The Task to Kill the Wicked Witch of the West

The Task to Kill the Wicked Witch of the West stands as the pivotal demand that the Wizard Oz imposes on Dorothy and her companions, transforming their hopeful pilgrimage into a perilous mission. When Dorothy first enters the Throne Room seeking passage home, she encounters a giant floating Head that speaks with a solemn voice, identifying itself as "Oz, the Great and Terrible." After questioning her about the silver shoes and the mark on her forehead, Oz refuses her request outright, declaring, "You have no right to expect me to send you back to Kansas unless you do something for me in return." The condition he sets is absolute: "Kill the Wicked Witch of the West." Dorothy protests that she has never killed anything willingly and cannot imagine how she, a little girl, could succeed where the Great Wizard himself has not. Oz remains unmoved, insisting that until the Witch dies, she will not see her aunt and uncle again. Sorrowfully, Dorothy leaves the Throne Room and tells her waiting friends, "There is no hope for me," for she believes the task is impossible.

The Task Extended to All Companions

Oz does not limit the command to Dorothy alone. When the Scarecrow is summoned the next morning, he finds not the Head but a lovely Lady dressed in green silk gauze with wings on her shoulders, who again declares, "I am Oz, the Great and Terrible." The Scarecrow asks for brains, and Oz responds with the same condition: "If you will kill for me the Wicked Witch of the West, I will bestow upon you a great many brains." The Scarecrow, surprised, notes that Oz had already asked Dorothy to kill the Witch, but Oz dismisses this, saying, "I don't care who kills her." The Tin Woodman, when his turn comes, faces a terrible Beast with a rhinoceros-like head and five eyes, which growls that he must "Help Dorothy to kill the Wicked Witch of the West" before receiving a heart. The Cowardly Lion, confronting a Ball of Fire so intense it singes his whiskers, hears the same demand: "Bring me proof that the Wicked Witch is dead, and that moment I will give you courage." Each companion is thus bound to the same deadly errand, their individual desires made contingent on a collective act of destruction.

The Nature of the Wicked Witch and the Stakes

The Wicked Witch of the West is established as a figure of immense power and cruelty. The Witch of the North had earlier explained that there were four witches in Oz, two good and two wicked, and that the one in the West was the last remaining evil sorceress. The Witch of the North herself, though a good witch, admitted she was not powerful enough to free the Munchkins from bondage, underscoring the threat the Western Witch posed. When Dorothy and her friends finally reach the Witch's domain, she proves a formidable adversary, sending wolves, crows, bees, and even her Winkie slaves against them. She possesses a Golden Cap that commands the Winged Monkeys, and she uses it to capture the travelers, destroying the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman and imprisoning the Lion. Only Dorothy is spared because of the mark of the Good Witch's kiss on her forehead, which the Winged Monkeys dare not violate. The Witch, recognizing the power of the Silver Shoes, trembles with fear but resolves to make Dorothy her slave, unaware that the girl does not know how to use the shoes' magic.

The Climax and Resolution

The task reaches its unexpected conclusion not through violence but through a simple accident. The Witch, desperate to possess the Silver Shoes, uses a trick to steal one of them, making an iron bar invisible so that Dorothy stumbles and loses a shoe. Enraged, Dorothy seizes a bucket of water and dashes it over the Witch. Instantly, the Witch begins to shrink and melt away, crying out, "Didn't you know water would be the end of me?" Dorothy, who had no idea, watches in horror as the Witch dissolves into a brown, shapeless mass. The task is thus fulfilled, but not through any deliberate act of killing; Dorothy's anger and the accidental discovery of the Witch's vulnerability accomplish what Oz had demanded. The companions are reunited, the Winkies are freed from bondage, and the travelers return to the Emerald City to claim their rewards.

The Aftermath and Revelation

When Dorothy and her friends return to Oz, they find that the Wizard has been avoiding them. Only after the Scarecrow threatens to summon the Winged Monkeys does Oz agree to see them. In the Throne Room, they discover the truth: the great and terrible Oz is nothing but a little old man from Omaha, a ventriloquist and balloonist who has been "making believe" all along. He admits, "I'm just a common man," and confesses that he has no magical powers. The task to kill the Wicked Witch was, in his own words, a way to get rid of a threat he could not face himself. "I was willing to promise anything if you would only do away with the other Witch," he says, "but, now that you have melted her, I am ashamed to say that I cannot keep my promises." Yet, despite his confession, Oz does fulfill the wishes of the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Lion through clever tricks—bran and pins for brains, a silk heart stuffed with sawdust, and a potion that is really just a drink. For Dorothy, however, he cannot provide a way home, and his attempt to carry her away in a balloon fails when she cannot find Toto in time. The task, which had driven the entire second half of the story, ultimately reveals the Wizard's fraudulence and forces Dorothy to seek help elsewhere, leading her to Glinda the Good Witch, who finally reveals the power of the Silver Shoes.