Editing Gone with the Wind (novel) (section)

===Main characters===
* '''[[Scarlett O'Hara|Katie Scarlett Hamilton-Kennedy-Butler née O'Hara]]:''' Scarlett is the oldest O'Hara daughter. Her forthright Irish blood is always at variance with the French teachings of style from her mother. Scarlett marries Charles Hamilton, Frank Kennedy, and Rhett Butler, in that order, always wishing that she was married to Ashley Wilkes instead. She is secretly scornful of Melanie Wilkes,<ref name=autogenerated9 /> wife to Ashley, who has always shown her love. She has three children, one from each husband: Wade Hampton Hamilton (son to Charles Hamilton), Ella Lorena Kennedy (daughter to Frank Kennedy), and Eugenie Victoria "Bonnie Blue" Butler (daughter to Rhett Butler). During a quarrel with Rhett, she miscarries a fourth child (and her second with Rhett) when she accidentally falls down the stairs.<ref name=autogenerated15 /> Scarlett is unaware of the extent of Rhett's love for her or that she might love him.<ref name=autogenerated86 />
* '''[[Rhett Butler|Captain Rhett K. Butler]]:''' Scarlett's admirer and her third husband. He is often publicly shunned for his scandalous behavior<ref name=autogenerated3 /> and sometimes accepted for his charm. Rhett declares he is not a marrying man and initially propositions Scarlett to be his mistress,<ref name=autogenerated11>Part 3, chapter 19</ref> but marries her after the death of Frank Kennedy. He says he won't risk losing her to someone else since it is unlikely she will ever need money again.<ref name=autogenerated12 /> At the end of the novel, Rhett confesses to Scarlett, "I loved you but I couldn't let you know it. You're so brutal to those who love you, Scarlett."<ref name=autogenerated50 /> Mitchell took the character's name from the prominent [[Rhett family]] of South Carolina.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inn History |url=https://rhetthouseinn.com/inn-history/ |access-date=2023-08-09 |website=Rhett House Inn |language=en-US}}</ref>
* '''[[Ashley Wilkes|Major George Ashley Wilkes]]:''' Ashley is a noble and honorable man. He is well read and cultured. He marries his cousin, Melanie, because "Like must marry like or there'll be no happiness."<ref name=autogenerated3 /> He enlists in the [[Confederate States Army]] though he says he would have freed the people his father enslaved after his father's death if the war had not done it first.<ref name=autogenerated16 /> Although many of his friends and relations are killed in the Civil War, Ashley survives to see its brutal aftermath. Ashley is "the Perfect Knight",<ref name=autogenerated177>Part 2, chapter 11</ref> in the mind of Scarlett, even throughout her three marriages. "She loved him and wanted him and did not understand him."<ref name=autogenerated6 />
* '''[[Melanie Hamilton|Melanie Wilkes née Hamilton]]:''' Ashley's wife and cousin. Melanie is a humble, serene, and gracious Southern woman.<ref name=autogenerated13 /> Her extremely warm heart and tenderness towards all she loves is notable throughout her life. As the story unfolds, Melanie becomes progressively physically weaker, first by childbirth, then "the hard work she had done at Tara",<ref name=autogenerated13 /> and she dies after a miscarriage.<ref name=autogenerated53>Part 5, chapter 61</ref> As Rhett Butler says, "She never had any strength. She's never had anything but heart."<ref name=autogenerated53 />