Student Question
Why does Scarlett want to marry Ashley in Gone with the Wind?
Quick answer:
Scarlett O'Hara's desire to marry Ashley Wilkes stems from her ego and need for social respectability rather than genuine love. As a Southern belle accustomed to admiration, she is affronted by Ashley's choice of the plain Melanie. Scarlett is more enamored with the idea of being "in love" and the social prestige Ashley represents. Ultimately, she is trapped by illusions about love and Ashley, eventually recognizing his lack of emotional commitment.
Scarlet O'Hara has been pampered all her life, and as a beautiful Southern belle, she has had the attentions of every young man within miles. That Ashley Wilkes would marry someone as plain as Melanie is a blow to Scarlett's huge ego. So she wishes to prove this fact untrue. Above all else, the character of Scarlett O'Hara does not know herself. She illustrates the line from a song of years ago, "You don't know what you've got until you lose it."
Your analysis of Ashley Wilkes is fairly dead on accurate, in my mind. The notion of Scarlett "being respectable" and living for the perceptions of others helps to compel her in seeking to marry Ashley. He is socially respectable and in this, she covets him. I would think that she is more in the idea of being "in love" as opposed to being in...
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love with Ashley. It seems as if Scarlett is more trapped by the illusions of love than anything else. Ashley, by nature, is not excessively emotional from a commitment point of view, as he constantly vacillates between both Scarlett's passion and Melanie's loyalty. This only adds to Scarlett's illusions about Ashley. In the end, Scarlett does recognize him as sort of wimpy and abandons her illusions of loving him.