I can never figure if she's
A) So blind and dull-witted that she truly never notices Scarlett's feeling for Ashley
or
B) She's so sharp that she does know, and is tactical as well as good-hearted, and insists on always looking on the bright side and so forth in order to force Scarlett to be better than she would've otherwise
The answer is B. Melly knew all along, and she knew Scarlet was not an adulteress.
shareThe thing about Melanie is that almost everything she says is a lie.
She always says the kindest thing, the most gracious thing, the most correct thing, or whatever people would like to hear... and there's this massive disconnect between what she thinks and what she says. She sees people being horrible and selfish as people always are and never says a thing about their bad behavior. She's weird, she's trying to encourage them to be good by always treating them as if they were good, even when she knows damn well they aren't good. The only time she says what she really thinks is when she's praising someone who deserves praise, instead of praising someone who doesn't.
I don't know what the hell Melanie gets out of never expressing her true feelings. I mean she's widely praised for being a "true Lady", but does anyone genuinely like her? Scarlett doesn't, I wouldn't, I've met people that gracious and found them very false and difficult to deal with... I say what I really think and I just can't hold a conversation with someone like that.
I couldn't figure out why Melly loved Scarlett so fiercely, even above Ashley's sisters. Did she not realize how little Scarlett loved her brother?
I don't know if Melly knew how bad Scarlett was but maybe she also saw how Scarlett had such a deep loyalty to everyone, even people she didn't care for. Scarlett made sure everyone was taken care of regardless of her feelings for any of them. Whereas, Suellen wouldn't have made sure Tara was saved and everyone was secure. That's why Scarlett married Frank, she knew Suellen wouldn't have helped the rest of them nor save Tara. Perhaps, Melly understood all that.
Still, it seemed Melly had an attachment to Scarlett from the beginning. Maybe she knew how much Scarlett begrudged taking care of her and yet she did and made sure Melly had the best when she had her baby. That's the kind of loyalty Melly might admire, she knew Scarlett would have everyone's back.
She believed the best in people. Scarlett was her friend and she wasn't going to let bad stories ruin that friendship.
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Another excellent answer...
We do have to consider the possibility that Melly saw much more in Scarlett than the rest of us did. She fought for her whole family's survival after the war, gave the house servant her father's watch (that she could have sold), kept her word to Melly about taking care of her baby, and went back to Rhett after Ashley was "free".
Genius? She's just with an average iq. Scarlett too.
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