9-22-06 #3
If the wizard could give anything in the world that she wanted, Elphaba would ask for a soul. She truly wants nothing more than to be like everyone else and not be the social outcast anymore. At the same time, I think the fact that she has no soul makes her who she is. There is nothing to define who she is as an individual or to give her morals to live by. I think she has become the “Wicked Witch of the West” because that’s what people have made her become. She had no control over herself to become more active in the fight for the Animals, or to be what she wanted to be; she could only turn into what her father, friends and community expected of her, and that was a witch. More than anything, her future was sealed as destiny from the minute anyone spoke of what they thought she was or was to become.
And another thing, I think her wickedness didn’t come from anything more than people’s perspective of her. She didn’t have a soul to prevent her from terrorizing the country, as people thought she was, or to stop all the horror she caused to everyone’s lives. And though people who read “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” or watch the 1939 film may believe that the witch was trying to kill Dorothy, she was only protecting herself. I think here, her wickedness comes into play a lot; she isn’t intentionally trying to kill Dorothy for no reason, it is merely in self defense, but she could have come up with a less violent way to do so. The witch has no control over her actions, she does what she wants to please herself and no one else, because that’s all she can care for without a soul.
Ann Nelson
posted by Ann @ 9:39 AM
3 Comments:
I dont really agree with your comment because the fact that she can feel anything implies that she does have a soul.
I think that there are many reasons that show that she has a soul, but in the end I think its the fact that its not the soul she wanted, so thats why she keeps saying she doesnt have a soul. Love, anger, happyness, any emotion for something means there is a soul, but she wants a purely dark soul, and because she doesnt have that, she tells people she just doesnt have a soul. Makes it easier for her.
What if I rephrase this all to say. I believe Elphaba has a soul, I just don't think she uses it to its potential. She basically goes through life fulfilling what everyone else says she will be. She has no aspirations for herself, she just becomes what she is "supposed to become." She may have a soul and yes, in some places it does appear, but if she were to acknowledge the fact, she wouldn't be such a horror, she is truely a good person who is only fulfilling others opinions of her. I think until she is dying in the end, she doesn't truely realize she has a soul, and she doesn't maximize it's potential until then.
-Ann
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