A Comparison Between the Feminism of Scarlett and Melanie

Abstract

Widely considered as a classic feminist work, there are many studies of Gone With the Wind from the perspective of feminism in academia. Most of these studies focus on the feminist spirit of its protagonist Scarlett, while the feminism of another important female character Melanie has always been ignored and even considered as the representation of women who completely accept the repression of patriarchy. Based on the text analysis, this research makes a contrastive analysis of Scarlett and Melanie, analyzes the similarities and differences between them and taps into their feminist spirits from the perspective of feminist literary criticism. By comparing these two female characters, the research finds the two main differences lie in their handling of interpersonal relationships and responses toward patriarchal rules are obvious—— from the perspective of interpersonal relationships, the egoism of Scarlett contrasts with Melanie’s altruism; in the face of the patriarchal rules, Melanie’s female subjectivity and independence are not as noticeable as those of Scarlett. Although the differences between them are obvious, they still share similarities in their subversion towards the patriarchy and their occupation of a position more central than the male characters in Gone with the Wind. This research on these two female characters has implications for further studies of female character creation and feminist literary criticism, as well as the distinctive feminism of Mary Mitchell, reflected in her portrayal of these two female characters.