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As a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, Wicked suggests that Wicked Witch of the West was not entirely acting out of pure evil, nor was Glinda acting on behalf of purposes that were purely all that good.
So which witch in the musical is truly wicked? Just because Glinda has adopted the title Glinda the Good Witch and Elphaba has been tagged the Wicked Witch of the West does not necessarily mean that those are the labels they deserve.
Although Glinda is the “good witch” she is not entirely good all of the time. It is true that Glinda is bubbly, nice, and popular, however, Glinda is motivated by superficial things and keeping up her popularity status. She comes off as very self-centred at times and is self-serving. Initially, Glinda gains the acceptance of others by putting Elphaba down. She judged Elphaba by the colour of her skin and ridiculed her and turned everyone against her. Although the two do become very close friends, once they go their separate ways Glinda puts off an act as though she does not care about Elphaba because that is what the people expect from her, therefore being untrue to herself and her best friend. In the end the people hold Glinda in high regard because she goes along with the Wizard. However, while the people are unaware of the Wizard’s true intentions Glinda is not, consequently acting as a phoney for not sticking up for the people and the causes she actually believes in.
Elphaba on the other hand, who is deemed the Wicked Witch of the West, is not solely wicked or evil. Because Wicked is a prequel to the Wizard of Oz, we know the outcome of Elphaba’s future is not so favourable, however looking into her childhood and young adult years gives un insight into the reasons behind the outcome of her future rather than just blaming her later attitudes and action on being born evil. Elphaba was born green, therefore causing her to stand out and be ostracized all throughout her school years. She was also very smart and stood up for political movements that she supported even though they went against popular belief and caused people to disagree with her. However, despite all of these things, it is because Elphaba was at the centre of the misunderstood acts that turned Boq into a tin man, Fiyero into a scarecrow and a lion cub into a cowardly lion, that people think she is corrupt. During each of these acts Elphaba’s intentions were much greater than the outcomes were perceived. Elphaba was given the persona of someone who was out to get other people when really she was trying to save them. Due to all of the tragedy in her life, isolation and all of the allegations of being wicked, Elphaba finally gives in to the people who perceive her as such and involves herself in wrongful ways more and more.
Wicked presents the idea that people are not born wicked and the people who are deemed as such, even if they take part in many unfavourable acts can still have many favourable qualities. As well as the thought that the people who are perceived as good, may not be entirely good and are still flawed.
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