The Jungle

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 12th grade April 2001

download word file, 2 pages 5.0

Downloaded 4 times

The King and the Wimp The Gone With the Wind Men "How do Women think and feel about Ashley Wilkes and Rhett Butler?" (Taylor, 109) Helen Taylor Of Starlet's Women was extremely curious to how women judged the two main male characters in the Movie Gone With the Wind. She starts by discussing what the viewer's thoughts were on the character Ashley Wilkes played by Leslie Howard. Then she went on by She thought she would have seen enthusiastic response to Leslie Howard's role as Ashley Wilkes since he was a major star in the 1930s. But when asked who was the most least favorite the response was names like Jonas Wilkerson, India Wilkes and Prissy and the most overwhelming choice: was Ashley Wilkes. The reason the people said he was the least favorite was they described him as," wet, weak, wimpish wishy-washy, spineless, insipid, boring, a ninny, indecisive, a failure, a moral coward, too good, ineffectual, timid, dishonest, pathetic, defeatist, a sop.

" He hid behind the ladies' hoops, went one reply, while another dismissed him with a withering list: " no charm, selfish, bland, dully dutiful, namby-pamby, niminy-piminy." (Taylor, 110) Some viewers saw him as not being straight with Scarlet, and also ruining her life. The also implicit contrast with Rhett Butler, as saying he was "acting without clarity and honesty" and I quote " lacking balls." ( Taylor, 110) The idealism of Ashley is seen as "contemptible, not complex, and his love tormented love fro scralett, in conflict withtlove for Melaine, merely as a sign of weakness and escapism." (Taylor, 110) " Margate Mitchell's husband wrote to friends that he and Margarte felt Howard was "˜ wretched beyond compare', also that Mitchell's was greatly disappointed in how the the charater was portrayed becsue the charcter Asheley...