![\"http:\/\/unrealitymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/wicked-witch-of-the-west-2.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/unrealitymag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/wicked-witch-of-the-west-2.jpg\")
The Wicked Witch is one of the most recognizable Villains of movie history.\u00a0 She is one of only nine other females that appear on the AFI's Top 100 Villains list.\u00a0 She is the highest-ranking female villain, and she certainly deserves her rank.<\/p>\n
Just by looking at her name, there is little question as to the nature of the Wicked Witch.\u00a0 She has become the archetype for wickedness and is an easily identifiable image of evil.\u00a0 She is cruel, manipulative, and cold – all the features that one would expect from one who is wicked.\u00a0 Most dictionaries defined wickedness as being synonymous with evil, and we can certainly see this reflected in the Witch's behavior in The Wizard of Oz.<\/p>\n
In the Wizard of Oz, The Wicked Witch of the West has conquered the Winkies and treats them as slaves.\u00a0 She remains in power by using her army of flying monkeys that do her bidding.\u00a0 She uses the fear of her cruelty in order to stay in power – and prior to Dorothy arriving in Oz, the terrors of the Wicked Witch had simply been a part of life for the citizens of Oz.<\/p>\n
But things begin to change when Dorothy arrives in Oz. We get our first taste of the Witch's wickedness when she fails to show any sort of remorse for her dead sister.\u00a0 Instead she simply appears angry to have been cheated out of the enchanted ruby red slippers. ![\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4009\/4503814929_55bdc46491.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4009\/4503814929_55bdc46491.jpg\")
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The Witch immediately comes up with a number of plans to steal the slippers and eliminate Dorothy in the process.\u00a0 However, she finds herself foiled time and time again as Dorothy makes friends on her way to see the Wizard.\u00a0 These series of events all reveal the inherent evil and true wickedness of the Witch who craves nothing but power.\u00a0 Greed is her primary motivation.<\/p>\n
The Witch is unsuccessful at stopping Dorothy from reaching the Wizard, but in a twist of fate the Wizard charges Dorothy with disposing of the Witch.\u00a0 Dorothy is captured by the Flying Monkeys as she tries to sneak into the Witch's castle.\u00a0 The Witch tries to get the slippers by threatening to drown Toto, but it is soon obvious that the only way to obtain the slippers is to kill Dorothy.\u00a0 Again, this scene reflects the wickedness of the Witch as she uses the life of Toto as ransom to obtain what she wants.<\/p>\n
The Wicked Witch doesn't know how best to dispose of Dorothy and take the Ruby Slippers for herself, so she locks Dorothy away instead.\u00a0 During this time, Dorothy's friends attempt a rescue, but they are cornered by the Wicked Witch's guards.\u00a0 The Witch decides that they all must die, but Dorothy will die last.\u00a0 She will watch her friends suffer and suffer in the process.\u00a0 She sets the Scarecrow on fire, and in an attempt to extinguish the flames, Dorothy throws water on the Witch which causes the Witch to melt. Upon realizing what has happened, the guards that had once been under the Witch's control rejoice – another reflection of the true evil of the Witch.<\/p>\n
Throughout the film, there is no redeeming goodness in the Witch, as with many villains in film.\u00a0 She is illustrated as truly wicked, and never wavers from this characterization.\u00a0 Of course, for anyone who has seen the musical Wicked, <\/em>the perception of the Wicked Witch changes entirely, but in the film itself there is no justification for the Witch's evil actions earning her the title of villain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Wicked Witch is one of the most recognizable Villains of movie history.\u00a0 She is one of only nine other females that appear on the AFI's Top 100 Villains list.\u00a0 She is the highest-ranking female villain, and she certainly deserves her rank. Just by looking at her name, there is little question as to the … Continue reading The Wicked Witch of the West: The self-explanatory villain.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1349,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1267],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-claire"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/psyc449\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/psyc449\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/psyc449\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/psyc449\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1349"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/psyc449\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/psyc449\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/psyc449\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/psyc449\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/psyc449\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/code>Then again, perhaps all the Wicked Witch needed was a friend, as illustrated in the video below.<\/p>\n[kml_flashembed movie=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/DU8D9QugbiM\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\" wmode=\"transparent\" \/]<\/code><\/p>\n