Scarlett O'Hara

Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O'Hara as portrayed by Vivien Leigh in the 1939 film adaptation of Gone with the Wind
First appearance	Gone with the Wind
Created by	Margaret Mitchell
Portrayed by	Vivien Leigh (Gone with the Wind) Joanne Whalley (Scarlett)
Information
Full name	Katie Scarlett O'Hara
Gender	Female
Family	Gerald O'Hara (father, deceased) Ellen Robillard O'Hara (mother, deceased) Susan Elinor "Suellen" O'Hara Benteen (sister) Caroline Irene "Carreen" O'Hara (sister) Gerald O'Hara Jr. (name of 3 brothers, all deceased)
Spouse(s)	Charles Hamilton (1st; deceased) Frank Kennedy (2nd; deceased) Rhett Butler (3rd; divorced)
Children	Wade Hampton Hamilton (son with Charles) Ella Lorena Kennedy (daughter with Frank) Eugenie Victoria "Bonnie Blue" Butler (daughter with Rhett; deceased) Katie Colum "Cat" Butler (daughter with Rhett in Scarlett) Mr. Butler (stepson via Rhett)
Relatives	Langston Butler (father-in-law named in Scarlett; deceased) Eleanor Butler (mother-in-law in sequel Scarlett) Ross Butler (brother-in-law named in Scarlett) Rosemary Butler (sister-in-law) Pauline Robillard (maternal aunt) Eulalie Robillard (maternal aunt) Philippe Robillard (cousin of her mother) James O'Hara (paternal uncle) Andrew O'Hara (paternal uncle) Pierre Robillard (maternal grandfather) Solange Prudhomme Robillard (maternal grandmother) Katie Scarlett O'Hara (paternal grandmother) Will Benteen (brother-in-law) Unnamed Benteen (niece or nephew, via Suellen and Will) Melanie Hamilton (sister-in-law) Beau Wilkes (nephew)
Religion	Roman Catholicism

Katie Scarlett O'Hara is a fictional character and the main protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and in the later film of the same name. She also is the main character in the 1970 musical Scarlett and the 1991 book Scarlett, a sequel to Gone with the Wind that was written by Alexandra Ripley and adapted for a television mini-series in 1994. During early drafts of the original novel, Mitchell referred to her heroine as "Pansy", and did not decide on the name "Scarlett" until just before the novel went to print.

O'Hara is the oldest living child of Gerald and Ellen O'Hara. She was born in 1845 on her family's plantation Tara in Georgia. She was named Katie Scarlett, after her father's mother, but is always called Scarlett, except by her father, who refers to her as "Katie Scarlett." She is from a Catholic family of Irish and French ancestry, and a descendent of an aristocratic Savannah family on her mother's side (the Robillards). O'Hara has black hair, green eyes, and pale skin. She is famous for her fashionably small waist. Scarlett has two younger sisters, Susan Elinor ("Suellen") O'Hara and Caroline Irene ("Carreen") O'Hara, and three little brothers who died in infancy. Her baby brothers are buried in the family burying ground at Tara, and each was named Gerald O'Hara, Jr.

Scarlett O'Hara is an atypical protagonist, especially as a female romantic lead in fiction. When the novel opens, Scarlett is sixteen. She is vain, self-centered, and very spoiled by her wealthy parents. She can also be insecure; but is very intelligent, despite her fashionable Southern-belle pretense at ignorance and helplessness around men. She is somewhat unique among Southern women, whom society preferred to act as dainty creatures who needed protection from their men. Scarlett is aware that she is only acting empty-headed, and resents the fashionable "necessity" of it, unlike most of her typical party-going Southern belles social set.

Outwardly, Scarlett is the picture of southern charm and womanly virtues, and a popular belle with the country males. The one man she truly wants, however, is her neighbor, Ashley Wilkes – the one man she can't have. The Wilkes family has a tradition of intermarrying with their cousins, and Ashley is promised to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton of Atlanta. Scarlett's motivation in the early part of the novel centers on her desire to win Ashley's heart. When he refuses her advances (which no well-bred Southern lady would be so forward as to make), she takes refuge in childish rage, and spitefully accepts the proposal of Charles Hamilton, Melanie's brother, in a misguided effort to get back at Ashley and Melanie.