Did Malva have another reason to cut Claire’s hair in Outlander?

Malva and Mrs. Bug cut Claire’s hair believing they had to do it to save her in Outlander Season 6, Episode 6. Was that the real reason for Malva?

When Claire suffered from a sickness that almost claimed her life, Malva and Mrs. Bug did something that nobody else was happy about. They cut Claire’s hair. In the book, Claire’s hair is shaved short. In the show, it was cut in an awful and jagged way, but not as short as in the book.

The official reason given was in an attempt to save Claire. Malva and Mrs. Bug thought that it was necessary to help bring Claire’s fever down. Had Roger, Bree, or even Jamie been there, they would have stopped the women.

It is easy to think that Mrs. Bug probably did it thinking that it was the right thing to do. She would have wanted to save Claire, and may have thought that Claire’s thick hair could have kept the fever contained. What about Malva, though?

Malva was up to something else in Outlander

We know that Malva is a malicious and manipulative young lady. She is also smart and eager to learn. She would have learned a little about fevers from Claire, especially after looking through Claire’s medical journals.

We can assume that Malva would have known not to bother cutting Claire’s hair. Plus, if it was really going to work, wouldn’t Bree have suggested it at some point? Maybe Roger?

So, Malva was up to something else. We know she wanted Jamie, getting to the point of claiming that Jamie had an affair with her, making her pregnant. The haircutting was part of the process.

Malva wanted to make Claire undesirable. She wanted to make Jamie turn to her instead of to his wife. We can get a sense of that from the way Claire worried about Jamie seeing her with the short, jagged hair. She didn’t want Jamie to see her without her hair, worried that he would be concerned with the way she looked.

Fortunately, Jamie loves Claire for more than her looks. He loves her deeply, and a haircut wasn’t going to change anything. That didn’t stop Malva from hoping it would do something.

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