Ashley Wilkes - Role

Role

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, but does it out of love for his homeland, not a hatred of the yankees, who he actually hopes will just leave the South 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.