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Margaret Brooke
Emma watson as meg

Birth and Death

Mid 1840s - Unknown

Also Known As

  • Meg
  • Meggy
  • Mrs. Brooke
  • Daisy
  • The Pretty One

Hair Color

Brunette

Eyes

Brown

Nationality

American

"Fatal Flaw"

Determination

Family Members

Parents and Siblings

Spouse and Children

Aunts and Uncles

  • Aunt March (great-aunt)
  • Uncle March (mentioned only)
  • Aunt Carrol (aunt)
  • Uncle Carrol (uncle)

Cousins

  • Florence "Flo" Carrol (cousin)

In-laws

Nieces and Nephews

Affiliation

Margaret "Meg" Brooke (née March) is the oldest of the four March sisters.

Biography[]

When Meg was first introduced, she was portrayed as being just as unhappy as any of her sisters were regarding their family's poverty. She also felt her father's absence keenly. It was easy to view her as vain and superficial, given how proud she was of her beautiful white hands, and her desire was of her being a fabulously wealthy mistress who lived in a palatial estate and enjoyed the very best of everything.

Even then, however, it was still evident that Meg had admirable qualities: in her father's absence, she helped her mother to be there for her sisters, and always tried to give good advice when they needed it. Later on, an encounter with the world of the rich taught her a hard lesson regarding the grim nature of so-called wealth, and Beth's illness made her better cherish the blessings in life, such as good health.

As she matured, she blossomed into a beautiful woman and married John Brooke, the tutor of her neighbour, Laurie. Together, they had three children: Daisy and Demi (twins), and Josie.

Personality and traits[]

As a young girl, Meg was susceptible to beautiful things and longed for luxury. She was also particularly vain about her pretty white hands. In fact, she once confessed that her "castle in the air" was a lovely house full of all sorts of luxurious things: delicacies, fine clothes, fine furniture, pleasant people, and great wealth. (She also secretly wished to marry a rich man.)

But as she matured, she grew to understand that true worth did not lie in money, and she even learned to release some of her vanity, as evidenced by her father observing (when he finally returned home) that her hands were no longer as fair and fine as he had remembered them before he had left. Later on, especially after she married John, she learned to tolerate being poor and to wholeheartedly appreciate the blessings she had in life as well as the truly admirable qualities of individuals.

Hence, though Meg never truly lost her desire for beauty and luxury, the combination of maturity, marriage, and later motherhood helped her to grow into a sensible and intelligent woman who understood what really mattered in life. Her one constant feature was her care for her sisters, though she tends to be slightly bossy at times.

Physical appearance[]

When Meg was first introduced as a sixteen-year-old, she was described to be very pretty, being plump and fair, with large eyes, plenty of soft brown hair, and smooth white hands that she was particularly vain about.

As she matured into adulthood, she became a truly beautiful and lovely young woman, and on her wedding day, she was described to look very much like a rose herself - her face was fair and tender, with a charm more beautiful than beauty.

Etymology[]

  • Margaret is a female given name of Greek origin and means 'pearl'.
  • Meg's eldest daughter, Margaret "Daisy" Brooke, was named after her.
  • Meg's counterpart, Anna Alcott Pratt, was the last Alcott sister living, with Lizzie's (the counterpart of Beth) death at a young age, May's (the counterpart of Amy) death because of childbirth complications, and Louisa's unfortunate death after publishing Jo's Boys because of mercury treatment she took when she had Typhoid fever.

Appearances[]

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