In Gone with the Wind, what are Ellen's characteristics?

I think that Ellen's most pressing relevance in the novel
is that she represents what represents Scarlett's hopes, her reality, and her
differences.  Ellen is the mirror or the looking glass for Scarlett.  On one hand,
Ellen's embrace of the maternal and feminine role with such vigor is what Scarlett
wishes she could be.  The manner in which she operates as wife, mother, and head of the
plantation is something that early on Scarlett aspires to be.  At the same time,
Scarlett seeks to want to walk her own path, be her own person.  While her sisters are
more willing to embrace what it means to be a "woman" as defined by society and taught
by Ellen, Scarlett sees herself as something else in the early stages of the narrative. 
This is seen when she discredits Tara, denigrating it as something she would never
embrace.  However, when Atlanta burns to the ground and as Scarlett recognizes that Tara
is the only place to take the pregnant Melanie, Scarlett ends up becoming a more
modernized version of her mother, understanding the need to look after the family.  It
is interesting to note that Scarlett wants to go back to Tara to be with her mother, to
be in her mother's care.  Since Ellen dies before they reach Tara, Scarlett has to
quickly undergo a change from being with her mother to actually being the role her
mother represented.  It is in this light that Ellen's characteristics are brought out in
the most forceful light.