyEngland.

Reformed Rakes are what happens when the heroine of a romance story wants to [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys eat her cake]] and [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan matrimonially have it too]], ending up with a former womanizer with a penchant for criminal activity who doesn't just accept monogamy but thrives in it. Rakes--men famous for cutting a swathe through the wives and mistresses of the town--not only know how to please a lady and protect her from harm, but they are only waiting for that one special woman who will cause them to reform and turn into the perfect husband and {{family man}}. The converse is that any man who didn't sleep around as a bachelor will be a boring wimp as a husband.

* ''Literature/YouthInSexualEcstasy'' arguably could be a reconstruction of this, the protagonist after being an [[TheCasanova expert womanizer]], ends up settling down with a more prudish and conservative girl. It is stated that his past sexual experiences still do some harm to the sex with his wife, however, despite this with ThePowerOfLove they are able to overcome them and become HappilyMarried.

* It all started [[OlderThanRadio in 1740]] with ''Pamela'', or ''Virtue Rewarded'' where the eponymous character overcomes Mr. B's rakishness with her IncorruptiblePurePureness. Wildly popular to the point where it alarmed the author, Samuel Richardson: "To what a bad choice is many a worthy woman betrayed, by that false and inconsiderate notion, That a reformed rake makes the best husband!" It also annoyed Henry Fielding, another author of the time, who wrote ''Shamela'' as a rather obvious TakeThat to the first book. Challenging this dubious trope is not a modern idea.

* ''Literature/YouthInSexualEcstasy'' arguably could be a reconstruction of this, the protagonist after being an [[TheCasanova expert womanizer]], ends up settling down with a more prudish and conservative girl; it is stated that his past sexual experiences still do some harm to the sex with his wife, however, despite this with ThePowerOfLove they are able to overcome them and become HappilyMarried.

--->'''Anthony:''' He will not make her happy! Daphne deserves better.

** "Sally said yes to Patrick, they got married and are very happy... especially as Sally beat Susan to the altar, and finally did something first. Patrick is now a completely devoted husband, who lives in total denial that he was anything other than an upstanding member of the community. Or possibly he's actually forgotten. He doesn't like remembering things because it's a bit like thinking."

Reformed Rakes are what happens when the heroine of a romance story wants to [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys eat her cake]] and [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan matrimonially have it too]], ending up with a former womanizer with a penchant for criminal activity who doesn't just accept monogamy but thrives in it. Rakes, men famous for cutting a swathe through the wives and mistresses of the town, not only know how to please a lady and protect her from harm, but they are only waiting for that one special woman who will cause them to reform and turn into the perfect husband and {{family man}}. The converse is that any man who didn't sleep around as a bachelor will be a boring wimp as a husband at best, if not an outright villain.

** Lampshaded in the first episode; Lady Bridgerton talks about the belief that reformed rakes make the best husbands.
** Simon, a rake by reputation, becomes taken with Daphne through their fake courtship.

* Ladies and gentlemen, a [[http://www.amazon.com/Reformed-Rakes-Make-Best-Husbands/lm/R1T0KA4HILMO1B book list]], called "Reformed Rakes Make The Best Husbands".
* Then there's Siren Publishing, an outfit that publishes "spicy" romances, including a line of novels under the imprint Reformed Rakes.

* Creator/JaneAusten, who inspires a lot of Regency Romance though she didn't exactly write it, liked to {{Deconstruct|ion}} the idea that people could reform their spouses, and used the ReformedRake variant specifically in ''Literature/MansfieldPark''. Fanny Price's AbhorrentAdmirer Henry Crawford boasts that he will be the first person to ever treat her as well as she deserves, and the narrator agrees in the epilogue that he would have been successful...if he'd only had enough principle to stop [[IntentionalHeartbreaker trifling with other women's feelings to gratify his vanity]]. Instead, he is forced to acknowledge that Fanny's harsh evaluation of his character - that he lacks 'constancy' - was completely accurate.

* Marcus Flutie from the ''Literature/JessicaDarling'' series is this, which Jessica notes but [[{{Deconstruction}} isn't too happy about]] - being the first girl who he was willing to change for puts altogether too much pressure on her for her taste, and his extensive sexual history partly skeeves her out, partly makes her feel insecure about her own inexperience.

--> The poor misunderstood rakehell...the man who was a rogue because he was deep inside he was still a lonely, neglected little boy... the good girl who would redeem him with her love and help him become the gentle man he was meant to be...\\
...\\
Except, [...] that was seldom how the scenario played out, once the rake got what he wanted. The habits of a lifetime are very hard to break, and The Tradition was perfectly happy to perpetuate those habits, so that the ''The Rake's Reward'' generally turned into ''[[Theatre/TheMusicMan The Sadder but Wider Girl]]''.

* Subverted in "The Rake's Song" by Music/TheDecemberists. The Rake gets married, is ''apparently'' reformed, "no more a rake and no more a bachelor"...but then he realizes that sex leads to babies and discovers that the married life really isn't for him. Cue [[OffingTheOffspring infanticide]]!

** Anthony is also something of a rake. His mistress Siena is an open secret and in season 2, he interviews nearly every eligible young woman in town while in search of a wife. But once he sets his eyes on Kate, there's only her.

-->-- '''Creator/SamuelRichardson'''

[[quoteright:300:[[WesternAnimation/PrincessAndTheFrog https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/potf_rr.png]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/PrincessAndTheFrog https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/potf_rr.png]]]]

* Creator/JaneAusten, who inspires a lot of Regency Romance though she didn't exactly write it, liked to {{Deconstruct|ion}} the idea that people could reform their spouses, and used the ReformedRake variant specifically in ''Literature/MansfieldPark''. Fanny Price's AbhorrentAdmirer Henry Crawford boasts that he will be the first person to ever treat her as well as she deserves, and the narrator agrees in the epilogue that he would have been successful if he'd only had enough principle to stop [[IntentionalHeartbreaker trifling with other women's feelings to gratify his vanity]]. Instead, he is forced to acknowledge that Fanny's harsh evaluation of his character - that he lacks 'constancy' - was completely accurate.

** Anthony is also something of a rake. His mistress is an open secret, and in season2 he interviews nearly every eligible young woman in the ton while in search of a wife. But, once he sets his eyes on Kate, there's only her.

** The entire series is this. Castle starts off as a wealthy playboy man child who has been married and divorced twice. His initial interest in Detective Beckett is solely because of her looks and the fact that their work together helps him get over a case of writers block. By season 5 [[spoiler: he has matured significantly and proposed to her and by the series finale it’s revealed they are a happily married couple and family.]]

** "Sally said yes to Patrick, they got married and are very happy... especially as Sally beat Susan to the altar, and finally did something first. Patrick is now a completely devoted husband, who lives in total denial that he was anything other an upstanding member of the community. Or possibly he's actually forgotten. He doesn't like remembering things because it's a bit like thinking."

** Anthony is also something of a rake. His mistress is an open secret, and he interviews nearly every eligible young woman in the ton while in search of a wife. But once he sets his eyes on Kate, there's only her.