Theatrical Adaptation

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - with new insight

I have always felt that very valuable literary adaptations are able to almost change one’s perception of the original story from which it was based. Gregory Maguire’s Wicked did just that for me. Before, I had never done much research on either The Wonderful Wizard of Oz or Wicked, but after examining both stories I feel that my perception of and emotional response to Baum’s original book changed greatly after I studied Maguire’s interpretational prequel.

The fact that Maguire’s novel had a lasting effect on my opinion of Baum’s story was brought to my attention after I re-read the death scene in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Maguire’s book opened me up to the possibility that the witch’s wicked acts were a somewhat deliberate attempt to justify misfortune. I say this because it seemed to me that Elphaba felt obligated to become “wicked” in an effort to explain why her life was so miserable and difficult. In other words, her life was so hard because she was predestined to be evil. This concept caused me to re-evaluate the death scene in Baum’s book. When I first read this, I did not think much of it. I simply characterized the witch’s defeat as the predictable climactic end of a typical goodguy/badguy story. After all, the entire chapter seems to be focused on Dorothy’s attempt to kill the Wicked Witch so the Wizard with send her home to Kansas (Baum 201-230). However, after reading Wicked, I noticed I was a lot more sympathetic to the witch. Even though I know Maguire wrote his story long after Baum wrote the original, I still felt as though it was part of the original plot. In re-reading the death scene in Baum’s story, I noticed I paid a lot of attention to how the witch reacted. After Dorothy pours the water on her, the witch makes a comment about being surprised that such an innocent little girl would be able “to melt [her] and end [her] wicked deeds” (225). This statement shows insight to the witch and her character. She acknowledges the fact that she has acted in wicked and cruel ways. Most people do not try to behave in such ways, and the witch’s consciousness of her nature suggests that her “wicked deeds” were not only intentional, but also prided. This phrase also seems to compare the witch herself to her cruel behavior. She expresses being shocked that suck a weak child could destroy something as great as herself as well as her evil history. In this respect, she puts her self value equal to that of her wickedness. I can say that I only realized this insight after studying Wicked.

Therefore, I feel I can say Wicked was a valuable literary adaptation; because it was so meaningful to me that it gave me new insight to Baum’s original story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

posted by Layne @ 1:44 AM