In the Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, characters are portrayed as either good or evil. The Witch of the South and North and the companions are good while the Witch of the East is evil. Kind, attractive, and white, the good witches help and kiss Dorothy. At Munchkin land, the Witch of the North is said to have a “hat [that] was white, and she wore a white gown that hung in plaits from her shoulders; over it were sprinkled little stars that glistened in the sun like diamonds” (20). The Witch of the South, Glinda has a “dress [that] was pure white” (254). Even Dorothy is mistaken as a sorceress as the Munchkins explain “you have white in your frock, and only witches and sorceresses wear white” (34). White is the indication of righteousness, so the good Witches and even Dorothy wear white. Both the good witches help Dorothy and give her a kiss. The Witch of the North “came close to Dorothy and kissed her gently on the forehead” (27) before Dorothy’s departs for her journey. The most powerful good witch, Glinda, is “both beautiful and young……her eyes were blue, and they looked kindly upon the little girl” (254). When Dorothy first meets Glinda, “Glinda leaned forward and kissed the sweet, upturned face of the loving little girl” (254). The kind, unselfish Glinda calls the winged monkeys to bring the companions and informs Dorothy the power of her shoes as she says “your Silver Shoes will carry you over the desert” (257).
Surrounded by darkness, the Wicked Witch of the East is evil, because she wants more power and enjoys torturing the companions. While the good witches wear white, the Wicked Witch is surrounded by black servants: the black wolves, crows, bees. The Witch is eager for power as she “made the Winkies her slaves, and set herself to rule over their country”, conducting dictatorship over the Winkies (146). Tortured by the Wicked Witch, the Tin Woodman is “battered and dented that he could neither move nor groan” (148). The Scarecrow’s straw is pulled out and the Lion is coiled in ropes “until he was unable to bite or scratch or struggle in any way” (148) Detailed descriptions of the harmed are illustrated to demonstrate the Witch’s evilness. Unlike Glinda who kindheartedly helps Dorothy, the Witch makes Dorothy her slave and even tries to steal her shoes as she thinks “if she could only get hold of the Silver Shoes they would give her more power than all the other things she had lost” (152), for she is unsatisfied and greedy for more.
Though Dorothy kills both Witches, she is still good as the murders seem accidental. Dorothy’s house falls on and kills the Wicked Witch of the West. Though Dorothy does not conduct murder, the Winkies contributes the death of the Wicked Witch to Dorothy; therefore, Dorothy accidentally kills the Wicked Witch. Simple minded, Dorothy also seem incredibly innocent as she acts like children of her age. The time the Wizard demands the companions to kill the Witch, “Dorothy dried her eyes and said, ‘I suppose we must try it; but I am sure I do not want to kill anybody, even to see Aunt Em again’” (135). Though Dorothy has to murder the Witch, she expresses that she “does not want to kill anybody” (135). This good, naïve child is forced to commit murder when only she just wants to go home. Another time the Wicked Witch steals Dorothy’s shoes, in range Dorothy pours a bucket of water nearby, which melts the Witch. Terrified by what she have done, Dorothy expresses “’I’m very sorry, indeed’ said Dorothy, who was truly frightened to see the Witch actually melting away like brown sugar before her very eyes” (154), clearly suggests Dorothy does not know water melts the Witch. Her act is unintentional as she apologizes for the murder. While she should be celebrating the death, she feels bad about killing and is frightened by her unplanned act.
Works Cited
Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. New York: Dover, 1960.
I think the intended audience is the sole reason why Baum decides to set a standard portrayal for the good and evil. He wants to set up an innocent image for Dorothy for the children to look up to. Unlike the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Wicked's characters are portrayed in a way that are mixture of good and evil since they are more likely to be understood by the adults. Again, the intended audience plays a large role in determining the characterization of characters.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that colors represent various themes (good, evil, etc), and it made me wonder what Baum was trying to imply through the Emerald City. I would think that much of the Emerald City is likely white (as white with green glasses on makes things look green), and white represents good. So perhaps Baum is trying to say that, underneath illusions their lies truth, which is good. This theme could be applied to the Wizard of Oz as well. While he is a bad wizard (for he only gives the illusion of being a wizard, when in fact he is not), underneath his facade of sorcery lies a man that is not bad. Thus, perhaps green represents illusions, and I am curious to see if this theme (of green as illusion) will carry out in Wicked with Elphaba's green skin.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that you mention that the good witches are "white and Pure" whereas evil is either black or green. In society these colors are often associated with good vs evil. Although I do not think that Baum was a racist or trying to instill a sentiment that white people are good, I think there none the less is a underlying subliminal message that does give this message to the reader. In society at the time when Baum wrote this fear of foreigners and industrialization were quite prominent and American was thought of as a power center. It makes sense that "white Americans" were thought of as higher on the social ladder than others.
ReplyDeleteI think that in the Wizard of Oz, there is no such thing as good and evil, and I think that is what Baum wants to convey to his readers. I think that is why he called the Wizard of Oz: a “modernized fairytale.” The Good Witch and Dorothy are supposed to be “good,” and the Wicked Witch is supposed to be “evil.” However, the Good Witch allows the Scarecrow, the TinWoodman and the Lion to rule over other people and animals. The “right” thing to do would be to give the people and animals a democracy, where each being would have independence and freedom. Dorothy is supposedly a “good” character but she kills the Wicked Witch of the East and West, and even though she doesn’t mean to, and kills them “accidentally,” she still commits the crime. The Wicked Witch of the East wants to be seen as evil, but that doesn’t mean that she actually is evil, she might feel pressured into acting evil because this is what everyone expects of her.
ReplyDeleteThe right thing to do in the Wizard of Oz is to hand leadership to the good characters so the people won’t fall into villains’ hands. Democracy is not a concern since none of the good characters are native citizens. Of course if today the main character is a Winkie rather than Dorothy from Kansas, democracy perhaps will play a bigger role. Wicked, on the other hand, definitely questions the distinction between good and evil, but the differences between good and evil are clear in the Wizard of Oz.
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