Abstract
This study aims to determine the types of directive speech acts and politeness strategies used in conveying directive speech acts by the male and female main characters in the Bridgerton season 1 series. This study uses Yule's theory for directive speech acts and Brown and Levinson's theory for politeness strategies. A descriptive quantitative method was used to analyze the data. The results show that there were 136 directive utterances used, consisting of 86 by female main characters and 50 by male main characters. The types of directive speech acts found included commands 57 (41,91%), orders 8 (5,88%), requests 27 (19.85%), and suggestions 44 (32,35%). All directive utterances were classified into politeness strategies, which included bald on record 56 (41.18%), positive politeness 31 (22.79%), negative politeness 36 (26.47%), and off record 13 (9.56%). The results of this study indicate that both main characters convey more directive speech acts in the form of commands and use bald politeness strategies, but the female lead character dominates more than the male lead character. This is related to social factors and the characterization of the female lead character in the first season of the Bridgerton series. Both main characters come from noble families known holding high positions and power, which encourages them to speak clearly and directly. And the female character is portrayed as the central figure of the story rather than the male character, so this situation places her in a position where she leads conversations and directs the actions of others.