Elizabeth March

Elizabeth "Beth" March was the third daughter of Margaret and Robert March.

Early lifeEdit

Beth was first seen with her sisters, but instead of feeling completely unhappy about the family's poverty, she chooses to be grateful, stating that they should be grateful to be together. Being extremely introverted, she chooses to study at home and soon is joined by Amy when she gets punished by her teacher for bringing pickled limes to school. She later goes to Mr. Laurence's house and is allowed to play the piano, much to her delight. She is too shy but later overcomes that and thanks to Mr. Laurence by giving him slippers. She later contracts Scarlet fever from visiting a poor family called the Hummels. She recovers from the disease but is very frail and weak from the disease.

Later LifeEdit

Soon Beth feels like she is going to pass on, and her family, though in deep sadness and despair, have to accept it. Jo misinterprets something that she sees as Beth pining away for love of Laurie, but when Jo and Beth discuss it on the seashore, Beth reveals that the source of her sadness is that she knows she is dying. Beth begins to spend her days knitting and sewing for children who pass by on the street but later gives up, saying the sewing needle was 'too heavy' and much to everyone's dismay dies a few months later. She never makes it to the third or fourth book but is mentioned a few times along with some other deceased or absent characters in those books.  

AppearanceEdit

When she was first introduced as a thirteen-year-old girl, Beth was rosy, smooth-haired, and bright-eyed, with a serene countenance that was "seldom disturbed". She later matured into a pale and slender young woman whose beautiful eyes were larger, but always "shadowed with pain" due to her fragility and weak health.

TriviaEdit

• Beth was inspired by Louisa May Alcott's sister, Elizabeth Sewall Alcott (Lizzie), who died of scarlet fever herself.
• Beth's niece, Elizabeth Laurence, was named after her.