Bertha Coutts Character Analysis in Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Bertha Coutts is Mellors’s estranged wife and the mother of his daughter, Connie Mellors. Mellors and Bertha grew up together. Though he was initially impressed by her worldliness and “sensuality,” the couple soon grew to resent each other’s sexual habits. Bertha disliked how much Mellors craved sex, while Mellors felt that Bertha was selfish in the pursuit of her own orgasm. During the war, Bertha left Mellors for another man, but after Mellors files for divorce, Bertha tries to stop him by spreading rumors about his affair with Connie. In the novel, Bertha exemplifies the aggressive sexuality that Mellors—and later Connie—comes to see as deviant.

Bertha Coutts Character Timeline in Lady Chatterley’s Lover

The timeline below shows where the character Bertha Coutts appears in Lady Chatterley’s Lover. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Class, Consumerism, and Money Theme Icon

Connie is fast asleep, but Mellors is awake. He thinks about his “brutal” wife (Bertha Coutts), whom he has not seen since he joined the army in 1915, even though... (full context)

...Bolton knows that Mellors has been through a great deal: his marriage to the horrible Bertha Coutts, his time in the war. But still, she approves of Connie’s decision. Absentmindedly, Mrs.... (full context)

...undresses, Connie looks around the room, noticing a large portrait of Mellors and his wife, Bertha, when they were young. The picture is in a hideous frame, and Connie suggests that... (full context)

...begins to disassemble it. As he does so, Connie asks Mellors if he ever loved Bertha. After Mellors explains that he does not even want to think about her, Connie encourages... (full context)

Mellors met Bertha Coutts when he was 21, working as a blacksmith, like his father before him. Though... (full context)

But after a while, Bertha started to resent how much Mellors enjoyed having sex with her, and the two began... (full context)

...Mellors left for the war, and he refused to come back until he knew that Bertha was with another man. Yet even though he hated his years with Bertha, Mellors still... (full context)

...order to find each other. By the time this conversation is done, the picture of Bertha and Mellors on their wedding day has been burnt to ash. (full context)

Mrs. Bolton writes back clarifying the story. Apparently, Bertha broke into Mellors’s cottage, forcing Mellors to stay with his mother. While at the cottage,... (full context)

...note, Connie assures Mellors that she is on his side and that this trouble with Bertha will pass. (full context)

...updating Connie on the scandal and saying that all the colliers’ wives are now on Bertha’s side. He mocks Mrs. Bolton as being a bottom-feeder, obsessed with the lowest gossip; he... (full context)

...and confused until she gets a letter from Mellors himself. Mellors’s letter clarifies what exactly Bertha knows; she found Connie’s initials (‘C.S.R.’) scribbled all over the house and put together that... (full context)

After having sex, Connie wants to hear about Bertha Coutts. She is worried that, just as Mellors once cared for Bertha and now loathes... (full context)