Wicked: Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

Glinda is a secondary character who presents an important foil to Elphaba. Glinda lives a life of privilege, though she does learn to question that privilege. Glinda chooses to work within the structures and boundaries of society; therefore, Glinda enacts change without sacrificing her own happiness. Her good looks and decorum challenge Elphaba’s femininity, but that challenge is important in the development of their friendship. In appreciating one another’s differences, Glinda and Elphaba build a friendship that inspires them to think of the world in different ways.

Glinda is reasonable, smart, and savvy. She is originally characterized as superficial, but her character development symbolizes everybody’s potential to change for the better. Glinda is also judged on her looks. In ensuring her physical presentation is impeccable, Glinda tricks people into underestimating her only to surprise them with her talent and power. While Elphaba feels used by others, Glinda learns how to be the user, twisting twists society’s norms of femininity into a type of armor. Glinda therefore becomes a surprisingly feminist character who uses people’s judgments of her as an attractive woman to her own advantage. Furthermore, Glinda respects Elphaba’s presence, looks, and power. Glinda is one of the only characters who is intimidated by Elphaba without fearing her because Glinda sees Elphaba for the woman she truly is.

Fiyero is a secondary character who acts as a martyr in Elphaba’s deteriorating life. He falls in love with Elphaba despite his marriage, their class and economic differences, and his social privilege as a powerful man. He cares about Elphaba’s opinions and respects her perspective enough to be fundamentally challenged and changed by her radical attitudes. When Fiyero is brutally murdered due to his association with Elphaba, he becomes a sacrifice to Elphaba’s altruism. He challenges Elphaba’s perception of herself as a solitary hero. His death marks the beginning of a new life for Elphaba in which she is forced to take stock of her circumstances, atone for her mistakes, and rethink her priorities.

The Wizard of Oz is the central antagonist. At first depicted as a mysterious presence with no identifiable physical traits, he successfully tricks Oz into seeing him as all-powerful and unfathomable. He wields this mystery as a tactic to oppress and imperialize the cultures of Oz. He is a sneaky, evil man who thinks very little of his subjects. In the Wizard’s understanding of his work, he is the slave master who does everyone the favor of imprisoning them in his own belief systems. The revelation that the Wizard came to Oz from the United States and is Elphaba’s biological father is a major plot twist. Essentially, the Wizard raped Elphaba’s mother Melena with the use of a magical elixir that is possibly why Elphaba is green. In this context, he is the typical American conqueror who plants his seed, imposes his rule, and values only his own opinions.

Madame Morrible is a superimposing, conservative figure of oppression. She is a stock evil character who manipulates the minds of young, self-conscious girls. She teaches the Wizard how to take advantage of girls weakened by a patriarchal society. In oppressing women, Madame Morrible sets herself apart from other women and therefore raises herself to positions of power typically held for men. She is a symbol of internalized misogyny. She actively ruins other people’s lives, evident in her arrangement of Doctor Dillamond’s murder and the Gale Force’s investigation into Elphaba.

Interestingly, Elphaba draws a connection between Madame Morrible and Yackle, a mysterious woman who is either a sorceress or a nun or a prostitute, depending on who is meeting her and in what context. Yackle seems to know everything about how Elphaba’s life will unfold, which directly parallels Madame Morrible’s predictions that Glinda, Nessa, and Elphaba will fundamentally change the history of Oz. Yackle had the same premonitions when Nanny first visited her after Elphaba’s birth. It is never proven, but is very likely, that Madame Morrible is yet another manifestation of Yackle. If Yackle and Madame Morrible are one and the same, then perhaps this secondary character is a puppeteer striving to control Elphaba’s life—if she allows it.