The Wicked Witch of the West is perhaps the most famous incarnation of a witch on screen who also happens to be in one of the greatest films of all time. She may not have a cat, but she does have a fleet of winged monkeys. I can, of course, only be referring to the Wicked Witch of the West from the spectacularly glorious 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz. Originating from the timeless and much-loved book penned in 1900 by L. Frank Baum entitled The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, this depiction, embodied by an unrecognisable Margaret Hamilton, has served as universal shorthand for wickedness in popular culture for decades.
The Wicked Witch of the West is ranked at number 4 on the American Film Institute’s 50 best villains of all-time list, a startling achievement in that it also makes her the highest -ranking female villain ever to bewitch our screens! Her very title, in fact, denotes her importance, for she is not just a witch, but the Wicked Witch of the West, a name that with its heavy vowel sounds and alliteration carries an air of threat and menace. Unlike her adversary, Glinda, the Witch of the North, she is not humanized with a Christian name.
An original illustration of the Witch by W.W. Denslow in L Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Although the film is adored by audiences far and wide, viewers may not be aware that there are some rather significant differences between the witch we see on screen and Baum’s original creation. The most memorable feature of the witch in the film adaptation is her striking green skin; however, in the novel there is no mention of this. There are also some interesting elements of the witch included in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz that do not appear in the film, such as the replacement of a broom stick with an umbrella (with which she then taunts the loyal Toto). With the use of only one eye, moreover, she is to be seen in the novel’s illustrations with an eye patch.
What makes this particular witch especially terrifying, however, is that she exists not only in Dorothy’s imagined world of Oz, but (and again, unlike the novel) she is alive and operating to full wicked capacity in the real world as Miss Gulch. As a woman of higher social status than the Gale family, and therefore with more power at her fingertips, she commits one of the cruellest acts imaginable by taking away young Dorothy’s dog Toto. She does this with no cause or reason other than that she enjoys asserting control over the lives of those less powerful than herself.
In a filmed 1975 interview with presenter Fred Rogers, actress Margaret Hamilton, who brought the wickedness of the character to life, spoke about how she “always wanted to be a witch as a little girl.” Interestingly, she touches on one of the characteristics of the witch that makes them so fascinating, their status as outsiders. Margaret, who in contrast to the witch, is an incredibly charming and soft- spoken woman, discusses how she quickly identified two fundamental elements of her character; first, her enjoyment of everything she does whether it is deemed good or bad; and, second (and most relevant to the outsider point), her deep frustration at never getting what she desires. She also laments how frightened children became of her portrayal and expresses a great surprise and sadness at this. Given the dark and taunting nature of the Wicked Witch of the West, it is hard to imagine why the actress struggled to come to terms with children finding this terrifying. However, it is also testament to her loyalty to the character that she views her as more than just a cardboard cut-out representation of evil.
Margaret Hamilton as Miss Gulch in The Wizard of Oz
It will come as no surprise to learn that Margaret herself went through some challenging times whilst filming. The actress recounts how careful she was required to be during lunch times and breaks, as her hands and face were covered with green make up. In order to prevent any potential smudges or transferences onto her costume, she found herself depending upon an assistant to cut up her food and feed it to her in manageable pieces. Not all of her experiences were as light-hearted as this however, as she also found herself face to face with great danger on one particular occasion. When making her famous fire-filled exit after her first meeting with Dorothy and Glinda, the lift mechanism which she used fell out from underneath her and she was subsequently left with second and third degree burns on her hands and face, an event that must have been truly traumatic.
The witch’s association with fire is an interesting one and a recurring motif; over the course of the film, we see her arrive and depart via flames, throw a fireball at the Scarecrow, set her broomstick on fire–and flashes of fiery light appear when she attempts to remove the ruby slippers from Dorothy’s feet. This contrasts with her opposition to water, an element that eventually kills her and a point that is explored in more depth in the novel where she is represented as aquaphobic. Through this, there is an obvious link to the symbolism of anger, harm, hell, the devil and all things dark and evil.
Actress Margaret Hamilton
In terms of the best scene of the film, this is an impossible decision to make, as all moments that include the witch are utterly memorable. However, her introductory scene is captivating, not least because she enters and leaves in a ball of fire. Her interruption of the celebrations of Dorothy, Glinda, and the Munchkins by her sudden appearance through flames clutching her trusted broomstick is arguably a highlight of the film, as her arrival is as much of a shock and a surprise to us as it is to Dorothy. Her verbal sparring with good witch Glinda (who is a formidable match for the figure cloaked in blackness) and the much-quoted cackling line, “I’ll get you my pretty and your little dog too,” have been imitated and quoted ever since. She might still send a tingle of childhood-related fear down my spine but for her iconography, for Margaret Hamilton’s sublime and unforgettable performance, and of course for her delicious wickedness, I think we ought to say one big “All Hail” to the Wicked Witch of the West.
Rebecca McCallum is a horror enthusiast from the North West of England with a specific interest in writing think pieces that dissect and analyse the films of the genre, Rebecca is Assistant Editor @ghoulsmagazine and has contributed articles for @evolutionpod, @zobowithashotgun and @anatomyofascream. Find her on Twitter @PendlePumpkin.
