Little Women
Beth March
The gentle sister
The quiet, musical third sister, painfully shy but endlessly kind. She is the peacemaker of the family and Jo's closest companion.
Beth is the third March sister, shy with strangers and happiest at home. She loves her piano and her dolls, and she is the sister who is always ready to give. She is selfless and gentle, and she is the quiet peacemaker when her sisters quarrel.
She is Jo's closest companion and the heart of the household. Nobody who knows her asks anything of her that she cannot give, and she wants nothing for herself. Old Mr. Laurence, who seems fearsome to everyone else, is moved by her music. She is more at ease with a few close friends than in a crowd, and she loves to repair a worn-out doll.
“I was never good for much, but I've loved you all so much, and you've made me so happy.”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
Beth is invited to play Mr. Laurence's grand piano, and she thanks him with a pair of slippers. In return, he sends her a cabinet piano. She is also the one who keeps visiting the poor Hummel family, and when their baby dies in her arms of scarlet fever, she catches it herself. Her fever peaks on a stormy night, Laurie sends for Marmee, and the fever breaks at dawn.
She recovers, but she never fully regains her strength. In the later chapters, Jo sets up a room for her by the window and nurses her. Beth tells Jo she is not afraid, and that she has been happy. She dies peacefully as the first spring flowers open. Jo's writing about her touches readers across the country.
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