Ambition and Sacrifice in The Gilded Age Season 3- (Contains Spoilers)

In The Gilded Age Season 3, Bertha (Carrie Coon) and George (Morgan Spector) Russell navigate the complexities of their newfound status among New York City’s elite.

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Having climbed from humble origins to the pinnacle of high society, the couple faces the challenge of maintaining their position among the old-money families. Bertha, driven by her past as a farmer’s daughter, is determined to secure her family’s social standing, even at the cost of her marriage and relationships with her children. George, a self-made railroad tycoon, shares her ambition but struggles with the personal toll of her relentless pursuit of prestige.

Bertha’s origins are a source of shame she fiercely conceals. Her discomfort is evident when her sister, Monica O’Brien (Merritt Wever), visits in Episode 4, representing the past Bertha has worked to erase. Labeled a “potato digger” by Anne Morris (Katie Finneran) in Season 1, Bertha’s rise from her agrarian roots fuels her ambition. She overcompensates by hosting lavish parties and funding a rival opera house to cement the Russells’ place among the elite. While George supports her competitive drive, he prioritizes their children’s well-being, creating tension as Bertha’s schemes strain family bonds.

The Russells’ marriage, once grounded in authentic love, is a rarity in a society where unions are often transactional. However, Bertha’s obsession with social climbing begins to erode this foundation. In Episode 5, their son Larry (Harry Richardson) announces his engagement to Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson). Bertha, caught off guard, disapproves, while George supports his son’s choice. This discord follows the fallout of their daughter Gladys’s (Taissa Farmiga) unhappy marriage to Hector, the Duke of Buckingham (Ben Lamb), orchestrated by Bertha to elevate the family’s status. George, who promised Gladys she could marry for love, reluctantly agrees to the union, which benefits his industrial empire but leaves Gladys miserable.

Bertha’s manipulation of Gladys’s marriage highlights her willingness to sacrifice personal relationships for social gain. Initially, she scares off Gladys’s true love, Billy Carlton (Matt Walker), to pursue the ducal match. Despite Gladys’s distress, Bertha’s plan succeeds, but the victory is hollow. George, witnessing his daughter’s unhappiness, grows resentful, his trust in Bertha shattered. Gladys, now isolated in a foreign country, writes to her father about her misery, further fueling his anger. Bertha’s actions, driven by her fear of returning to poverty, contrast sharply with the love-driven marriage she once shared with George.

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The Russells’ story in Season 3 underscores the cost of ambition. Bertha’s drive to secure her family’s place among the elite strains her marriage and alienates her children. George, though complicit in the social game, is torn between his empire and his family’s happiness. The couple’s once-refreshing devotion, marked by tender moments, is overshadowed by Bertha’s schemes. Her insistence on Gladys capitalizing on the opportunities she fought for may stem from her own memories of hardship, but it dismisses the very values of love and authenticity that defined her early days with George.

As Bertha learns, the pursuit of status comes with sacrifices—her family’s unity and her husband’s trust may be the ultimate price.