The Melting of the Wicked Witch of the West

The Melting of the Wicked Witch of the West is the decisive turning point of Dorothy's quest, the moment when the seemingly impossible task set by Oz is accomplished not through violence or magic but through a spontaneous, domestic act—throwing a bucket of water. The event destroys the last Wicked Witch in Oz, liberates the Winkies from bondage, and clears the path for Dorothy and her friends to claim the rewards they were promised.

The Witch's Obsession and the Theft of the Silver Shoe

The Wicked Witch of the West, who had already failed to destroy the travelers through wolves, crows, bees, and her Winkie slaves, and who had used the last of the Golden Cap's power to command the Winged Monkeys, was left with a single, consuming desire: to possess the Silver Shoes that Dorothy always wore. The Witch knew the shoes bore a powerful charm, and she believed that if she could steal them, they would give her more power than all the forces she had lost. She watched Dorothy carefully, but the child was so proud of her pretty shoes that she never took them off except at night and when she bathed. The Witch was too afraid of the dark to enter Dorothy's room at night, and her dread of water was even greater than her fear of the dark, so she never approached while Dorothy was bathing. The Witch's cunning finally produced a trick: she placed an invisible bar of iron in the middle of the kitchen floor. When Dorothy walked across, she stumbled over the unseen bar and fell at full length. In the fall, one of the Silver Shoes came off, and before Dorothy could reach it, the Witch snatched it away and put it on her own skinny foot. The Witch was greatly pleased, knowing that as long as she held one shoe, she owned half the power of their charm, and Dorothy could not use it against her.

The Confrontation and the Fatal Dash of Water

Dorothy, seeing she had lost one of her pretty shoes, grew angry and demanded its return. The Witch refused, laughing and declaring the shoe was now hers, and that she would someday get the other one as well. This made Dorothy so very angry that she picked up the bucket of water that stood nearby and dashed it over the Witch, wetting her from head to foot. Instantly, the wicked woman gave a loud cry of fear. As Dorothy looked on in wonder, the Witch began to shrink and fall away. "See what you have done!" she screamed. "In a minute I shall melt away." Dorothy, truly frightened, watched the Witch actually melting away like brown sugar before her very eyes. The Witch, in a wailing, despairing voice, asked Dorothy if she did not know that water would be the end of her. Dorothy replied that she had no way of knowing. The Witch then declared that in a few minutes she would be all melted, and that she had never thought a little girl like Dorothy would ever be able to melt her and end her wicked deeds. With those words, the Witch fell down into a brown, melted, shapeless mass and began to spread over the clean boards of the kitchen floor.

Aftermath and Liberation

Seeing that the Witch had really melted away to nothing, Dorothy drew another bucket of water and threw it over the mess, then swept it all out the door. From the remains, she picked out the silver shoe—the only thing left of the old woman—cleaned and dried it with a cloth, and put it back on her foot. At last free to do as she chose, she ran out to the courtyard to tell the Cowardly Lion that the Wicked Witch of the West had come to an end and that they were no longer prisoners. The Lion was much pleased to hear the news, and Dorothy at once unlocked the gate of his prison and set him free. Together they went into the castle, where Dorothy's first act was to call all the Winkies together and tell them that they were no longer slaves. There was great rejoicing among the yellow Winkies, who had been made to work hard for many years under the Witch's cruelty. They kept that day as a holiday, then and ever after, spending the time in feasting and dancing. The melting of the Witch thus accomplished what Oz's commands had demanded, and it set in motion the final phase of the journey: the rescue of the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, the return to the Emerald City, and the ultimate discovery of Oz's true nature.