Abstract

Many women, particularly feminists, find Scarlett O'Hara, from Gone with the Wind 2 (Mitchell 1936), at best irritating, and at worst, despicable: a character who embodies all of the negative stereotypes attributed to women throughout history. She is narcissistic, shallow, dishonest, manipulative, amoral, and completely lacking in any capacity for self-reflection and for analysis of the emotional and psychological responses of others. In fact, even Margaret Mitchell, who did not much care for the character she had created, often made "disparaging remarks about Scarlett" (Jones 1981: 333) and "claimed that she set out to write about Melanie as the protagonist and that Scarlett just took over the story." (Jones 1999: 35)

How to Cite:

Spanbauer, J. M., (2001) “Scarlett O'Hara as Feminist: The Contradictory, Normalizing Force of Law and Culture”, Law Text Culture 5(2).