MovieChat Forums > Gone with the Wind (1940) Discussion > What do you think happened when Rhett gr...

What do you think happened when Rhett grabbed Scarlett and ran up stairs

posted 9 years ago by storywriterinhouston
21 replies | jump to latest

The extraordinary part of this scene was How Rhett Butler climbed his wife up the stairs. What happened? Was there a Romance of night pleasure? Did Rhett still feel less of a man.

Scarlett's husband had enough of his wife turning another man on and being in love with another man.Did Melony know? What are your views of that. I believe she did know, she loved Scarlett so much she couldn't she knew her husbands honorable creed wouldn't allow him to cheat on her. Rhett also knew the same, and that's why he tolerated Scarlett's behavior. He was hoping that Scarlett would let him go after they got married and had that beautiful daughter Bonnie.
What was David O, Selznick making his viewers more juicy as what happened when he told her this was one night she was going to turn Him out?

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] labluestar 9 years ago

Um, he raped her....

[–] millsyooksy 9 years ago

He didn't rape her, they had awesome sex. You can tell because she's so happy in the morning.

[–] snsurone 9 years ago

IMO, it would have been more effective if Scarlett was naked under her sheet and her nightgown in tatters on the floor.
But, of course, that couldn't be shown in 1939.

[–] yunie1281 9 years ago

He did rape her. It's just that back then marital rape wasn't a crime and it was considered legal for a man to have sex with his wife no matter what she wanted in any circumstances because she was married.

The fact that he carried her protesting upstairs and they had sex despite her refusal to sleep with him for years on end means it's rape. The fact that she was happy and smiley about it the next morning means she likely didn't consider it rape (and, again, no one would since they were married) and she may have enjoyed herself. I hate that they turned the rape into "it became consensual" nonsense that we see these days because that's not how these things work but there it is.

He raped her but I guess she forgot how much she liked sex in the years she'd abstained or had better sex that night than she'd ever had before or maybe it had nothing to do with the sex but she took that night as an indication that things were going to go betterin the future with Rhett.

[–] snsurone 9 years ago

Scarlett HATED sex until that night.
Remember, Charles Hamilton spent his wedding night in an armchair because Scarlett wouldn't let him near her.
And seriously, I can't blame her for not wanting to be intimate with the repulsive Frank Kennedy, but did her "wifely duty" out of fear of gossip, with the end result being a second unwanted child.

Rhett showed complete indifference in his marital relationship with Scarlett, only happy after Bonnie was born.
It was her rejection of him sexually, coupled with her endless infatuation with Ashley, that finally pushed Rhett over the edge.
But after that "night of passion", they were never intimate again, even though Scarlett was willing to try again after Bonnie's death.

[–] desertgaara1995 8 years ago

People exaggerate, there was no rape. She consented eventually.

Maybe it was like a game for them. Me and my boyfriend, play this kidn of games sometimes, for our own amusement. It's called rape roleplay.

She was clearly happy the following morning so she didn't have a bad time.

[–] ClassicMovieholic 8 years ago

I'm sorry, but there's no such thing as eventual consent. If a person says no, is unresponsive, or is violently fighting back when you start to have sex, that's rape.

I don't think, "halfway through the assault she decided she liked it" would hold up in court...maybe with Brock Turner's judge.

What you and your boyfriend do is (first of all your own business), but perfectly normal and healthy because, one presumes, you are consenting adults who have already come to a mature consensus about this, and have established trust and boundaries.

[–] ClassicMovieholic 8 years ago

People have argued about this for ages, and probably will continue to do so until Armageddon.

First of all, rape has nothing to do with whether or not a person has a physiological response to pleasure stimuli and "enjoys" the experience, or has involuntary orgasm, operative word being "involuntary." If a man forces a woman (or anyone forces anyone), it's rape, period. She might decide not to press charges, especially if there is a pre-existing relationship (of course in Scarlett's time this wasn't an option), but it's still rape.

As I recall, it was more psychologically nuanced in the book than just her waking up with a smile the next morning. It's a complex scene in which Scarlett derives feelings of both pleasure and humiliation...not at all unrealistic for someone in an abusive situation.

[–] Braindead09 8 years ago

Butlers awkwardness and face in the morning was the biggest clue he raped her.

[–] snsurone 8 years ago

Then why was Scarlett smiling when he came into her room?

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Braindead09 8 years ago

She was smiling because her mind responded to the orgasms that Rhetts rape caused.

apparently it is not uncommon for women to respond to the fear and brutality of rape and in Scarlett mental mind she did and saw it as an act of passion. Continental movies use rape this way to awaken the womans libido and cockhold the husband. This stuff gets cut in the UK versions and im surpised that the BBFC let this one go with Gone With The Wind

[–] philipshepp 8 years ago

They spent the night *beep* each others brains out

[–] TheArgentinian (7205) 5 years ago

I was shocked by this scene. Definitely marital rape. Her face afterwards is irrelevant (especially considering a man wrote her post-rape reaction)

[–] roreyking (628) 4 years ago

LIE! A woman wrote her post-sex reaction. The good mood and gratification Scarlett showed the next morning are right out of Margaret Mitchell's book. The implication is that she's still in the thrall of having had her first orgasm. Try reading the woman's novel before you spew out your unfounded opinions.

[–] TheArgentinian (7205) 4 years ago

Women also support Trump, so it doesn't surprise me, then.

[–] liscarkat (19031) 5 years ago

He didn't rape her. They had sex, and we see that she was happy the next morning. By any rational evaluation, and certainly to people in 1864 or 1939, who were more mature and sensible than people with graduate degrees in grievance studies today, there was no rape.

[–] Adam60z (3774) 4 years ago

He ficked her good! Don't believe the Me Too idiots below who accuse Rhett of rape. That's total BS, obviously from her reaction. Of course maybe 50 years in the future she'll remember it differently like the Rose McGowan liars do.

[–] redban (6645) 3 years ago

He had sex with her