Ellen O’Hara Character Analysis in Gone with the Wind

Ellen O’Hara, originally Ellen Robillard, is Scarlett’s mother and Gerald’s wife. Before marrying Gerald, Ellen lived in Charleston and was in love with her cousin, Phillippe Robillard. When Phillippe died in a bar brawl, Ellen married Gerald and became the mistress of Tara. She is elegant, string, and compassionate, tending to the poor white Slattery family when they are ill and giving her family her whole attention. Though Gerald is the owner of Tara, it’s well known that Ellen is the one who actually makes the rules—enslaved people on the plantation only began to obey when she married Gerald. During the war she catches typhoid fever from Emmie Slattery and dies, calling Phillippe’s name on her deathbed. As far as Scarlett is concerned, Ellen is the picture of a great lady. However, during the war, Scarlett realizes that the things her mother taught her were most important, such as manners, compassion, and dignity, are useless when one is hungry and poor. Throughout the story, Scarlett strays from the example Ellen sets, marrying men for money and running a business in an unladylike manner. But Scarlett continues to idolize her mother, and still imagines that she’ll be a great lady like Ellen when she isn’t poor anymore.

Ellen O’Hara Quotes in Gone with the Wind

The Gone with the Wind quotes below are all either spoken by Ellen O’Hara or refer to Ellen O’Hara . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

The Civil War and Reconstruction Theme Icon

It was a man’s world, and she accepted it as such. The man owned the property, and the woman managed it. The man took the credit for the management, and the woman praised his cleverness.

Related Characters: Ellen O’Hara , Gerald O’Hara , Scarlett O’Hara , Frank Kennedy

Related Symbols: Tara

Page Number and Citation: 75

Explanation and Analysis:

There was something exciting about this town with its narrow muddy streets, lying among rolling red hills, something raw and crude that appealed to the rawness and crudeness underlying the fine veneer that Ellen and Mammy had given her. She suddenly felt that this was where she belonged, not in serene and quiet old cities, flat beside yellow waters.

Related Characters: Scarlett O’Hara , Ellen O’Hara , Mammy

Related Symbols: Atlanta, Tara

Page Number and Citation: 159

Explanation and Analysis:

Something that was youth and beauty and potential tenderness had gone out of her face forever. What was past was past. Those who were dead were dead. The lazy luxury of the old days was gone, never to return. […] There was no going back and she was going forward.

Throughout the South for fifty years there would be bitter-eyed women who looked backward, to dead times, to dead men, evoking memories that hurt and were futile, bearing poverty with bitter pride because they had those memories. But Scarlett was never to look back.

Related Characters: Ashley Wilkes , Scarlett O’Hara , Ellen O’Hara

Page Number and Citation: 407

Explanation and Analysis:

Nothing her mother had taught her was of any value whatsoever now and Scarlett’s heart was sore and puzzled. It did not occur to her that Ellen had could not have foreseen the collapse of the civilization in which she raised her daughters, […] that Ellen looked down a vista of placid future years, all like the uneventful years of her own life, when she had taught her to be gentle and gracious, honorable and kind, modest and truthful.

Related Characters: Scarlett O’Hara , Ellen O’Hara

Page Number and Citation: 413

Explanation and Analysis:

No matter what sights they had seen, what menial tasks they had done and would have to do, they remained ladies and gentlemen, royalty in exile—bitter, aloof, incurious, kind to one another, diamond hard. […] The old days had gone but these people would go their ways as if the old days still existed, charming, leisurely, determined not to rush and scramble for pennies as the Yankees did, determined to part with none of the old ways.

[…] It took money to be a lady. She knew Ellen would have fainted had she ever heard such words from her daughter.

Related Characters: Scarlett O’Hara , Ellen O’Hara

Page Number and Citation: 569

Explanation and Analysis:

“I’ll think of it all tomorrow, at Tara. I can stand it then. […] After all, tomorrow is another day.”

Related Characters: Scarlett O’Hara (speaker), Johnnie Gallegher , Ellen O’Hara , Rhett Butler , Ashley Wilkes

Related Symbols: Tara

Page Number and Citation: 959

Explanation and Analysis:

Ellen O’Hara Character Timeline in Gone with the Wind

The timeline below shows where the character Ellen O’Hara appears in Gone with the Wind. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...and she quickly dries her eyes. If Mammy sees she’s upset, she will go to Ellen O’Hara who’ll get the secret out of Scarlett. Mammy is deeply devoted to the O’Haras... (full context)

...poker. His gruff exterior poorly conceals his soft heart. Everyone on the plantation knows that Ellen is actually in charge—except for Gerald. (full context)

...Gerald have a special bond because they keep secrets for each other from Mammy and Ellen. Gerald, for instance, isn’t supposed to be jumping his horse after injuring his knee, but... (full context)

Mrs. O’Hara and Mammy are standing on the porch. They’re headed to the Slatterys to baptize a... (full context)

Scarlett’s mother, Ellen O’Hara, is 32 years old. She is of French descent, with black hair and eyelashes,... (full context)

What Scarlett doesn’t know is that Ellen used to be very vivacious. In her hometown of Savannah, she’d been in love with... (full context)

Practicality, Tenacity, and Selfishness Theme Icon

...if James and Andrew could help. At a party, Gerald met the most unattainable girl, Ellen Robillard. She was young enough to be his daughter and in love with her cousin.... (full context)

Looking Forward vs. Looking Back Theme Icon

...was born. Gerald was disappointed that she wasn’t a boy. No one could tell if Ellen regretted marrying Gerald or not. She had left Savannah’s constant sunshine and a gracious home... (full context)

After Scarlett, Susan Elinor (Suellen) and Caroline Irene (Carreen) were born. Ellen transformed Tara, bringing to it dignity, order, and grace. She planted wisteria around the house,... (full context)

Ellen had a hard time teaching Scarlett to be ladylike. Scarlett preferred to play with boys... (full context)

Mammy and Ellen admire Scarlett’s charm and spirit, but they fear that her headstrong nature will make her... (full context)

...isn’t ready to give up the fun of courting in order to be more like Ellen. Perhaps she will when she marries Ashley. (full context)

Scarlett sits in Ellen’s place at the dinner table, preoccupied by thoughts about Ashley. She needs her mother and... (full context)

...getting old, and Scarlett should have a young maid. Scarlett says she’ll discuss it with Ellen when she returns. (full context)

...father keeps talking about the war when she’s so upset. She wants to go to Ellen’s office—her favorite room in the house—and cry on the sofa. Finally, though, Scarlett hears her... (full context)

Ellen goes to the mantle and takes out her rosary beads. Mammy insists on fixing Ellen... (full context)

After patiently answering the questions about the ball, Ellen asks Gerald more about the war. Scarlett knows Ellen isn’t interested in the war—it is... (full context)

Ellen always tells Scarlett to examine her conscience during prayer, but Scarlett is thinking about Ashley.... (full context)

Ellen begins a litany for the Virgin Mary. Scarlett has always pictured her mother’s face in... (full context)

...house, Twelve Oaks, carrying Scarlett, Suellen, Carreen, and Gerald. Scarlett is glad neither Mammy nor Ellen are with them; she’ll have the freedom to do what she wants. Gerald dismissed Jonas... (full context)

...can joke with their mother as if she were one of them. Although she idolizes Ellen, Scarlett wishes she could be candid and playful with her like these “true Southerners”—the Tarletons—can.... (full context)

...blood. They’ve become weak from inbreeding and overbreeding, she says. Gerald becomes uncomfortable, knowing that Ellen would disapprove of this subject. He politely interrupts and everyone agrees they must be going. (full context)

Suddenly, Scarlett remembers Mammy and Ellen’s warnings and wishes she’d never confessed her love for Ashley. She springs to her feet... (full context)

...Ashley’s wedding will be in May, she schedules her own for the day before his. Ellen tries to persuade her to wait, but Scarlett insists on marrying at once. Powerful forces... (full context)

...and walking down the steps on Gerald’s arm into a crowd of guests. She remembers Ellen’s bewildered face and Ashley standing with Melanie on his arm. It feels like a nightmare.... (full context)

...married to a man she hates. She regrets her choice and wishes she’d listened to Ellen. That night, Charles again approaches the bed. This time, Scarlett breaks down and cries in... (full context)

...now a widow, Scarlett is expected to act like her heart is “in the grave.” Ellen stresses the importance of behaving like a widow whenever she catches Scarlett having fun. This... (full context)

Ellen and Mammy worry about Scarlett’s state and send her to visit family. But James and... (full context)

...a poor nurse. But she’s the only person available to take care of Wade, since Ellen needs all the other enslaved women to labor at Tara. Prissy has never left Tara,... (full context)

...Tara. Atlanta excites her because it isn’t covered by the thin veneer of politeness that Ellen and Mammy maintained. As they approach the end of town, Scarlett sees Miss Pittypat’s red-brick... (full context)

...is so short and codes of conduct are so strict. She recalls what Mammy and Ellen taught her about being a young girl. With old ladies, she was supposed to be... (full context)

...Scarlett then says that she’s bored and will do what she likes. Pittypat laments that Ellen will think she’s a terrible chaperone. The thought of Ellen makes Scarlett guilty, but she... (full context)

Scarlett receives a letter from Ellen scolding her for her conduct at the bazaar. Ellen must have heard from Mrs. Merriwether.... (full context)

Scarlett lies awake that night, dreading facing Ellen at Tara. Then, she hears the familiar sound of Gerald coming home drunk, singing raucously... (full context)

...him for his embarrassing behavior the night before. She tells him that if he tells Ellen that Scarlett’s misdeeds were nothing but rumors, then she won’t tell Ellen of his drinking... (full context)

...from Ashley. She’s been doing this for a while now. She knows it would upset Ellen, but the temptation to read the letters and find out if Ashley really loves Melanie... (full context)

Scarlett pays brief and disappointing visits to Tara. Ellen and Gerald are so busy running the war commissary that Scarlett has no time to... (full context)

...but she keeps quiet out of fear that Mrs. Merriwether will write another letter to Ellen. (full context)

...not to alter it. Then he refuses to let her pay for it. Scarlett recalls Ellen’s warning that anything that could be worn was an inappropriate gift from a man. She... (full context)

...mirror to hear what he’s really saying: that thanks to him, she’s no longer following Ellen’s advice about how a lady should act. She believes Rhett is in love with her... (full context)

...to the hospital. Scarlett is so tired of nursing that she tells Mrs. Merriwether that Ellen wants her to go home to Tara, but Mrs. Merriwether says she’ll write to Ellen... (full context)

...with him today, but his horse was refusing to jump fences as if conspiring with Ellen to keep Gerald home. John sent India and Honey to Macon and left Gerald to... (full context)

...many babies. Scarlett wants the birth over with so she can go home to Tara. Ellen wants Wade to go to Tara too. Happy to be rid of him, Scarlett plans... (full context)

...Gerald boasts about the bravery of the Confederates and mentions that Carreen has typhoid fever. Ellen asks Scarlett to pray for her. Feeling guilty, Scarlett tries to pray, but her heart... (full context)

...battle’s progress, she also receives letters from Gerald informing her that first Carreen, and then Ellen and Suellen, are very ill. Scarlett prays for her mother. (full context)

...no news; a lot can change in a week with typhoid fever. It’s unthinkable that Ellen is sick or might even be dead. If she dies, Scarlett will be stuck with... (full context)

...but she lies and says it isn’t bad. Scarlett doesn’t sympathize because she’s worried about Ellen and the Yankees. Scarlett would be happy if Melanie died. Ashamed of this thought, she... (full context)

...is the first time Scarlett has had to do anything on her own. She wishes Ellen were here. (full context)

...as she can across the face. Melanie cries for Scarlett. Scarlett tries to remember everything Ellen and Mammy did when she was having Wade. Remembering a few things, she sends Prissy... (full context)

...and Scarlett feels like the woods are haunted. She wishes she was home, resting in Ellen’s arms. The four people in the wagon depend on her, but Scarlett doesn’t feel strong... (full context)

...cow to the wagon. When Prissy says she’s afraid, Scarlett calls her a “fool nigger.” Ellen wouldn’t like Scarlett saying something like that. (full context)

...of water. With bleeding fingers, Scarlett holds Gerald’s hand and asks if Carreen, Suellen, and Ellen are well. Gerald says the girls are recovering, but Ellen died yesterday. He clings to... (full context)

Scarlett asks Gerald why the Yankees didn’t burn Tara, unwilling to talk about Ellen. He responds the Yankees used the house for headquarters. Scarlett is appalled that the Yankees... (full context)

...talking only to the nice surgeon. The surgeon said Suellen and Carreen would recover but Ellen wouldn’t. Then, the Yankees all left. Gerald says he’s glad Scarlett’s home. Pork enters carrying... (full context)

...toss restlessly in a large bed. There is a narrow bed in the corner where Ellen had lain. Scarlett sits by the girls. Her vision becomes blurry from the whiskey. She... (full context)

...feel stable and remember the old days. Mammy says life is just “weery loads” without Ellen. Scarlett remembers another line of the song she’d sung with Rhett: “No matter, ‘twill never... (full context)

Scarlett asks Mammy about Ellen. Tears fall from Mammy’s eyes as she starts to sponge down Carreen and Suellen. Mammy... (full context)

Scarlett has made it to Tara, but not to Ellen’s arms. Scarlett’s not a protected child anymore; she’s just Scarlett O’Hara Hamilton, a widow with... (full context)

...and take care of her family. She’ll search the burned plantations for food and pawn Ellen’s jewelry. She thinks of Gerald and his ancestors. They all suffered misfortune and rose above... (full context)

...Scarlett tells him to catch the sow or get out. Tears come to Pork’s eyes. Ellen wouldn’t have said that. (full context)

...and now she’s hungry and hunting food like an animal. Scarlett passes the cemetery where Ellen is buried and then the ruins of the Slatterys’ house, where that “nasty Emmie” who... (full context)

...and now, she’s too weak to move. Nobody knows or cares. She thinks of Gerald, Ellen, Ashley, and the old houses. The past is gone, and a harsh future lies ahead.... (full context)

...but she feels that if she’s too nice, no one will pull their weight. With Ellen dead and the enslaved persons gone, Scarlett insists that everyone work. Suellen and Carreen argue... (full context)

...fought for land, not money. Land is the only thing worth fighting for. Now that Ellen is dead, Ashley is gone, and Gerald has lost his mind, Tara is all that... (full context)

...would return to normal after a week or so, but he still doesn’t remember that Ellen is dead. Ellen had been Gerald’s whole reason for living. (full context)

...says that would make her a “white trash” field hand. Grandma says she’s ashamed that Ellen taught Scarlett that manual labor makes a person “white trash.” (full context)

Changing the subject from Ellen, Scarlett asks about the Calverts and the Tarletons. She learns that the Yankees didn’t raid... (full context)

The Fontaines ask Scarlett why Tara wasn’t burned. Scarlett knows they’ll ask about Ellen soon, and she doesn’t want to talk about her since she knows she’ll cry. Scarlett... (full context)

...wrong at Tara. Scarlett decides she can tell the truth without crying. She explains that Ellen died of typhoid, that Gerald has lost his mind, and that Melanie is sick and... (full context)

...tasks. Next, she has Suellen, Carreen, and Melanie pick. Melanie faints and Suellen refuses, saying Ellen would never make her pick cotton. Carreen picks Suellen’s share, but she’s frail and picks... (full context)

...in her hands. She flings them to the floor. He asks her to hand him—not throw—Ellen’s garnet earrings. He asks what else she has, looking at her bodice. Scarlett insists she... (full context)

Scarlett notices that one of the Yankees holds Ellen’s gold thimble. Once it had been on Ellen’s beautiful finger, and now it will end... (full context)

...leg. She bandages him while he explains that he’d been stealing from a chicken coop. Ellen once told Scarlett she must make sure the enslaved persons had good morals, but Scarlett... (full context)

...is angry that Sherman went to Tennessee, leaving the Yankees to pilfer Georgia. Gerald says Ellen won’t like the way Scarlett is talking. Melanie asks if Frank has heard of Ashley.... (full context)

...is afraid he’ll ask her for the livestock, but instead he says he’s sorry about Ellen. Scarlett says they shouldn’t talk about it. Frank says he was planning to ask Gerald... (full context)

...“Beloved, I am coming home to you.” Tears pour down Scarlett’s face. She runs to Ellen’s office and collapses on the sofa, kissing the letter, and repeating its words (full context)

...Scarlett complains to Will about this, he explains that Carreen finds comfort in praying for Ellen and for Brent, whom she got engaged to while Scarlett was in Atlanta. Scarlett had... (full context)

On a day in January 1866, Scarlett is in Ellen’s office writing a letter to Miss Pitty explaining again why she and Melanie can’t join... (full context)

...him. Her clothes are fashionable—and the girl is Emmie Slattery, the “nasty slut” who killed Ellen. (full context)

...can do about it. Perhaps they’d even bring Black people to live as equals in Ellen’s home. (full context)

...also said he wanted her. Marrying him would feel like prostitution and like she’s betraying Ellen, but Scarlett is desperate and knows she can never have Ashley now. (full context)

...is so dreadful. Scarlett wishes everyone staying at Tara would pay her, but Pitty says Ellen would be horrified to hear that. Then, scandalized, she says everyone has resorted to manual... (full context)

...Scarlett says things at Tara are bad; she’s hungry. Her dress is made from curtains, Ellen is dead, Gerald has lost his mind, and she can’t let the Carpetbaggers take Tara. (full context)

...Mammy is just as practical as she is. Mammy wants to help Scarlett because she’s Ellen’s oldest child. Scarlett feels hopeful again. (full context)

...gentility is about breeding, but Scarlett knows that it’s about wealth. Poverty never would’ve humiliated Ellen, but it humiliates Scarlett. (full context)

Sometimes, Scarlett feels bad for these lies and thinks of what Ellen would say. But Southern chivalry protects her bad behavior: a lady can disrespect a man,... (full context)

...has money, she’ll be kind and generous and everyone will love her as they loved Ellen. She doesn’t realize that she has no real desire to be charitable, and only wants... (full context)

...about Hilton and he’s actually nice and smart. She began taking Gerald on walks past Ellen’s grave and making him cry. (full context)

...oath. At the last minute, Gerald refused to sign. Suellen drove him around talking about Ellen and making him cry again. She got him drunk. He was about to sign again... (full context)

...Will heard Gerald galloping home and singing. As he approached the fence, he said, “Look Ellen!” but the horse didn’t jump. Gerald flew forward off the horse and broke his neck.... (full context)

Pork has dug Gerald’s grave beside Ellen’s. Four men carry out the coffin, followed by a crowd of neighbors. Scarlett notices that... (full context)

...nothing from the outside could beat him. But he was beaten from the inside: when Ellen died, his heart died. (full context)

...farmer. Grandma Fontaine says Melanie keeps Ashley afloat. Melanie reminds Grandma Fontaine of a young Ellen. (full context)

After the guests leave, Scarlett goes into Ellen’s office and calls Pork in after her. She asks if he remembers the day she... (full context)

Rhett calls Scarlett a “rogue.” This hurts her. She thinks of Ellen—a great lady—and feels sick. She says coolly that she knows she’s a rogue, but what... (full context)

...She asked him about the cruelty of Southern enslavers, but Sam told her how kind Ellen was to him. He’d eventually gotten tired of freedom, and he missed being told what... (full context)

...that she killed him. She says it doesn’t feel like her who did these things. Ellen was always so kind, and Scarlett has always wanted to be like her. She loved... (full context)

...also dislikes Rhett. Mammy says she watched Scarlett do lots of things that would’ve hurt Ellen. She’s stood by while Scarlett took Charles from Honey and Frank from Suellen, and while... (full context)

...are nice, Rhett says that’s because she’s only met two great ladies in her life: Ellen and Melanie. (full context)

...call once out of politeness. She wants to call on Scarlett out of respect to Ellen, whom she knew when she was a girl. Mrs. Merriwether says she won’t visit a... (full context)

Occasionally, Scarlett thinks of how unlike Ellen she is now, but since the day she stood in the parlor at Tara and... (full context)

...they expected. Her heart hurts thinking of her old self who intended to be like Ellen. She begins to cry, and Ashley holds her. It feels good to be held without... (full context)

...Scarlett does business at a lumber yard. She advises Scarlett to quit these “unwomanly” dealings; Ellen would be ashamed that Scarlett was in trade, and Scarlett’s children will grow up ashamed... (full context)

...the same thing Gerald had said just before his death: “watch me take this one, Ellen!” Scarlett screams for Bonnie to stop, but there is the sound of splintering wood and... (full context)

Mammy leaves for Tara, saying Ellen’s voice told her it’s time to go home. Scarlett tries to stop her, but Rhett... (full context)

...Melanie is the only girl friend she ever had, and she was so much like Ellen that Scarlett feels she is losing her mother again. (full context)

Gone with the Wind

Ellen O’Hara Character Analysis

Ellen O’Hara Quotes in Gone with the Wind

Chapter 3 Quotes

Chapter 8 Quotes

Chapter 25 Quotes

Chapter 35 Quotes

Chapter 63 Quotes

Ellen O’Hara Character Timeline in Gone with the Wind