Morality In Gregory Maguire's Wicked

What does it take to become wicked? Wicked by Gregory Maguire depicts exactly what transpires in the lifetime of the wicked witch of the west. From birth to death Elphaba undergoes different transformations that swings her back and forward on the moral pendulum. Although this is a work of pure fiction, this novel does illuminate how different someone can be perceived when looked at through different a light. In Franks Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, the wicked witch embodies everything bad and evil in Oz. In Wicked, while in the end that still rings true, Maguire shows that this green woman in fact has her own morality and intentions that are far from evil. Iris Murdoch believed that morality lies in interacting with the sublime, or seeing the world, and every interaction with it, in its true form. The morality of the wicked witch began to form at birth where she was mistreated and misunderstood, and then it matures as Elphaba begins to look at the world in its true form during collage, and finally it comes crashing down as her view
Elphaba was never given the chance to blossom into a fully functioning moral agent. Her view of the world was always skewed. Pain was all she was shown when she was able to see the world as it truly was. Evil was not born into Oz on Elphaba’s day of birth. Evil was gradually created as a product of the bias and ignorant blindness for the sublime in Oz. The wicked witch did not choose to be wicked, but she was chosen. So what does it take to become wicked? It takes careless parents, a racist and segregated society, and a world that has little value for precious life. Is Elphaba truly wicked? No, she is the fantasy bred by society that has come to