Hi how are you.

I have a strange question. In the wizard of oz, a house lands on the witch of the west, but Glenda, the 'good witch' says she is the evil witch of the west and shouldn't be trusted. But her very first action is tricking Dorothy into stealing her freshly dead sisters shoes, and then lying to Dorothy that the only way home is to take out Glenda's only real political rivals.

The only reason we think the witch is evil is because shes kinda ugly, and some other witch that has been shown to be very nefarious told Dorothy shes evil.

Is it possible Glenda is playing the other side, and is in fact the evil one?
That's an interesting analysis! Gregory Maguire also explored this premise in his book series The Wicked Years which was adapted into the popular musical, Wicked. Like you, Maguire noted that the Wicked Witch of the West seemed to be unfairly villainized and gave an incomplete perspective on what it meant to be evil. The Wicked Years humanizes the witches of Oz by showing their circumstances and motivations and uses a fantasy backdrop to explore themes about social exile, self-fulfilling prophecy, and propaganda.
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### Instruction:

Hi how are you.

I have a strange question. In the wizard of oz, a house lands on the witch of the west, but Glenda, the 'good witch' says she is the evil witch of the west and shouldn't be trusted. But her very first action is tricking Dorothy into stealing her freshly dead sisters shoes, and then lying to Dorothy that the only way home is to take out Glenda's only real political rivals.

The only reason we think the witch is evil is because shes kinda ugly, and some other witch that has been shown to be very nefarious told Dorothy shes evil.

Is it possible Glenda is playing the other side, and is in fact the evil one?

### Response:

That's an interesting analysis! Gregory Maguire also explored this premise in his book series The Wicked Years which was adapted into the popular musical, Wicked. Like you, Maguire noted that the Wicked Witch of the West seemed to be unfairly villainized and gave an incomplete perspective on what it meant to be evil. The Wicked Years humanizes the witches of Oz by showing their circumstances and motivations and uses a fantasy backdrop to explore themes about social exile, self-fulfilling prophecy, and propaganda.
