Google defines envy as a noun as follows: “a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities, or luck.” This description is true to life and true to what Meg March went through on the road to becoming a woman. While Meg was kind and understanding and strove to be the best daughter she could be, she also was painfully aware, at times, of the financial situation the March family was in compared to the families around them.
One such instance was when one of Meg’s high-society ‘friends’ was having a coming out ball to celebrate her coming of age. Meg was invited, but when she went to this friend’s house to get ready with the other young women, they begin making snide remarks about her clothing and how she looks, eventually culminating in the hostess taking Meg and making Meg her ‘pet’. They dress her up in their fine gowns and corsets and makeup and do her hair beautifully – and Meg rather enjoys it.
The next time we see her is at the ball itself, where she is being flirtatious and reveling in the attention of four or five well-off suitors. This is where we see Laurie at the ball for the first time. It only takes seconds for him to notice Meg’s situation. Laurie demonstrates his knowledge and caring for the March sisters here for the first time. He can see right through Meg’s games and knows that the woman he sees is not the Meg he knows. Laurie also proves his own character by confronting Meg about it. He’s not afraid to point out her inconsistencies and remind her of the woman that her Marmee raised her to be. Meg breaks down at the reminder, and we even see her trying viciously to wipe off her lipstick with a cloth while hiding in a room off the main ballroom. Laurie doesn’t abandon her to her shame, however. He comes alongside her and comforts her, and promises to let her tell her family on her own terms. This speaks volumes about both Laurie and Meg: Laurie cares for Meg like a sister and wants to see her in healthy situations and being the best that she can, and while Meg may have been pulled away from what she knew was right, when she is reminded of the things she ought to do she quickly realizes her faults and owns up to her mistakes. All these things are admirable qualities in both of these characters.
Meg does return home and tell Marmee and Jo about how foolish she’d been. She confesses to her family that she liked being pampered, expecting to be admonished for it. But Marmee, as always, has unexpected words to impart wisdom to her girls. She tells them that everyone likes the attention and pampering, but that it’s when a person becomes obsessed with it that it can lead to them believing that their looks and outward beauty is where their worth lies. Marmee reminds her daughters that this the last thing she wants for them, and Meg is happy to agree, having tasted the other side of the coin.
When Meg experienced the lavish life that she might have if she marries ‘well’, she began to think that it was what she wanted in a husband. On Friday we’re going to look at the man that Meg ended up marrying, and we will see how he compared to this vision and why Meg married him at all. Come back then for a look at Mr. John Brooke!