Ashley Wilkes
Encyclopedia
George Ashley Wilkes is a fictional character
in the Margaret Mitchell
's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind
and the later film of the same name
. The character also appears in the 1991 book Scarlett
, a sequel to Gone with the Wind written by Alexandra Ripley
, and in Rhett Butler's People
by Donald McCaig
.
Ashley is the man with whom Scarlett O'Hara
is obsessed. Gentlemanly yet indecisive, he loves Melanie
, his cousin and later his wife, but is tormented by an obsession with Scarlett. Unfortunately for him and Scarlett, his failure to deal with his true feelings for Scarlett ruins any chance she has for real happiness with Rhett Butler
, the true love of her life. Ashley is a complicated character. He is not sympathetic to the cause of the North. However, he isn't an ardent Confederate patriot, either. What Ashley loves about the South is the serene, peaceful life that he and his dear ones know at Twelve Oaks
, and similar plantations. At one point (following the war) he comments to Scarlett that "had the war not come he would have spent his life happily buried at Twelve Oaks."
In short, Ashley loves the South, but not necessarily the Confederacy. And, he hates war, though he fights because of his loyalty to Georgia
.
He claims that he would have freed the slaves after the death of his father if the war hadn't freed them already. His willingness to free the slaves further demonstrates his impractical nature, because if the slaves were free, he would not be able to run the plantation. However, he has a great deal of affection for the slaves on his plantation, and the role that they played in his serene, bucolic life.
There is a sense in which the end of Ashley's life (as he knew it) is more than just the burning of Twelve Oaks. The four Tarleton brothers (Boyd, Tom, Brent and Stuart) are all killed, three of them at Gettysburg
. Cade Calvert returns home terminally ill from tuberculosis. Little Joe Fontaine is killed in battle, and Tony Fontaine has to flee forever to Texas
after killing a Yankee (specifically, Scarlett's family's former slave overseer, Jonas Wilkerson, during Reconstruction
; after Wilkerson encouraged a former slave to attempt to rape Tony's sister-in-law). These were Ashley's childhood friends, all represented in the happy scene at the barbecue, close to the beginning of the book. When the "family circle" of the county is decimated, the life Ashley loved is gone.
At one point in the book Ashley pleads, in vain, with his wife Melanie to move to the North, after he comes back from fighting in the American Civil War
. However, this isn't because of any affection for the North, but because he wants to be able to stand on his own as a man, something he will never again be able to do in Georgia, now that his plantation is gone [and his home burned]. He ends up working for Scarlett, however, due to her manipulative entreaties and Melanie's naive support of her.
In a sense, he is the character best personifying the tragedy of the Southern high class after the Civil War
. Coming from a privileged background, Ashley is an honorable and educated man. He is in clear contrast to Rhett Butler
, who is decisive and full of life, but is vulgar and distasteful as well. Rhett is both ruthless and practical, and is willing to do whatever he must to survive, whereas Ashley is often impractical (even Melanie admits this on her deathbed), and would resist doing many things Rhett would consider doing, because they aren't "proper" or "gentlemanly". Ashley fights in the Civil War even though he isn't any kind of Confederate warhawk and wishes that the Yankees would simply let them leave the Union in peace. As a soldier he shows enough leadership to be promoted to the rank of Major
, and survives being imprisoned at the Rock Island Arsenal
in Illinois
(a notorious prisoner-of-war camp) for several months. He eventually returns home, still able-bodied. Ashley could have lived a peaceful and respectable life had the War never taken place. The War that changed the South forever has turned his world upside down, with everything he had believed in 'gone with the wind
', a phrase composed by the poet Ernest Dowson
.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
in the Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Mitchell
Margaret Munnerlyn Mitchell was an American author and journalist. Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1937 for her epic American Civil War era novel, Gone with the Wind, which was the only novel by Mitchell published during her lifetime.-Family:Margaret Mitchell was born in Atlanta,...
's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind
Gone with the Wind
The slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free...
and the later film of the same name
Gone with the Wind (film)
Gone with the Wind is a 1939 American historical epic film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's Pulitzer-winning 1936 novel of the same name. It was produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming from a screenplay by Sidney Howard...
. The character also appears in the 1991 book Scarlett
Scarlett (novel)
Scarlett is a novel written in 1991 by Alexandra Ripley as a sequel to Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. The book debuted on the New York Times bestsellers list, but both critics and fans of the original novel found Ripley's version to be inconsistent with the literary quality of Gone with...
, a sequel to Gone with the Wind written by Alexandra Ripley
Alexandra Ripley
Alexandra Ripley, née Braid was an American writer best known as the author of Scarlett , the sequel to Gone with the Wind. Her first novel was Who's the Lady in the President's Bed?...
, and in Rhett Butler's People
Rhett Butler's People
Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig is an authorized sequel to Gone with the Wind. It was published in November 2007.Fully authorized by the Margaret Mitchell estate, Rhett Butler’s People is a novel that parallels Gone with the Wind from Rhett Butler's perspective. The book was unveiled on...
by Donald McCaig
Donald McCaig
Donald McCaig is an American novelist, poet and essayist. He lives on a sheep farm in Western Virginia.His 1998 novel set in Civil War Virginia won the Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction...
.
Ashley is the man with whom Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O'Hara
Scarlett O' Hara is the protagonist in Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind and in the later film of the same name...
is obsessed. Gentlemanly yet indecisive, he loves Melanie
Melanie Wilkes
Melanie Hamilton Wilkes is a fictional character first appearing in the novel Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. In the 1939 film she was portrayed by Olivia de Havilland...
, his cousin and later his wife, but is tormented by an obsession with Scarlett. Unfortunately for him and Scarlett, his failure to deal with his true feelings for Scarlett ruins any chance she has for real happiness with Rhett Butler
Rhett Butler
Rhett Butler is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists of Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.-Role:In the beginning of the novel, we first meet Rhett at the Twelve Oaks Plantation barbecue, the home of John Wilkes and his son Ashley and daughters Honey and India Wilkes...
, the true love of her life. Ashley is a complicated character. He is not sympathetic to the cause of the North. However, he isn't an ardent Confederate patriot, either. What Ashley loves about the South is the serene, peaceful life that he and his dear ones know at Twelve Oaks
Twelve Oaks
In Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind, Twelve Oaks is the plantation of the Wilkes family in Clayton County, Georgia named for the twelve great oak trees that surround the family mansion in an almost perfect circle, a "beautiful white-columned house that crowned the hill like a Greek...
, and similar plantations. At one point (following the war) he comments to Scarlett that "had the war not come he would have spent his life happily buried at Twelve Oaks."
In short, Ashley loves the South, but not necessarily the Confederacy. And, he hates war, though he fights because of his loyalty to Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
.
He claims that he would have freed the slaves after the death of his father if the war hadn't freed them already. His willingness to free the slaves further demonstrates his impractical nature, because if the slaves were free, he would not be able to run the plantation. However, he has a great deal of affection for the slaves on his plantation, and the role that they played in his serene, bucolic life.
There is a sense in which the end of Ashley's life (as he knew it) is more than just the burning of Twelve Oaks. The four Tarleton brothers (Boyd, Tom, Brent and Stuart) are all killed, three of them at Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
. Cade Calvert returns home terminally ill from tuberculosis. Little Joe Fontaine is killed in battle, and Tony Fontaine has to flee forever to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
after killing a Yankee (specifically, Scarlett's family's former slave overseer, Jonas Wilkerson, during Reconstruction
Reconstruction
In the history of the United States, the term "Reconstruction Era" has two senses: the first covers the entire nation in the period 1865–1877 following the Civil War; the second one, used in this article, covers the transformation of the Southern United States from 1863 to 1877, with the...
; after Wilkerson encouraged a former slave to attempt to rape Tony's sister-in-law). These were Ashley's childhood friends, all represented in the happy scene at the barbecue, close to the beginning of the book. When the "family circle" of the county is decimated, the life Ashley loved is gone.
At one point in the book Ashley pleads, in vain, with his wife Melanie to move to the North, after he comes back from fighting in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. However, this isn't because of any affection for the North, but because he wants to be able to stand on his own as a man, something he will never again be able to do in Georgia, now that his plantation is gone [and his home burned]. He ends up working for Scarlett, however, due to her manipulative entreaties and Melanie's naive support of her.
In a sense, he is the character best personifying the tragedy of the Southern high class after the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Coming from a privileged background, Ashley is an honorable and educated man. He is in clear contrast to Rhett Butler
Rhett Butler
Rhett Butler is a fictional character and one of the main protagonists of Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell.-Role:In the beginning of the novel, we first meet Rhett at the Twelve Oaks Plantation barbecue, the home of John Wilkes and his son Ashley and daughters Honey and India Wilkes...
, who is decisive and full of life, but is vulgar and distasteful as well. Rhett is both ruthless and practical, and is willing to do whatever he must to survive, whereas Ashley is often impractical (even Melanie admits this on her deathbed), and would resist doing many things Rhett would consider doing, because they aren't "proper" or "gentlemanly". Ashley fights in the Civil War even though he isn't any kind of Confederate warhawk and wishes that the Yankees would simply let them leave the Union in peace. As a soldier he shows enough leadership to be promoted to the rank of Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
, and survives being imprisoned at the Rock Island Arsenal
Rock Island Arsenal
The Rock Island Arsenal comprises , located on Arsenal Island, originally known as Rock Island, on the Mississippi River between the cities of Davenport, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois. It lies within the state of Illinois. The island was originally established as a government site in 1816, with...
in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
(a notorious prisoner-of-war camp) for several months. He eventually returns home, still able-bodied. Ashley could have lived a peaceful and respectable life had the War never taken place. The War that changed the South forever has turned his world upside down, with everything he had believed in 'gone with the wind
Gone with the Wind
The slaves depicted in Gone with the Wind are primarily loyal house servants, such as Mammy, Pork and Uncle Peter, and these slaves stay on with their masters even after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 sets them free...
', a phrase composed by the poet Ernest Dowson
Ernest Dowson
Ernest Christopher Dowson , born in Lee, London, was an English poet, novelist and writer of short stories, associated with the Decadent movement.- Biography :...
.