Scarlett O'Hara

Scarlett is a pretty, coquettish Southern belle who grows up on the Georgia plantation of Tara, near Jonesboro, south of Atlanta, in the years before the American Civil War. Selfish, shrewd and vain, Scarlett inherits the strong will of her Irish father Gerald, but also desires to please her well-bred, genteel mother Ellen, who comes from a good Savannah family. Scarlett loves Ashley Wilkes, her aristocratic neighbor; however, Ashley marries his gentle, mild-mannered second cousin, Melanie Hamilton. Scarlett marries Melanie's brother Charles out of spite for Melanie, Ashley, and Ashley's sister Honey. Charles dies of pneumonia, just after a case of the measles.
Scarlett discovers that she is pregnant, and gives birth to a son, Wade Hampton Hamilton. Following Wade's birth, Scarlett goes through a state of depression. Ellen, Scarlett's mother, sends her to visit family in Charleston, S.C., and Savannah. She returns home earlier than expected and even more depressed. In response to letters written by Charles and Melanie's Aunt Pittypat inviting Scarlett to visit, Ellen sends Scarlett to Atlanta to stay with Melanie and her Aunt Pittypat.

Charles and Melanie's parents died when they were young, and they were raised by their father's siblings, Henry and Pittypat. Rather, they were raised by the old Hamilton family servant, Uncle Peter, who basically made the decisions in the house. Scarlett is less than pleased at first with living with Ashley's wife, but finds the information she is able to hear about Ashley—and Melanie and Pittypat's devotion and care to Wade—useful.

In Atlanta, Scarlett meets Captain Rhett Butler, a blockade runner. Rhett is very outspoken about the war, and the actions. Scarlett is intrigued by him due to his outspokeness. Rhett is enchanted by Scarlett's demeanor and actions, and how she is very different from any other lady in the South.

Rhett becomes a regular visitor to the Hamilton house. Scarlett, Melanie, and Wade all find his company enjoyable. The only one with qualms is Aunt Pittypat, but she lacked the courage to turn him away. Rhett's opinions were definitely thought-provoking, however controversial during the time. Scarlett basically saw him for what he was, while Melanie thought he was lonely and in need of a wife.

Scarlett and Melanie both worked at the hospital as nurses, and Scarlett is impressed by Melanie's ability to take it all, despite catching her throwing up in a closet on several occasions.

When Ashley returns home for Christmas one year, the whole family is overjoyed. After the visit, Melanie discovers that she is pregnant. Scarlett is angry and upset, and plans to leave for Tara. Just before that, a letter comes stating that Ashley has gone missing. Because of this, Scarlett stays. Melanie's pregnancy continues even though she is in a frail condition. It was concluded that her hip bone was too small for a safe delivery. During this time, General William Tecumseh Sherman's troops approach Atlanta, and Aunt Pittypat and Uncle Peter flee to family in Macon, GA. Scarlett, Melanie, Prissy, and Wade are left behind and Melanie is left in Scarlett's care. Melanie, on bedrest goes into labor one hot, humid August day, with Sherman's troops still outside Atlanta. Scarlett sends Prissy to find someone to help, but there is no one able to help. Scarlett and Prissy, neither with experience are forced to deliver Melanie's baby. The delivery was complicated, mainly because of problems that happened, problems like spilling water on the bed, Prissy losing the scissors when needed, and Prissy dropping the newborn baby on the bed.

After Beau was born, Scarlett decided to leave Atlanta for Tara. She sent Prissy to find the only one who could help, Rhett. Prissy found him at Belle Watling's, Atlanta's "bad woman." Rhett manages to find a horse and carriage, and goes and finds Scarlett, frantic. Scarlett manages to convince Rhett that she can make it to Tara, and Rhett, Scarlett, Melanie, Wade, Beau, and Prissy all get on the wagon, and escape from Atlanta, just as Sherman's troops are in the city.

When they finally get out Atlanta, Rhett lets the horse rest a bit. He pulls Scarlett off the carriage, tells her loves her, kisses her, and leaves her at the roadside to join the army. This makes Scarlett believe that Southern Chivalry is just a ridiculous notion. Scarlett rests there for the night, then takes back country roads to the area Tara is in. Scarlett is desperate to get home to Ellen, who she believes will make everything all better. Along the way, Scarlett finds several plantations destroyed and burnt to the ground, and she worries that Tara had the same fate. She discovers that Tara is standing safe and sound. Scarlett is then shocked to discover that her mother had died of Typhoid Fever shortly before Scarlett came home. Scarlett's sisters, Suellen and Carreen had it also, but recovered, and were still weak from the sickness.

Scarlett is also shocked to discover that her father, Gerald has lost his mind after his wife's death. Tara is placed into her hands, she is the leader, and the one who must take care of everything. Scarlett has Wade, Gerald, Suellen, Carreen, Melanie, Beau, Pork, Mammy, Dilcey, and Prissy to take care of. Scarlett contemplates sending Melanie and Beau to her relatives in Macon, Suellen and Carreen to her mother's family in Charleston, and Gerald, Wade and herself staying with family in Savannah. In a moment of new-found strength and passion, Scarlett decides against this, firmly declaring that she can take care of herself and her own.

Due to Ellen's death, and Gerald's senility Scarlett takes hold of Tara, and does all she can to keep it going. She discovers that the only reason that the Yankees didn't burn it to the ground was because the soldiers used it as their headquarters. Scarlett works the fields, with Pork, Mammy, Dilcey, and Prissy, all except Dilcey complaining they couldn't do it because they worked in the house. Scarlett has Suellen, Carreen, and Melanie work in the fields, which proves to be of little success, due to the fact that they are all sick, Melanie collapsing after working an hour, Suellen's complaining that she was a lady, and wouldn't work in the fields to her pretending to pass out, and Carreen's still weakened state.

After the end of the war, Jonas Wilkerson, formerly the foreman of the O'Haras, coveting Tara, arranged, with the help of Carpetbagger friends, for the tax on Tara to be raised by three hundred dollars, hoping to be able to buy the plantation. When an appeal to Rhett fails, Scarlett marries Frank Kennedy, owner of a small business and her sister Suellen's beau. It is during her brief marriage to Frank that Scarlett, aided by a loan from Rhett, begins a successful lumber business. Scarlett and Frank have a daughter, Ella Lorena Kennedy, but their marriage is a brief one, and Scarlett is widowed c. 1867 when Frank was shot during a raid by the Ku Klux Klan on a shanty town.

The search for an actress to play Scarlett in the film version of the novel famously drew big names such as Bette Davis (who was cast in the similary-themed movie "Jezebel" when she failed to land the role of Scarlett), Katharine Hepburn, Jean Arthur, and Lucille Ball. Susan Hayward was "discovered" when she tested for the part, and the career of Lana Turner developed quickly after her test. Joan Bennett was widely considered to be the most likely choice until she was supplanted by Paulette Goddard.

Principal photography began with the role still not cast. The scene depicting the burning of Atlanta was being filmed when producer David O. Selznick's brother arrived on the set with two visitors - British actor Laurence Olivier and his wife, novice actress Vivien Leigh. Myron announced he had found his brother's Scarlett, and with one look at Leigh, David knew he was right. Leigh was cast - despite public protest that the role was too "American" for an English actress - and eventually won an Academy Award for her performance.