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Gone With the Wind
1936 original cover of Gone with the Wind
Author	Margaret Mitchell
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Historical fiction, Romance, Drama, Novel
Publisher	Macmillan Publishers
Publication date	May 1936
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages	1037 (first edition) 1024 (Warner Books paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-446-36538-6 (Warner)
OCLC Number	28491920
Followed by	Scarlett

Gone with the Wind, first published on May, 1936, is a romantic novel and the only novel written by Margaret Mitchell. The story is set in Clayton County, Georgia and Atlanta, Georgia during the American Civil War and Reconstruction^[1] and follows the life of Scarlett O'Hara, the daughter of an Irish immigrant plantation owner. Scarlett marries two men she does not love, all the while infatuated with Ashley Wilkes, who has married Melanie Hamilton. During both marriages, Scarlett spends a lot of time with Rhett Butler. After her second husband dies, Scarlett marries Rhett, who is aware of her passion for Ashley but hopes that one day she will come to love him instead. Scarlett eventually comes to realize that she does love Rhett, but only once the couple have been through so much that Rhett has fallen out of love with her.

Title

The title is taken from the first line of the third stanza of the poem Non Sum Qualis eram Bonae Sub Regno Cynarae^[2] by Ernest Dowson: "I have forgot much, Cynara! Gone with the wind." The novel's protagonist, Scarlett O'Hara, also uses the title phrase in a line in the book: when her home area is overtaken by the Yankees, she wonders to herself if her home, a plantation called Tara, is still standing, or if it was "also gone with the wind which had swept through Georgia". More generally, the title has been interpreted as referring to the entire way of life of the antebellum South as having "Gone with the Wind". The prologue of the movie refers to the old way of life in the South as "gone with the wind."

The title for the novel was a problem for Mitchell. She initially titled the book "Pansy," the original name for the character of Scarlett O'Hara. Although never seriously considered, the title "Pansy" was dropped once MacMillan persuaded Mitchell to rename the main character. Other proposed titles included "Tote the Weary Load" and "Tomorrow is Another Day," the latter taken from the last line in the book; however, the publisher noted that there were several books close to the same title at the time, so Mitchell was asked to find another title, and "Gone with the Wind" was chosen.

Plot

Part one

Scarlett O'Hara is the belle of the County. Her flirtatiousness and charm won the hearts of many men in Clayton County, Georgia. At sixteen years old, however, she begins the trials that will completely overtake her life for the next ten years. She does this by having an impromptu marriage with the bashful Charles Hamilton to save her reputation and make her real love—Ashley Wilkes—jealous. However, soon after their wedding, Charles and all the other men in Georgia who are able to bear arms, go to war against the Yankees at the start of the Civil war. After two weeks of being in camp, Charles dies of the measles and leaves Scarlett a widow, thus commencing her tough life. With Charles dead and Scarlett supposedly broken-hearted, Scarlett is forced to dress in black mourning clothes and attend no parties, in order to please society.

Part Two and Part Three

Scarlett moves to Atlanta to stay with her sister-in-law and Ashley’s wife, Melanie Wilkes and her Aunt Pittypat. Melanie grows to love Scarlett like a sister; however, Scarlett is very self-centered and resents Melanie. Scarlett meets Rhett Butler while in Atlanta; he is attentive to her and she uses him (and his money) when it is convenient. Rhett is a scoundrel and is "not received" in polite society. Ashley is able to come home for Christmas from the war and stay at Aunt Pitty's with Melanie. At the end of his stay, Scarlett promises him to keep Melanie safe. With the help of Rhett and her personal slave, Prissy, Scarlett leads Melanie, Melanie’s new son Beau, and Prissy to safety back at Tara, as the Civil War is ending and Sherman is "Marching Through Georgia" laying waste to the country as he goes. Upon her arrival, she hears the news of the death of her beloved mother, Ellen. Scarlett stays at Tara Plantation and tries to keep it solvent and care for its inhabitants.

Part four

Scarlett hears that Tara is about to be charged an enormous amount of tax (by the new corrupt local government), which she cannot possibly pay. She decides to go to Atlanta and charm Rhett into paying the bill. In a famous scene, she pulls down the drapes and makes a fine velvet dress so that Rhett will not know how poor she is. Instead of Rhett, however, Scarlett marries Frank Kennedy, who has enough money to pay the tax on Tara. Scarlett owns a mill and as she travels home from it one night, she gets attacked. Frank, Ashley, and many other men in the Ku Klux Klan go to avenge her attack. In the fight Frank is killed, leaving her widowed again. She now marries Rhett, who has become very rich by dubious means during the War.

Part five

Scarlett and Rhett start to enjoy their new life together. They have a child named Bonnie who becomes Rhett’s pride and joy. They live happily until Scarlett’s old infatuation with Ashley takes over. When Bonnie is killed in a riding accident Scarlett blames Rhett, who is heartbroken over the death of his beloved daughter. He drinks heavily and finally decides, after the death of Melanie Wilkes, to leave Scarlett forever. However, Scarlett realizes that she loves Rhett and never truly loved Ashley. She confesses this to Rhett, but he is adamant. The book ends on an ambiguous note, as she decided to return to the familiarity of her beloved Tara, where "Tomorrow is another day".

Characters

Butler family

• Rhett Butler – Scarlett's love interest and third husband, often publicly shunned for scandalous behavior, sometimes accepted for his charm. He is financially a very shrewd man and initially appears to love Scarlett dearly.
• Eugenie Victoria "Bonnie Blue" Butler – Scarlett and Rhett's pretty, beloved, pampered daughter.

Wilkes family

• Ashley Wilkes – the man Scarlett loves, Melanie's husband, a gentleman and dreamer, who nevertheless sees that the Southern way of life is doomed. He claims to be attracted to Scarlett but still loves Melanie and Beau. After the war, and fall of the Confederacy he seems jaded. Almost all of his actions are motivated by duty and responsibility.
• Melanie Hamilton Wilkes – Ashley's wife and cousin, a true lady. She is quiet and sees the good in people. She loves Ashley, Beau, and Scarlett unwaveringly. Despite her quiet nature, she is a stalwart supporter of the Confederacy and Scarlett and speaks out about both.
• Beau Wilkes – Melanie's and Ashley's lovable son.
• India Wilkes – Ashley's sister. Almost engaged to Stuart Tarleton, she bitterly hates Scarlett for stealing his attention before he is killed at Gettysburg. Lives with Aunt Pittypat after Melanie kicks her out for accusing Scarlett and Ashley of infidelity.
• Honey Wilkes – boy-crazy sister of India and Ashley. Originally "intended" to marry Charles Hamilton until Scarlett marries him, following the war, she marries a man from Mississippi, and moves to his home state with him.
• John Wilkes – Owner of Twelve Oaks Plantation and patriarch of the Wilkes family. Killed during the Civil War.

O'Hara family

• Scarlett O'Hara; A spoiled girl who will do anything to keep her land
• Gerald O'Hara – Scarlett's impetuous Irish father.
• Suellen O'Hara – Scarlett's selfish sister.
• Carreen O'Hara – Scarlett's timid, religious sister who, in the end of the story, joins a convent.
• Ellen O'Hara – Scarlett's gracious mother, of French ancestry.

Other characters

• Mammy – Scarlett's nurse from birth; a slave. Cited by Rhett as "the real head of the household." She has a no-nonsense attitude and is outspoken and opinionated. She chastises Scarlett often. She is extremely loyal to the O'Haras, especially Scarlett, who she cares for like a daughter, but also understands she is her subordinate.
• Prissy – A young slave girl who features in Scarlett's life. She is portrayed as flighty and silly.
• Pork – The O'Hara family's butler, favored by Gerald.
• Dilcey – Pork's wife, a strong, outspoken slave woman of mixed Indian and Black decent, Prissy's mother.
• Charles Hamilton – Melanie's brother, Scarlett's first husband, shy and loving.
• Frank Kennedy – Suellen's former beau, Scarlett's second husband, an older man who only wants peace and quiet. He originally asks for Suellen's hand in marriage, but Scarlett steals him to save Tara. He is portrayed as a pushover who will do anything to appease Scarlett.
• Belle Watling – a brothel madam and prostitute; Rhett is her friend. She is portrayed as a kind-hearted country woman and a loyal confederate. At one point she states she has nursing experience.
• Archie – an ex-convict and former Confederate soldier who is taken in by Melanie. Has a strong disliking for all women, especially Scarlett. The only woman he respects is Melanie.
• Jonas Wilkerson – former overseer of Tara, father of Emmie Slattery's illegitimate baby. After being dismissed because of the aforementioned he eventually becomes employed by the Freedmen's Bureau, where he abuses his position to get back at the O'Haras and becomes rich.
• Emmie Slattery – later wife of Jonas Wilkerson, who Scarlett blames for her mother's death.
• Will Benteen – Confederate soldier who seeks refuge at Tara and stays on to help with the plantation, in love with Carreen but marries Suellen to stay on Tara, and repair her reputation. He is portrayed as very perceptive and lost half of his leg in the war.
• Aunt Pittypat Hamilton – Charles and Melanie's vaporish aunt who lives in Atlanta.
• Uncle Peter – Aunt Pittypat's houseman and driver, he is extremely loyal to Pittypat.
• Wade Hampton Hamilton – son of Scarlett and Charles, fearful and adoring of Scarlett and Rhett.
• Ella Lorena Kennedy – ugly, dull daughter of Scarlett and Frank who has equinophobia, unlike her half sister and grandfather.

Setting

• Tara Plantation – The O'Hara home and plantation
• Twelve Oaks – The Wilkes' plantation.
• Peachtree Street – location of Aunt Pittypat's home and the atlentica farm

Politics

The book includes a vivid description of the fall of Atlanta in 1864 and the devastation of war (some of that aspect was missing from the 1939 film). The novel showed considerable historical research. According to her biography, Mitchell herself was ten years old before she learned that the South had lost the war. Mitchell's sweeping narrative of war and loss helped the book win the Pulitzer Prize on May 3, 1937.

An episode in the book dealt with the early Ku Klux Klan. In the immediate aftermath of the War, Scarlett is assaulted by poor Southerners living in shanties, whereupon her former black slave Big Sam saves her life. In response, Scarlett's male friends attempt to make a retaliatory nighttime raid on the encampment. Northern soldiers try to stop the attacks, and Rhett helps Ashley, who is shot, to get help through his prostitute friend Belle. Scarlett's husband Frank is killed. This raid is presented sympathetically as being necessary and justified, while the law-enforcement officers trying to catch the perpetrators are depicted as oppressive Northern occupiers.

Although the Klan is not mentioned in that scene (though Rhett tells Archie to burn the "robes"), the book notes that Scarlett finds the Klan abominable. She believed the men should all just stay at home (she wanted both to be petted for her ordeal and to give the hated Yankees no more reason to tighten martial law, which is bad for her businesses). Rhett is also mentioned to be no great lover of the Klan. At one point, he said that if it were necessary, he would join in an effort to join "society". The novel never explicitly states whether this drastic step was necessary in his view. The local chapter later breaks up under the pressure from Rhett and Ashley.

Scarlett expresses views that were common of the era. Some examples:

• "How stupid negroes were! They never thought of anything unless they were told." — Scarlett thinks to herself, after returning to Tara after the fall of Atlanta.
• "How dared they laugh, the black apes!...She'd like to have them all whipped until the blood ran down...What devils the Yankees were to set them free!" — Scarlett again thinking to herself, seeing free blacks after the war.
• However, she is kind to Pork, her father's trusted manservant. He tells Scarlett that if she were as nice to white people as she is to black, a lot more people would like her.
• She almost loses her temper when the Yankee women say they would never have a black nurse in their house and talk about Uncle Peter, Aunt Pittypat's beloved and loyal servant, as if he were a mule. Scarlett informs them that Uncle Peter is a member of the family, which bewilders the Yankee women and leads them to misinterpret the situation.
• It was mentioned that only one slave was ever whipped at Tara, and that was a stablehand who didn't brush Gerald's horse. The only time Scarlett hit a slave was when Prissy was hysterical.
• Scarlett at one point criticized Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, saying no one treated their slaves that badly.

Inspirations

As several elements of Gone with the Wind have parallels with Margaret Mitchell's own life, her experiences may have provided some inspiration for the story in context. Mitchell's understanding of life and hardship during the American Civil War, for example, came from elderly relatives and neighbors passing war stories to her generation.^[3]

While Margaret Mitchell used to say that her Gone with the Wind characters were not based on real people, modern researchers have found similarities to some of the people in Mitchell's own life as well as to individuals she knew or she heard of.^[4] Mitchell's maternal grandmother, Annie Fitzgerald Stephens, was born in 1845; she was the daughter of an Irish immigrant, who owned a large plantation on Tara Road in Clayton County, south of Atlanta, and who married an American woman named Ellen, and had several children, all daughters.

Many researchers believe that the physical brutality and low regard for women exhibited by Rhett Butler was based on Mitchell's first husband, Red Upshaw. She divorced him after she learned he was a bootlegger amid rumors of abuse and infidelity. Some believe he was patterned on the life of George Trenholm.^[5][6]

After a stay at the plantation called The Woodlands, and later Barnsley Gardens, Mitchell may have gotten the inspiration for the dashing scoundrel from Sir Godfrey Barnsley of Adairsville, Georgia.

Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, the mother of US president Theodore Roosevelt may have been an inspiration for Scarlett O'Hara. Roosevelt biographer David McCullough discovered that Mitchell, as a reporter for The Atlanta Journal, conducted an interview with one of Martha's closest friends and bridesmaid, Evelyn King Baker, then 87. In that interview, she described Martha's physical appearance, beauty, grace, and intelligence in detail. The similarities between Martha and the Scarlett character are striking.

Reception

The sales of Margaret Mitchell's novel in the summer of 1936, at the virtually unprecedented price of three dollars, reached about one million by the end of December.^[7] Favorable critics found in the novel and its success an implicit rejection of what one reviewer dismissed as "all the thousands of technical tricks our novelists have been playing with for the past twenty years," ^[8] while from the ramparts of the critical establishment almost universally male reviewers lamented the book's literary mediocrity and labeled it mere "entertainment."

Symbolism

Over the past years, the novel Gone with the Wind has also been analyzed for its symbolism and treatment of archetypes.^[9][10] For example, Scarlett has been characterized as a heroic figure struggling and attempting to twist life to suit her own personal wishes in society.^[9] The land is considered a source of strength, as in the plantation Tara, whose name is almost certainly drawn from the Hill of Tara in Ireland, a mysterious and poorly-understood archeological site that has traditionally been connected to the temporal and/or spiritual authority of the ancient Irish kings. It also represents the permanence of the land in a rapid changing world.^[10] Scarlett’s beautiful, perky hats take part of the symbolism as well. They show her feminine side and how she wants nothing more than to be the most attractive woman and the center of attention.^[10]

Sequels

Although Mitchell refused to write a sequel to Gone With The Wind, Mitchell's estate authorised Alexandra Ripley to write the novel Scarlett in 1991.

Author Pat Conroy was approached to write a follow-up, but the project was ultimately abandoned.^[11]

In 2000, the copyright holders attempted to suppress publication of Alice Randall’s The Wind Done Gone, a book that retold the story from the point of view of the slaves. A federal appeals court denied the plaintiffs an injunction against publication in Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin (2001), on the basis that the book was parody protected by the First Amendment. The parties subsequently settled out of court to allow the book to be published. After its release, the book became a New York Times bestseller.

In 2002, the copyright holders blocked distribution of an unauthorised sequel published in the U.S, The Winds of Tara by Katherine Pinotti, alleging copyright infringement. The story follows Scarlett as she returns to Tara where a family issue threatens Tara and the family's reputation. In it Scarlett shows just how far she will go to protect her family and her home. The book was immediately removed from bookstores by publisher Xlibris. The book sold in excess of 2,000 copies within 2 weeks before being removed. More recently, in 2008, Australian publisher Fontaine Press re-published "The Winds of Tara" exclusively for their domestic market, avoiding U.S. copyright restrictions.^[12]

A second sequel was released in November 2007. The story covers the same time period as Gone with the Wind and is told from Rhett Butler’s perspective – although it begins years before and ends after. Written by Donald McCaig, this novel is titled Rhett Butler's People (2007).^[13]

Adaptations

Gone With The Wind has been adapted several times for stage and screen, most famously in the 1939 film starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh.

On stage it has been adapted as a musical Scarlett (premiering in 1972). The musical opened in the West End followed by a pre-Broadway tryout in 1973 (with Lesley Ann Warren as Scarlett). The book was again adapted as a musical called Gone With The Wind which premiered at the New London Theatre in 2008 in a production directed by Trevor Nunn.^[14]

The Japanese Takarazuka Revue has also adapted the novel into a musical with the same name. The first performance was in 1977, performed by the Moon Troupe. It has been performed several times since by the group, the most recent being in 2004 (performed by the Cosmos Troupe).

Awards

The novel won the 1937 Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into an Academy Award-winning 1939 film of the same name. The book was also adapted during the 1970s into a stage musical Scarlett; there is also a 2008 new musical stage adaptation in London's West End titled Gone With The Wind. It is the only novel by Mitchell published during her lifetime. It took her seven years to write the book and a further eight months to check the thousands of historical and social references. The novel is one of the most popular books of all time, selling more than 30 million copies. Over the years, the novel has also been analyzed for its symbolism and treatment of archetypes.^[9][10]

Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005.^[15]

See also

• List of best-selling books
• Lost Laysen, a 1916 novella written by Mitchell and the only other known literary work of hers to ever be published
• Rhett Butler's People, an authorized sequel to Gone with the Wind
• Scarlett, an authorized sequel to Gone with the Wind
• Southern literature
• Southern Renaissance

References

External links

• The story behind Gone with the Wind as told by the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum
• Photos of the first edition of Gone With the Wind
• Free public domain eBook for people who live in Australia
• The Scarlett Letter, a quarterly publication devoted to the GWTW phenomenon
• Gone With the Wind Books, a website detailing the printing history of the GWTW book
• Gone With the Wind online exhibition at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin

From Wikiquote

With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.

Gone with the Wind is a 1939 film about a manipulative woman and a roguish man who carry on a turbulent love affair in the American south during the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Directed by Victor Fleming and adapted by Sidney Howard, based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell.

"The Cause!" The cause of living in the past is dying right in front of us.

Rhett Butler

You go into the arena alone. The lions are hungry for you.

Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

• With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.

• [to Scarlett] You go into the arena alone. The lions are hungry for you.

Scarlett O'Hara

As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!

After all... tomorrow is another day.

• As God is my witness, as God is my witness they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill. As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!
  • Note: bolded portion is ranked #59 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

• I can't let him go. I can't. There must be some way to bring him back. Oh, I can't think about this now! I'll go crazy if I do! I'll think about it tomorrow. But I must think about it. I must think about it. What is there to do? What is there that matters? Tara! Home. I'll go home. And I'll think of some way to get him back. After all... tomorrow is another day!
  • Note: bolded portion is ranked #31 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

Dialogue

Scarlett: Cathleen, who's that?

Cathleen Calvert: Who?

Scarlett: That man looking at us and smiling. The nasty, dark one.

Cathleen Calvert: My dear, don't you know? That's Rhett Butler. He's from Charleston. He has the most terrible reputation.

Scarlett: He looks as if... as if he knows what I look like without my shimmy.

Ashley: Isn't it enough that you've gathered every other man's heart today? You've always had mine. You cut your teeth on it.

Scarlett: Don't tease me now. Have I your heart, my darling? I love you. I love you.

Ashley: You mustn't say such things. You'll hate me for hearing them.

Scarlett: I could never hate you. And I know you must care about me. Oh, you do care, don't you?

Ashley: Yes, I do care. Oh, can't we go away and forget we ever said these things?

Scarlett: But how can we do that? Don't you... don't you want to marry me?

Ashley: I'm going to marry Melanie.

Scarlett: But you can't. Not if you care for me!

Ashley: Oh my dear, why must you make me say things that will hurt you? How can I make you understand? You're so young and unthinking. You don't know what marriage means.

Scarlett: All I know is that I love you! And you don't love Melanie!

Ashley: She's like me, Scarlett. She's part of my blood and we understand each other.

Scarlett: But you love me!

Ashley: How could I help loving you — you who have all the passion for life that I lack? But that kind of love isn't enough to make a successful marriage for two people who are as different as we are.

Scarlett: Why don't you say it, you coward? You're afraid to marry me. You'd rather live with that silly old fool who can't open her mouth except to say yes, no and raise a couple of brats just like her!

Ashley: You mustn't say things about Melanie.

Scarlett: Who are you to tell me I mustn't? You lead me on, you made me believe you wanted to marry me!

Ashley: Now Scarlett, be fair. I never at any time-

Scarlett: You did! It's true! You did! I'll hate you till I die! I can't think of anything bad enough to call you!

[Scarlett slaps him. He exits and in her fury she throws a vase. Rhett rises from behind the sofa.]

Rhett: Has the war started?

Scarlett: Sir, you... you should have made your presence known.

Rhett: In the middle of that beautiful love scene? That wouldn't be very tactful, would it? But don't worry, your secret is safe with me.

Scarlett: Sir, you are no gentleman.

Rhett: And you, miss, are no lady... Don't think that I hold that against you. Ladies have never held any charm for me.

Scarlett: But you are a blockade runner.

Rhett: For profit, and profit only.

Scarlett: Are you tryin' to tell me you don't believe in the cause?

Rhett: I believe in Rhett Butler. He's the only cause I know. The rest doesn't mean much to me.

Rhett: Don't start flirting with me. I'm not one of your plantation beaux. I want more than flirting from you.

Scarlett: What do you want?

Rhett: I'll tell you, Scarlett O'Hara, if you'll take that Southern-belle simper off your face. Someday I want you to say to me the words I heard you say to Ashley Wilkes: "I love you!"

Scarlett: That's something you'll never hear from me, Captain Butler, as long as you live.

[Rhett has brought Scarlett a new hat]

Rhett: I thought it was about time to get you out of that fake mourning. [shows her how to wear it after she places it on backward] The war stopped being a joke when a girl like you doesn't know how to wear the latest fashion. And those pantalettes: I don't know a woman in Paris who wears pantalettes any more.

Scarlett: Oh Rhett, what do they — you shouldn't talk about such things.

Rhett: You little hypocrite. You don't mind my knowing about them, just my talking about them.

Scarlett: But really Rhett, I can't go on accepting these gifts although you are awfully kind.

Rhett: I'm not kind. I'm just tempting you. I never give anything without expecting something in return. Now, I always get paid.

Scarlett: If you think I'll marry you just to pay for the bonnet, I won't.

Rhett: Don't flatter yourself. I'm not a marrying man.

Scarlett: Well, I won't kiss you for it, either.

Rhett: Open your eyes and look at me. No, I don't think I will kiss you — although you need kissing badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed, and often, and by someone who knows how.

Scarlett: Rhett, don't. I shall faint.

Rhett: I want you to faint. This is what you were meant for. None of the fools you've ever known have kissed you like this, have they? Your Charles, or your Frank, or your stupid Ashley.

Rhett: Did you ever think of marrying just for fun?

Scarlett: Marriage, fun? Fiddle-dee-dee. Fun for men, you mean.

[Rhett rescues Scarlett from the panicked streets of Atlanta as war approaches]

Rhett: Panic's a pretty sight, isn't it? We belong together, Scarlett. Let's get out of here together. No use staying here, letting the South come down around your ears. Too many nice places to go and visit. Mexico, London, Paris-

Scarlett: With you?

Rhett: Yes, ma'am. A man who understands you and admires you for just what you are. I figure we belong together, being the same sort. I've been waiting for you to grow up and get that sad-eyed Ashley Wilkes out of your heart... Are you going with me or are you getting out?

Scarlett: I hate and despise you, Rhett Butler. I'll hate and despise you till I die.

Rhett: [amused] Oh no you won't, Scarlett. Not that long.

Rhett: What collateral are you offering?

Scarlett: My ear bobs.

Rhett: Not interested.

Scarlett: Mortgage on Tara.

Rhett: What would I do with a farm?

Scarlett: Oh, you wouldn't lose. I'd pay you back on next year's cotton.

Rhett: Not good enough. Have you nothing better?

Scarlett: You once said you loved me. If you still love me, Rhett...

Rhett: You haven't forgotten. I'm not a marrying man.

Scarlett: No, I haven't forgotten.

Rhett: You're not worth $300. You'll never mean anything but misery to any man.

Scarlett: [after agreeing to marry Rhett] Money does help and of course I am fond of you... If I said I was madly in love with you, you'd know I was lying. You always said we had a lot in common...

Rhett: You're right, my dear. I'm not in love with you any more than you are with me. Heaven help the man who ever really loves you.

Ashley: Yes, we've traveled a long road since the old days, haven't we, Scarlett?... the golden warmth and security of those days.

Scarlett: Don't look back Ashley, don't look back. It'll drag at your heart until you can't do anything but look back.

Rhett: Of course, the comic figure in all this is the long-suffering Mr. Wilkes! Mr. Wilkes, who can't be mentally faithful to his wife — and won't be unfaithful to her technically. Why doesn't he make up his mind?

Scarlett: Rhett, you-

[Rhett places his hands on either side of Scarlett's face]

Rhett: Observe my hands, my dear. I could tear you to pieces with them, and I'd do it if it'd take Ashley out of your mind forever. But it wouldn't. So I'll remove him from your mind forever this way. I'll put my hands so — one on each side of your head — and I'll smash your skull between them like a walnut, and that'll block him out.

Scarlett: I'm not cornered. You'll never corner me, Rhett Butler, or frighten me. You've lived in dirt so long you can't understand anything else and you're jealous of something you can't understand.

Rhett: Jealous, am I? Yes, I suppose I am — even though I know you've been faithful to me all along. How do I know? Because I know Ashley Wilkes and his honorable breed. They're gentlemen! That's more than I can say for you or for me. We're not gentlemen, and we have no honor, have we? It's not that easy, Scarlett. You've turned me out while you chased Ashley Wilkes, while you dreamed of Ashley Wilkes. This is one night you're not turning me out. [suddenly, fiercely kisses her and then carries her protesting up a long flight of stairs to the bedroom, two steps at a time]

[Scarlett is pregnant again]

Rhett: Indeed. And who is the happy father?"

Scarlett: You know it's yours. I don't want it any more than you do. No woman would want a child of a cad like you... I wish for anybody's child but yours.

Rhett: Cheer up, maybe you'll have an accident.

[Scarlett tries to strike him but misses and falls down the stairs.]

Ashley: [about Melanie, who is dying] I can't live without her. I can't. Everything I ever had is going with her... She's the only dream I ever had that didn't die in the face of reality.

Scarlett: Ashley, you should have told me years ago that you loved her and not me, and not left me dangling with your talk of honor. But you had to wait till now, now when Melly's dying. To show me that I could never be any more to you than, than this Watling woman is to Rhett ... And I've loved something that doesn't really exist. Somehow, I don't care. Somehow, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter one bit.

Rhett: It seems we've been at cross-purposes, doesn't it? But it's no use now. As long as there was Bonnie, there was a chance that we might be happy. I liked to think that Bonnie was you, a little girl again, before the war, and poverty had done things to you. She was so like you, and I could pet her and spoil her, as I wanted to spoil you. But when she went, she took everything.

Scarlett: Oh, Rhett, Rhett please don't say that. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry for everything.

Rhett: My darling, you're such a child. You think that by saying "I'm sorry," all the past can be corrected. Here, take my handkerchief. Never, at any crisis of your life, have I known you to have a handkerchief.

Scarlett: Rhett! Rhett, where are you going?

Rhett: I'm going to Charleston, back where I belong.

Scarlett: Please, please take me with you!

Rhett: No, I'm through with everything here. I want peace. I want to see if somewhere there isn't something left in life of charm and grace. Do you know what I'm talking about?

Scarlett: No! I only know that I love you.

Rhett: That's your misfortune. [turns to walk down the stairs]

Scarlett: Oh, Rhett! [watches Rhett walk to the door] Rhett! [runs down the stairs after him] Rhett, Rhett! Rhett, Rhett... Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?

Rhett: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

• This ranked #1 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema.

Cast

• Clark Gable - Rhett Butler
• Vivien Leigh - Scarlett O'Hara
• Leslie Howard - Ashley Wilkes
• Olivia de Havilland - Melanie Hamilton
• Thomas Mitchell - Gerald O'Hara
• Barbara O'Neil - Ellen O'Hara
• Evelyn Keyes - Suellen O'Hara
• Ann Rutherford - Carreen O'Hara
• George Reeves - Stuart Tarleton
• Fred Crane - Brent Tarleton
• Hattie McDaniel - Mammy
• Oscar Polk - Pork
• Butterfly McQueen - Prissy
• Victor Jory - Jonas Wilkerson

External links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Gone with the Wind (film)

• Gone with the Wind quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Gone with the Wind at Rotten Tomatoes
• Gone with the Wind at filmsite.org