# Lady Bertram — Aspects of the Novel character guide

> Lady Bertram in Aspects of the Novel by E. M. Forster.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Bertram

**First appearance:** 0005-iii-people

## Snapshot

Austen's indolent aunt, cited as a flat character whose few strokes of habit are enough to fix her permanently in the reader's mind.

## Who they are

Lady Bertram belongs to the shrubbery of Mansfield Park, bound by a hundred threads to Highbury's social fabric and impossible to transplant without uprooting the whole. She is Forster's clean example of a flat character: constructed around a single idea, she is convincing without being complex, and she never surprises. She matters because she lets Forster show that flatness is not a failure but a device — one that gives a novel its solidity, its comedy, and the stable ground against which rounder figures move.

## Relationships

### [Jane Austen](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/aspects_of_the_novel_se/characters/jane_austen)

_professional_

Jane Austen is the author who created Lady Bertram as a character in Mansfield Park.

### [Fanny](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/aspects_of_the_novel_se/characters/fanny)

_family_

Fanny Price is Lady Bertram's niece, living with her as a dependent in Mansfield Park.

### [Fanny](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/aspects_of_the_novel_se/characters/fanny)

_family_

Fanny Price is Lady Bertram's niece, living with her as a dependent in Mansfield Park.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/aspects_of_the_novel_se/characters/lady_bertram
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/aspects_of_the_novel_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/aspects_of_the_novel_se/characters