Louisville Process Theology Network

Religious Themes in ''Wicked'' the Novel

Jan 20, 2009

Gregory Maquire?’s immensely popular novel, ?“Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West?” is so thoroughly awash in religious themes and ideas we wonder why we haven?’t heard more talk about it.

As the novel explains early on, the name of the ?“wicked witch?” herself, Elphaba, is taken by her father from the ?“unionist?” parable about a saint he admires, ?“Saint Aelphaba.?” That parable is recounted about the two-thirds of the way into the book (page 281 in our copy).

?“I remember, said Five, who had gone through a faintly religious phase when she realized marriage possibilities were growing dim. I had a ?‘Lives of Saints?’ once. Saint Aelphaba of the Waterfall ?– she was a Munchkinlander mystic, six or seven hundred years ago. Don?’t you remember? She wanted to pray, but was such a beauty that local men kept pestering her for ?– attention.

To preserve her sanctity, she went into the wilderness with her holy scriptures and a single bunch of grapes. Wild beasts threatened her, and wild men hunted after her, and she was sore distressed. Then she came upon a large waterfall coursing off a cliff.

She said, This is my cave, and took off all her clothes, and she walked right through the screen of pounding water. She sat down there, and in the light that came through the wall of water, she read her holy book and pondered on spiritual matters. She ate a grape every now and then.

When at last she had finished her grapes, she emerged from the cave. Hundred of years had passed. There was a village built on the banks of the stream and even a milldam nearby. The villagers shrank in horror, for as children they had all played in the cavern behind the waterfall ?– lovers had trysted there ?– murders and foul deeds had taken place there ?– treasure had been buried there and never had anyone seen Saint Aelphaba in her naked beauty.

But, all Saint Aelphaba had to do was open her mouth and speak the old speech, and they knew it must be she, and they built a chapel in her name. She blessed the children and the elderly, and heard the confessions of the middle-aged, and healed the sick and fed some hungry, that sort of stuff, and disappeared behind the waterfall again with another bunch of grapes. I think a bigger bunch this time. And, that was the last time anyone has seen her.



So, you can disappear and not be dead, said Sarina, looking out the window a little dreamily, past the rain.

If you?’re a saint, said Two, pointedly.

If you even believe it, said Elphaba, who had come into the parlor during the end of the recitation. The emerging of Saint Aelphaba might have been a hussy from the next town over who wanted to give gullible peasants a good going over.

That?’s doubt for you. It scours hope of everything, Sarina said dismissively. Auntie (Elphaba), you kill me sometimes. You really do."



About one hundred pages later (we forgot the page number); Elphaba hears a shorter version of the Saint Aelphaba parable from an ?“immortal?” dwarf, who leaves out her emergence from the waterfall. When Elphaba objects that the story he?’s told is incomplete, he doesn?’t reply.



The characters in this novel advance a wide variety religious ideas and practices. Consider these:

Flexspar (Elphaba?’s father) ?– A circuit-riding minister who preaches the ?“unionist?” religion; which teaches prayer to the ?“Unnamed God.?” This appears to be the mainline religion of Oz. The novel doesn?’t say, but the name ?“unionist?” seems to represent the idea of union with an eternal God. Flexpar?’s ministry is threatened by the ?“pleasure?” faith that is spreading in his region.

The Clock of Time Dragon ?– A traveling show that uses a ?“magcked tik-tok dragon?” and puppets to act out scenes of debauchery which promote the ?“pleasure?” faith. Elphaba is born inside the Time Dragon housing while her mother is hiding from rioters intent on lynching her father.

Nessarose (Elphaba?’s sister) ?– A religious zealot who promotes a devoutly righteous version of the unionist religion.

Avaric (college classmate of Elphaba) ?– A decadent cynic who ridicules religion.

Elphaba ?– Dissatisfied with her father?’s religious faith, Elphaba calls herself an ?“atheist?” several times during the novel. But ironically, she seeks solace in a convent following a personal crisis about halfway into the novel. When she hears, in the final chapter, that the Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman, Cowardly Lion, and Dorothy are seeking a brain, a heart, courage and home; she tells her son she?’d like to find a soul for herself. She characterizes herself as a ?“sorceress?”, not a witch.

The Grimmerie ?– A book of magic found by Elphaba more than halfway into the novel. Later, she learns that it originated from another world and was brought to Oz to hide it from those would misuse it.



It?’s probably not intended by the author, but, we think we see a few Process Theology ideas in this novel. For example, Elphaba wants so desperately to believe in ultimate goodness in spite of all her frustrations. Her strong sense of social conscience seems to reflect Whitehead?’s concept of a ?“dipolar?” existence possessing both physical and mental poles.

Elphaba?’s fictional life is sad; still it?’s pretty clear the author believes it to be meaningful. Page after page, we are reminded of Whitehead?’s concept of ?“developmental reality?”; emphasizing becoming rather than static being; events rather than objects; as we read about Elphaba?’s many struggles against her disappointments and personal defeats.

Saint Aelphaba?’s walk into the waterfall, and Elphaba?’s baptism of sorts near the end, remind us of Hartshorne?’s concept of transcendence arising from the experiences we contribute individually to the consciousness of all existence.



Postscript ---- We found ?“Son of a Witch?”, Maguire?’s sequel, to be a lighter story. Liir?’s adventurous search for his half-sister eventually leads to the discovery of his own character. (Liir is Elphaba?’s son.)

Is Liir an inquisitive individual awaking to his full potential or is he ?“a lopping sequence of chemical conversions?” (page 128)? It seems to us the author believes character is something real.