Gone with the Wind Ending Explained & Movie Analysis – Blimey (2023)

Why Rhett Butler gave up Scarlett and other mysteries from the famous Gone With the Wind movie. The essence of the film "Gone with the Wind": the plot, the meaning, why it is called that

Country: USA

Genre: Drama, Adaptation, Melodrama

Year of construction: 1939

Regie: Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood

Besetzung: Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Leslie Howard

Slogan: "The greatest picture ever!" (The most magnificent picture in the world!)

Awards and nominations: The film won eight Oscars in 1940.

Gone with the Wind is a beautiful tragic story by Scarlett O'Hara. There is no hidden meaning in the picture, but that doesn't make it easy. The film, like the original novel, carries a powerful warning: one should not live in the past and drown in illusions and pleasant memories - this can not lead to good. The essence of Gone With the Wind is that no matter what the world is like and no matter how much you want to hide from it, you have to face your fears.

What is "Gone with the Wind" about?

Gone with the Wind is based on Margaret Mitchell's novel of the same name. Mitchell, a journalist and writer, was only 25 years old when the book, which was to be included in the golden pool of world literature, was written.

Clark Gable as Rhett Battler, Vivien Leigh as Scarlet O'Hara. frame from the movie.

Margaret Mitchell's novel is a real poem, comparable to War and Peace and Dead Souls. This is not only a tragic tale of love and patriotism, but (even primarily) nostalgia for a beautiful time lost forever...

Synopsis for "Gone With the Wind" 1861, America, Georgia - Agricultural Southern State. The eve of the war between North and South.

Sixteen-year-old Scarlett O'Hara, the daughter of Tara's giant cotton plantation owner, leads a simple life of balls and flirts.

In fact, the girl is not as frivolous as it seems at first glance - her heart burns with love for the son of the owner of a neighboring plantation, Ashley Wilkes. When Scarlett accidentally learns that Ashley is about to propose to her cousin Melanie Hamilton, she falls into despair.

A little later, Scarlett meets the imposing cynic Rhett Butler, who does not share the patriotic madness of the southerners who believe in the inevitable victory over the northerners.

After an unsuccessful explanation with Ashley, which she rejected, Scarlett decides to "avenge" him and accepts his cousin Charles' marriage proposal. After the wedding, the young man goes to war, and soon Scarlett receives news of his death.

Leslie Howard played the role of Ashley. frame from the movie.

After Scarlett is widowed, she moves to Atlanta, where the Hamiltons' home is located, at her mother's urging. There she reunites with Rhett, and after a minor provocation that nonetheless shocks Atlantean society, he stuns her with the news that he will win her love. Scarlett makes it clear that it won't work out for him - she still loves Ashley. But at the same time, she appreciates his continued attention...

This is how their difficult relationship begins, which is reminiscent of either a passionate dance or a bloody sword fight. With war raging in the country, Scarlett has a lot of serious problems to solve - and grow up.

final explanation

Towards the end, the main character of Gone With the Wind finally realizes that all her mad love for Ashley was after a phantom.

She tries to explain herself to Rhett, whose feelings she has been toying with, but he rejects her. In the finale, Scarlett, mourning Rhett's departure, utters her signature line, "I'll think about it tomorrow."

The explanation for the ending is pretty simple. Throughout her life, heroine Vivien Leigh has been chasing the love of an unattainable man. She was only interested in her own "want" and didn't want to spend time thinking about how much she really needed Ashley.

Her behavior pushed her away from the person she seemed to really love. By the time she realized that, it was already too late.

The phrase "I'll think about it tomorrow" was a real mantra for Scarlett — and indeed, that attitude helped her persevere through dark times. But her mistake was that she began to apply this attitude in all areas of life - even where it wasn't necessary.

Hattie McDaniel as Mom. film frame

The significance of the ending of Gone with the Wind is that Scarlett traded "today" for "tomorrow" and ended up missing out on something very important. However, Scarlett is a person of strong will and fighting spirit: she definitely did not accept the loss. She will probably do whatever it takes to get Rhett's love back.

As for Mr. Butler himself, all is not clear in his attitude towards Scarlett. The most common interpretation is that Rhett won't be coming back - "You won't burn those who've been burned down." Now he doesn't give a damn about Scarlett's love, her pleas and requests, which he ends up saying directly. But many viewers, in their analysis of Gone With the Wind, believe that Rhett simply realized the ball was now in his court. He will run away from her as she pursues him, but he still has some feelings for her. It is possible that he will return to her, but by this time she will already "burn out" ...

It is noteworthy that Mitchell did not love her heroine - she said more than once that she wrote a negative picture. After all, apparently, the finale of the work (both the book and the film) is not open, but unequivocal: its meaning lies in the fact that Scarlett is doomed to loneliness.

The meaning of the film

As in any good story, the meaning of the film "Gone With the Wind" cannot be clearly defined.

The daughter of a wealthy Irish landowner and planter, black-haired, green-eyed Scarlett O'Hara is the region's premier beauty. This is no worldly lioness, but a butterfly that loves to flutter and have fun. And this girl finds herself in the epicenter of a typhoon whose name is Civil War.

The southern troops in this conflict were defeated, slavery was abolished, the old world, based on the labor of black slaves, collapsed, crushing the survivors with its fragments. The O'Hara family, led by young Scarlett, like other families in the area, strived for one thing - to survive.

The first layer of Gone with the Wind is Southern Tragedy. It does not even consist in the fact that many inhabitants became impoverished due to the collapsed economy and were pushed to the brink of survival by circumstances - but in the collapse of the notorious "ease of being".

The second (and most important) layer is the civil war itself. And this is not just about the fact that the ideological war between North and South has changed the way of life of absolutely everyone, but also about world politics.

frame from the movie.

The bottom line is that the South decided to secede into its own country - the Confederate States. The North firmly resisted. Another cause of conflict was the slave system. The South was unwilling to part with its wealth built on the bloody sweat of black workers, while the North had freed the slaves long ago.

The confrontation between the North and the South, like any civil war, is not a war of the "good guys" against the "bad guys" at all. If only because one of its sides were slaves who worked on plantations.

Many of them found themselves in a new world and happily began to build a free life. However, many did not want release and preferred to stay with their masters. There were people who fought for the abolition of slavery, but could not adjust to a free life: they fooled around, drank, robbed and raped. For this reason, the notorious Ku Klux Klan was formed a little later...

The third layer is the story of Scarlett. We can say that Gone with the Wind is the story of the spirit's victory over circumstance. However, given the nature of the main character, we can say that grass clings to life.

Vivien Leigh as Scarlet O'Hara. frame from the movie.

It is believed that Scarlett never loved anyone but herself in her life. Life gave her a meeting with Rhett, who, like herself, cannot be called a positive character.

Scarlett has dreamed of Ashley her whole life. It was with a dream - he was a fictional image and the way she loved him never existed. Having lost the ideal, she actually lost a part of herself. However, it can be assumed that Scarlett, like a real weed, will not give up and will now try to invent the lost, (as before Ashley) become inaccessible Rhett ( and to love).

But Rhett Butler will never return to her. The reason is clearly stated in the book: He "stopped watching her the way a cat watches a mouse". That is, he first wanted to conquer her, to bind her to himself. But it did not work. He betrayed her many times, and although he said he likes her the way she is, in the end he started tormenting her precisely for her essence. When his wife didn't get the best person but got a uniquely strong personality, he tried to adapt it for himself. It did not work.

As for Scarlett, she just didn't love him - she wasn't capable of that. So we can conclude that Gone with the Wind is not a romantic love story, but a tough and truthful film (and book) about the ruined lives of two people.

The meaning of the name

The film (and book) is called Gone with the Wind. In English, this is a fixed expression. Its meaning is roughly the same as that of the simple phrase "Go to the grave."

The idea of ​​Margaret Mitchell's work was that the American South is a kind of colossus with feet of clay, that is, a civilization blown away by the wind.

frame from the movie.

Bottom line, the South lived according to old traditions, corresponding to the 18th century. But war broke out, and the North, symbol of the new world, obliterated both the fledgling cities and the "chivalrous code" that was once tacitly adopted. Some adherents of the old values ​​like Ashley have lost the will to live with the loss of this "code". Some (Rhett and Scarlett), on the other hand, went ahead and corrected their own principles.

In people like Melanie lived the conscience and heart of the old South. With her death came the final demise of the great "Southern Civilization" of which only fragments remain.

That is, the clue to the name lies in the fact that the ancient world has turned to dust, carried away by the wind. Only people like Scarlett can survive in the new world, but they too lose themselves.

Similar movies

Here are a few paintings that have a similar meaning to Gone with the Wind:

• "Casablanca" (USA, 1942). Rick, the owner of a Casablanca gambling club, meets an ex-lover, Ilsa. The girl asks him to help her husband, who is involved in anti-fascist activities;
• "The Thorn Birds" (USA, 1983). The tragic forbidden love story of Maggie Cleary and the family confessor, Father Ralph de Bricassart;
• "Cold Mountain" (US, Italy, Romania, UK, 2003). civil war. Inman, who is fighting in the Confederate forces, returns home where his beloved Ada is waiting for him.
• "Australia" (Australia, UK, USA, 2008). A dramatic epic about the love of a nobleman and a rancher against the backdrop of World War II.

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