Seminar Paper on the Topic: Scarlett O’Hara as a Complicated Heroine

INTRODUCTION
Gone with the Wind, a popular romantic novel by Margaret Mitchell, differs from most Civil War novels by glorifying the South and demonizing the North. Other popular novels about the Civil War, such as Stephen Crane’s The Red Badge of Courage, are told from a Northern perspective and tend to exalt the North’s values. Mitchell’s novel is unique also for its portrayal of a strong-willed, independent woman, Scarlett O’Hara, who shares many characteristics with Mitchell herself. Mitchell frequently defied convention, divorcing her first husband and pursuing a career in journalism despite the disapproval of society.
Gone with the Wind was published in 1936; ten years after Mitchell began writing it. A smash success upon publication, Gone with the Wind became—and remains even now—one of the best-selling novels of all time. It received the 1937 Pulitzer Prize. In the late 1930s a film version of the novel was planned, and David O. Selznick’s nationwide search for an actress to play Scarlett O’Hara captivated the nation’s attention. The resulting film starred Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable as Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler, and it quickly became one of the most popular motion pictures of all time.
My research paper discusses about the character of the protagonist. No doubt Scarlett O’Hara is a complicated heroine in the story. But there is nothing to say that she is a villain too although there were a few reviews by various authors to say that the character is not to be admired by the readers because according to the era she was to be punished. So, let’s move forward and explore the character of Scarlett O’Hara as a complicated one.

In the very beginning we discovered that Scarlett O’Hara was the centre of attraction and she remained the same till the very climax of the story. But not actually may be because of her behavior because she was a fun loving, cheerful girl of 16 who didn’t know how to be upset as she never had been. She always enjoyed the pleasure of being surrounded by a number of handsome beaus. The physical description of Scarlett has described her well because that’s her charm of fascinate other girls of her age. She was a Georgian girl with dark hairs, green eyes who never leave a chance to leave beaus mesmerized with her looks.
Mitchell didn’t describe her as beautiful at the very beginning of the novel but as enchanting or moreover charming. She was born and brought up in Tara during the very time of the American civil war. She was the oldest daughter to her French American mother Ellen O’Hara and Irish father Gerald O’Hara. Susan Elinor (Suellen) and Carlone Irene (Carreen) were the youngest two daughters after Scarlett. Suellen was a lazy kid whereas Carreen was quite gentle and kind although both of them were jealous to their elder sister Scarlett.
Scarlett’s secret love Ashley Wilkes, Wilkes’s son from the neighboring plantation, Twelve Oaks, was increasing with the passing days. The moment she came to know about his and Melanie’s engagement she went out of her mind and made plans to confess her love. When she did Ashley accepted his feelings for Scarlett but he stated that Melanie know each other better belonging from the same family. It didn’t suit Scarlett to be heartbroken (because of her character) and she accepted Charles Hamilton’s marriage proposal (Melanie’s real brother) just to hurt Ashley. A few weeks later her husband died of measles at the war and Scarlett was a widow at the age of 16 with a baby.
All after this, her being a widow and giving birth to Wade Hampton Hamilton she moved to Atlanta to Mrs. Pity Pat and lonely Melanie. She didn’t even care for her baby. But on the same while Melanie got to know about her own pregnancy and them came a day for her delivery when Scarlett cared a lot for her (just because she was very nice to her) and inexpertly delivered her son (Ashley and Melanie’s son). The time when Scarlett ran for help to Rhett Butler (the unwanted dashing and scandalous man) and that wasn’t for the first or last time. With Rhett's guidance and thieving skills she acquires what is probably the last horse in Atlanta, a diseased old thing as well as a rickety wagon. Thus begins a nightmarish trek back to Atlanta for Scarlett, Melanie, the newborn, Scarlett's toddler son, and Prissy. Harassed by troops on either side, hungry and prey to the weather, insects and rough roads, the wretched group painfully traverses the twenty five miles to Tara. Alas, Tara has fallen into the marauding hands of the Yankees. All the valuables, valuables, all gold, harvested crops and livestock are gone.
Starvation, Heartbreak, loss of land and every other problem she was carrying on her back. She faced the hardships all alone because there was none to be her side, her parents were helpless, Melanie was not in a state to help her and even Ashley was at war. Scarlett learns that her home will soon be put up for auction due to tax debts. Now hardened, she is willing to do whatever she has to, including selling her body to Rhett, to raise the tax money. Her plan is a dismal failure as Rhett sees through it right away and eventually the not-so-grieving widow marries her sister's beau, Frank Kennedy, for the funds to pay the taxes. Her hardened, practical nature has driven her to steal her own sister's beau.
As one of the most colorful characters in literature, Scarlett challenges the prescribed women's roles of her time. She pays a steep price in the form of ostracism by her Atlanta acquaintances. The story's driving force continues to be Scarlett's ongoing internal conflict between her feelings and the expected behavior for a woman of her age and class.

CONCLUSION…
Now I would say that the character of Scarlett O’Hara after being Scarlett-Hamilton-Kennedy-Butler she changed herself a lot as we go through the novel. In the very beginning she was a spoilt teenager who loved to be surrounded with beaus. But in the mid way she turned to be a hard working widow when Tara plantation was almost put to an end, she revived it and transformed it all into a new leaf. (Although she turned herself into a witty business woman but it was worth it)
Now there are complications in her character, when we start up from her being a spoiled teenager she didn’t care about where the world is (although she cared about Ashley) but she was selfish no doubt. She was self-centered to acquire her possession (Ashley here). She was jealous of Melanie (in a way) but Melanie in change was very nice to her so her later views changed.
Observing the overall character of Scarlett one ay misinterpret her as a selfish woman although she wasn’t. She never liked any of the girls’ surrounds her because she knew they are jealous of her and would never guide her truly but she admired her mother, wanted to be like her.
Her character developed with the transformation of Old and New south. With Ashley she discovered the lost old customs and chivalry of the South but could never be able to gain that back. Whereas at last she was back to the one who liked her from the very beginning, Rhett Butler where she got mixed into the harsh and attracting realities of the life combining both the Old and New south.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
PRIMARY SOURCE:
Mitchell, Margaret. Gone with the Wind. New York: Macmillan, 1936. Print.
SECONDARY SOURCES:
SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.
"In Defense of Scarlett O'Hara." True Classics. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014.