Wicked: The Real Elphaba

In Gregory Maguire's novel, Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West happen before the novel by L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In Baum’s novel of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, portrays the role of the Wicked Witch of the West being wicked. We have no background or personal preference to understand her life of the Wicked Witch of the West (as known as Elphaba). But in Maguire’s novel, Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, shows how Elphaba traits of a monster are similar to a typical monster that portrays in people's eye. Elphaba is an ideal model of what we see in a monster would be like: abnormal, scary looking, and blunt behavior. She is a target of gossip to those who do not even know her. Typically in monster tale, usually, monsters characterize as: wicked, unstoppable, destructive, and evil. Surprisingly since birth to young adulthood, Elphaba did not portray a role of any wickedness of a monster expected to be, but a caring person and cares about what she thinks is righteous.

When Elphaba was born, she was expected to be a curse to her family. For example, her father, Frex said, "It's the devil," and "The devil is coming" (Maguire 10). He is very unhappy, cruel, and neglected her ever since birth because of her physical appearance. She gets the center of attention from everyone because of uncommon characteristics such as having green skin, allergenic to water, and having razor-sharp teeth. Even though she portrays a role being the Wicked Witch of the West, she can still be a caring and loving person. When she was a college student, she deeply cares about all animals in the land of Oz and is willing to endanger herself to save them. She saved a monkey from drowning in the w...

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...g the Wizard, but it makes a difference to who oppose the idea between gender.

Monsters are always misunderstood and misinterpreted wrongly of the character. We can never be able to classify the monster as being evil or good unless we know the person well enough for judgment or assumption. Our judgment of the character can consist of their personality, behavior, values, conscience, and morals of the character. We know well enough that in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, can cause wrong assumption of our character the Wicked Witch of the West. Now, that we know more, we can use our own judgment to classify if Elphaba is really classified as the Wicked Witch of the West or not? What is our judgment and value to judge such particular character?

Works Cited

Maguire, Gregory. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Harper Collins. New York: 1995.