How HBO's The Gilded Age reflects wider tensions within 19th-century New York and American society

“The opera is where society puts itself on display,” claims Bertha Russell, one of the main protagonists in season two of HBO’s The Gilded Age.

New York, where the show is set, was at the centre of the era of late 19th-century American history from which the programme takes its name. The Gilded Age was a period of marked economic growth and development during which many American cities, particularly New York, rapidly industrialised.

Individuals and families who made their money through these developments quickly came into conflict with those with inherited wealth. The Gilded…

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