diff --git a/lib/marked.js b/lib/marked.js
index 16fdbb66d4..9e8c5d7e73 100644
--- a/lib/marked.js
+++ b/lib/marked.js
@@ -788,7 +788,7 @@ InlineLexer.prototype.mangle = function(text) {
  */
 
 function Renderer(options) {
-  this.options = options || {};
+  this.options = options || marked.defaults;
 }
 
 Renderer.prototype.code = function(code, lang, escaped) {