| Wicked Witch of the West | |
|---|---|
| Oz character | |
The Wicked Witch of the West as illustrated by William Wallace Denslow (1900) |
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| First appearance | The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) |
| Last appearance | Wicked (2003) |
| Created by | L. Frank Baum |
| Information | |
| Species | Human/Witch |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | (at time of death) Ruler of the Winkies |
| Title | The Wicked Witch of the West |
| Spouse(s) | none known |
| Nationality | Winkie Country |
The Wicked Witch of the West is a fictional character and the most significant antagonist in L. Frank Baum's children's book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In Baum's subsequent Oz books, it is the Nome King who is the principal villain; the Wicked Witch of the West is rarely even referred to again after being destroyed in the first book.
The witch's most popular depiction was in the classic 1939 movie based on Baum's book. In that film adaptation, as in Gregory Maguire's revisionist Oz novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and its musical adaptation Wicked, the Witch of the West is the sister of the Wicked Witch of the East, although this is neither stated nor implied in the original novel.
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The Wicked Witch of the West leagued together with the Wicked Witch of the East, Mombi and the Wicked Witch of the South, to conquer the Land of Oz and divide it among themselves, as recounted in L. Frank Baum's Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. W. W. Denslow's illustrations for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz depict her as a paunched old woman with three pigtails and an eye-patch. L. Frank Baum himself specified that she only had one eye, but that it "was as powerful as a telescope", enabling the witch to see what was happening in her kingdom from her castle windows.
She possessed the enchanted Golden Cap, which compelled the Winged Monkeys to obey her on three occasions. First, the witch commanded the creatures to help her enslave the Winkies and to seize control of the Western part of the Land of Oz. Second, she made the Winged Monkeys drive the Wizard out of the Winkie Country, when he attempted to overthrow her.
When Dorothy Gale and her companions were sent by the Wizard to destroy her, the Witch attacked them with a pack of wolves, a murder of crows, a swarm of bees and a group of Winkie warriors. Each of these attempts were thwarted, but the protagonists are eventually subdued by the Witch's third and final permitted use of the Winged Monkeys. Nevertheless, the old witch cannot kill Dorothy because the girl is protected by the Good Witch of the North's kiss. She therefore settles for enslaving Dorothy, and tries to force the Cowardly Lion into submission by starving him, though Dorothy sneaks him food. Upon seeing the Silver Shoes on the girl's feet, the Wicked Witch decides to steal them, and thereby acquire even more power.
When she succeeds in acquiring one silver shoe by making Dorothy trip over an invisible bar, the little girl angrily throws a bucket of water onto the Wicked Witch. This, of course, causes the old witch to melt away. L. Frank Baum didn't explain precisely why water had this effect on her, nor did he ever imply that all witches could be likewise put out. He does, however, mention that the witch was "so old" and so wicked, that all the blood in her body had dried up many years ago. Thus, it might be surmised that water was fatal to her on account of her extreme and unusual dryness.
The Witch did not carry a broom in the novel, but rather an umbrella, which she uses on one occasion to strike Dorothy's dog Toto.[1] She is also afraid of the dark in Baum's original story. For that reason, the Witch never tried to steal the Silver Shoes while Dorothy was sleeping.
She was succeeded as Ruler of the Winkie Country by the Tin Woodman, although her castle was abandoned as the seat of government.
The 1910 silent film The Wonderful Wizard of Oz features a character similar to the Wicked Witch of the West, identified in intertitles as "Momba the Witch" (Compare the character Mombi from The Marvelous Land of Oz). In the film, Momba has an unspecified hold over the Wizard, who promises his crown to anyone who can release him from Momba's power. Momba captures Dorothy and her companions, evoking the events in Baum's original novel, and is destroyed when Dorothy throws a bucket of water over her.
Mombi's costume in the 1914 silent film, His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz is based on Denslow's illustrations of the Wicked Witch of the West.
In the 1939 version of The Wizard of Oz, Margaret Hamilton plays the Wicked Witch of the West as a stooped, green-skinned witch dressed in a long black dress with a black pointed hat. This representation of the Wicked Witch has become a standard for what witches look like and an archetype for human wickedness.[2] While this relationship is not mentioned in Baum's books, in the movie, the Witch is the sister of the Wicked Witch of the East. In fact, she appears in the film much earlier on than in Baum's original novel, demanding the Munchkins reveal who killed her sister, not long after Dorothy's arrival in Oz. Therefore, the Witch's role is made much more prominent than in the novel, as she seeks revenge against Dorothy for destroying her sister, even though it was an "accident". She is more menacing than her literary counterpart, making Dorothy too afraid to ever lose her temper with the witch, unlike Baum's original depiction. The Golden Cap is not mentioned, but the witch does hold what could be considered the cap, after the poppies fail to work. She is killed when Dorothy throws the water when she lights a fire to threaten the Scarecrow. The character ranks No. 4 in the American Film Institute's list of the 50 Best Movie Villains of All Time[3], making her the highest ranking female villain, as well as placing 90th on Empire's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.[4]
On a 1976 episode of Sesame Street, the Wicked Witch, once again played by Margaret Hamilton, drops her broom and falls onto the street. In order to get the broom back, she must prove that she can be nice. Everyone is scared of her, except for Big Bird and Oscar. After she proves that she is nice, Big Bird is upset when the time comes for her to leave. She reassures him that one day she'll return. The episode was poorly received by parents of frightened young children, and was never aired again. The fate of the footage is unknown.
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