"Scarlett O'Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized when as caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins..."
Margaret Mitchell uses these words to describe Scarlett in the first line of Gone With the Wind. These words perhaps have been repeated millions of times, read by millions of people. But in my opinion, it is not the most apt description of Scarlett O'Hara. Scarlett was beautiful, and although her features were not put together perfectly, when put together, they all had to have somehow fit. To me, although she is not the woman that I would want to be in every situation, she is one woman whose characteristics that I am glad to possess. Although of French and Irish descent, the Irish in her took precedence over the French in everything she did. Her eyes were green, and contained the 40 shades of green of Ireland. She was more like a cat than the feline itself, and cunning and coolness were too important virtues to Scarlett's character. Scarlett had one important flaw in her character. She never learned that she loved someone until it was too late, as was the case with Melanie and Rhett. She could never fully give her heart to anyone, and she did not love her first husbands in the least. Scarlett's character had many flaws...for instance, she would not take no for an answer. When Ashley wouldn't marry her, she longed for him for over ten years. Why did Scarlett never learn, never want to learn to accept the truth? She never did until it was too late. Because of her strong will, her strong bonds to the land she loved. To tell you the truth, I don't think that Scarlett loved anything, including Rhett, as much as she loved Tara. Even when she left it, I don't think that there was anything that she'd do for Rhett that she wouldn't do for Tara. Tara was her life, her soul. Tara was Scarlett, and vice versa. Nobody but Gerald O'Hara could truly understand Scarlett's love of land, but nobody but Rhett could truly understand Scarlett's soul...and Scarlett's soul, greedy as it may seem, was Tara. And that, I think, is why Rhett truly left Scarlett. Not because he fell out of love with her, but because no matter how much she loved him, she knew that he would always play second best to Tara. This website is dedicated to Gone With the Wind, but as you may have noticed, it is all Scarlett's. That is because Scarlett is me...Scarlett is the one with the hair of midnight...the eyes of emerald...