Elphaba (Fi)
*warning: spoilers*
Elphaba's path seemed set based on circumstances beyond her control: She was the seeming union of her mother and a traveling stranger (later revealed to be the Wizard) who got her drunk with green elixir... a curiosity resulting in Elphaba being born with green skin. Her appearance defines her position in the culture from birth: Her father casts her out, and she is always looked on with suspicion or as the target of jokes from her peers, regardless of her ability or character. She thus always has an antagonistic relationship with social convention.
Elphaba's first real song in the show is called "The Wizard and I" -- the typical "discover myself, acquire my dreams" song made popular by ENFP Ariel in "The Little Mermaid." Elphaba is startled to realize that her magical talent might actually win her acceptance in a world from which she has always felt excluded from; she is finally seen as "special" by someone and not in a bad way. At this point, she allows us to see her hidden dreams -- that the Wizard will perhaps take a fatherly role and view her for the worthwhile and capable girl she is, that she will finally be accepted by her peers, that perhaps the Wizard will even "de-greenify" her physical skin as well as her social image (an offer she will at first pretend to brush off, then casually acquiesce to, without masking how obviously a big deal that would be to her). In any case, she does see a "special destiny" in place for herself which (we know) will come true but not in the way she hopes:
Unlimited
My future is unlimited
And I've just had a vision
Almost like a prophecy
I know - it sounds truly crazy
And true, the vision's hazy
But I swear, someday there'll be
A celebration throughout Oz
That's all to do with me!
And I'll stand there with the Wizard
Feeling things I've never felt
And though I'd never show it
I'll be so happy, I could melt!
And so it will be
For the rest of my life
And I'll want nothing else
Till I die
Held in such high esteem
When people see me, they will scream
For half of Oz's fav'rite team:
The Wizard
And I!
(Full lyrics at:
The Wizard and I Lyrics)
While Glinda's wild dreams about herself seem to involve becoming effectual within the culture, Elphaba's seem to be based more on some sense of personal validation of her identity and specialness (Fi).
Originally set to room with her sister Nessarose, Elphaba ends up being assigned to Glinda instead... someone she immediately loathes as everything she is not and representative of and a sellout to the system that has disregarded her throughout her life: Her initial, succinct but comprehensive complaint about Glinda, in contrast to Glinda's elaborate and socially delicate complaint about her, is expressed, simply, as "[she's] blonde."
Elphaba is not a cold-hearted machinator by nature; despite her physical stigma and her treatment at the hands of her peers, she still feels passionately about injustice and suffering on a very individual level. Her next song is with the goatish Doctor Dillamond, who is showing disturbing signs of being afflicted with the other Oz animals with the curse of losing their human speech. Here, Elphaba (as an idealist) yet trusts her image of the Wizard as a father figure who wants to help and has the POWER to help others: "Doctor Dillamond - If something bad is happening to the Animals, someone's got to tell the Wizard. That's why we have a Wizard. (sung) So nothing bad.... It couldn't happen here in Oz." She can't imagine someone she has placed on a moral pedestal, a potential father figure and intelligent individual (not "small-minded" like the munchkins, in her estimation), would let her down by not reaching the same conclusions as her or sharing the same values. (Fi idealism/naivety)
When Glinda sets Elphaba up to be embarrassed at the ball, she refuses to be cowed: She remains dancing on the ballroom floor as a way to affirm her own special uniqueness (Fi, standing alone), and the fact that Glinda joins her is why Elphaba bends to accept her as a friend despite their differences. In this case, Elphaba is "listening" to Glinda's heart (which she perceives as remorseful) rather than sticking solely with what Glinda did.
Elphaba realizes that there is a spark between her and Fiyero, but by then Glinda has snagged him: The green-skinned girl watches from a distance, the lonely social pariah, and sings with sadness and pained acceptance rather than anger at her friend:
Don't dream too far
Don't lose sight of who you are
Don't remember that rush of joy
He could be that boy
I'm not that girl
Ev'ry so often we long to steal
To the land of what-might-have-been
But that doesn't soften the ache we feel
When reality sets back in
Blithe smile, lithe limb
She who's winsome, she wins him
Gold hair with a gentle curl
That's the girl he chose
And Heaven knows
I'm not that girl...
Her inherent fatalism/melancholy (typical of INP), aimed more at herself than others, is obvious here.
When Glinda ends up compromising her identity by changing her name in a silly attempt to emulate Fiyero's connection to Elphaba (a gesture that Fiyero shrugs off), Elphaba feels so bad for her that she invites her to go along with her to the Emerald City.
But here all of Elphaba's dreams are dashed / revealed as the daydreams they were.
Instead of reinstating Elphaba into Oz society, the Wizard asks her to demonstrate her magical power by making a monkey fly... and then, when Elphaba's unrestrained spell creates a whole legion of winged monkeys who the Wizard now reveals he will use to spy on the animals -- beings with personal ties with to Elphaba -- the green-skinned girl is immediately devastated. The Wizard is not a good man at all; instead, he is a powerless charlatan who used her to violate and abuse the animals she loves. The personal Fi image of a man she respected has been shattered.
In a furor, Elphaba flees with the magical book, triggering the castle alarms. In a brief lull before they're located, Elphaba and Glinda have it out: Glinda accuses Elphaba of ruining the carefully crafted image Glinda has been making for her (Fe), while Elphaba calls Glinda out as a brownnosing compromiser (Fi). Both women have strong values, but they are aimed in completely different directions.
When Glinda pleads with her to just apologize to the Wizard, to salvage what they can, Elphaba realizes she now has passed the point of compromise. She no longer wants what the wizard has to offer -- in fact, she CAN'T allow herself to want it (an introspective Ji realization: "These are my values, thus here is what I can and cannot do in the process of remaining consistent") -- and now she has to take a new path:
ELPHABA
(spoken) I know:
(sung) But I don't want it -
No - I can't want it
Anymore:
Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game
Too late for second-guessing
Too late to go back to sleep
It's time to trust my instincts
Close my eyes: and leap...
I'm through accepting limits
'Cuz someone says they're so
Some things I cannot change
But till I try, I'll never know!
Too long I've been afraid of
Losing love I guess I've lost
Well, if that's love
It comes at much too high a cost!
I'd sooner buy
Defying gravity
Kiss me goodbye
I'm defying gravity
And you can't pull me down:
Yet, even now, she still has personal loyalty to Glinda and sees the good intentions in her: "Glinda - come with me. Think of what we could do: together...They'll never bring us down! ...Well? Are you coming?"
Glinda's refusal is heartbreaking to her, but Elphaba respects the decision maturely, without slandering her friend's character: "You too ... I hope [your decision] brings you bliss" -- and then leaps into the sky with her newfound power and identity:
ELPHABA
So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky!
As someone told me lately:
"Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly!"
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground me
Take a message back from me
Tell them how I am
Defying gravity
I'm flying high
Defying gravity
And soon I'll match them in renown
And nobody in all of Oz
No Wizard that there is or was
Is ever gonna bring me down!
(Full lyrics at
Defying Gravity Lyrics)
A few years later, Elphaba has built her reputation as the "Wicked Witch," although actually she is still trying to perform acts of good apart from the system. (We see the PR machine in action against her in "Thank Goodness" when Madam Morrible lies blatantly to the munchkins about the events that occurred back in the castle a few years prior, leading to all sorts of absurd "urban myths" about the "wicked witch" including the idea that pure water will somehow melt her.)
Unfortunately, it doesn't help matters that Elphaba's attempts to help people always seem to backfire. Her wheelbound sister Nessarose (AKA the Witch of the East) tries to exploit the munchkins in order to keep Boq's love, so Elphaba tries to heal her paralysis by creating magic ruby slippers that enable her to walk; yet this only leads Boq to feel more expendable, since Nessa has less need of him. Terrified of losing him, Nessa casts a love spell from the Grimmoire that almost kills Boq, and to save him, Elphaba inadvertently turns him into the Tin Man ... earning his [mistaken] enmity forever and eventually resulting in Dorothy's summoning and Nessa's death.
Meanwhile, Fiyero and Elphaba realize their love for each other; and he ditches his fiance Glinda, which breaks the good witch's heart. Elphaba cannot help herself, she has been longing for love all her life and this is what her heart wants and she feels it is "right" ... but she still feels guilt and admits that, now, "just, for the first time, I feel ... wicked" (the war between the Fi sense of personal coherence conflicting with relational obligations with specific individuals).
Fiyero is captured while trying to help Elphaba to escape from the mob, so she tries to use the Grimmoire to save him but thinks she has failed (although, with our knowledge of the Oz backstory, we realize she has saved him but not in the way she had expected). This results in a dark and self-deprecating where Elphaba wails over "one more disaster I can add to my generous supply?" If she is "special," it is only as an agent of destroying everything she loves; and her unlimited power, instead of changing the world, is only doing unlimited damage instead: "Every time I could, I tried making good, but what I made was a mess!" Her failure, rather than being blamed on social circumstance, is not directed at the culture but at her own moral character and flawed conscious choices:
One question haunts and hurts
Too much, too much to mention:
Was I really seeking good
Or just seeking attention?
Is that all good deeds are
When looked at with an ice-cold eye?
If that's all good deeds are
Maybe that's the reason why
No good deed goes unpunished
All helpful urges should be circumvented
No good deed goes unpunished
Sure, I meant well -
Well, look at what well-meant did:
All right, enough - so be it
So be it, then:
Let all Oz be agreed
I'm wicked through and through
Since I can not succeed
Fiyero, saving you
I promise no good deed
Will I attempt to do again
Ever again
No good deed
Will I do again!
(Full lyrics at
No Good Deed Lyrics)
Attributing her mistakes to a flawed moral character than just as mistaken efforts, Elphaba embraces the role that society has cast upon her. Ultimately, the inherent power she thought she could use to make the world, in lieu of the social system, only corrupts and destroys as well. She can no longer trust herself.
When she and Glinda meet for what ends up being the last time, her tune has changed: Her "unlimited motify" possesses a typical Si air of melancholy ... inevitable loss... because accepting reality means letting go of who she thought she was and what she could do:
ELPHABA
I'm limited:
Just look at me - I'm limited
And just look at you -
You can do all I couldn't do, Glinda
So now it's up to you
(spoken) For both of us
(sung) Now it's up to you:
She pulls out of the entire business of "global goodness" to fake her own death and (in a scene that never made it into the musical) care in self-imposed exile for the animals she personally has a connection -- a new way to envision herself and accomplish good that does not involve the use of power.
Her entire motivation is to follow her own internal moral compass, rather than follow and honor the accepted social standard and remaining within the system.