In Gregory Maguire's novel, Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West occurs before L. Frank Baum's novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In Baum's novel of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, she portrays the role of the Wicked Witch of the West who is evil. We have no background or personal preference to understand her life as the Wicked Witch of the West (known as Elphaba). But in Maguire's novel, Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, he shows how a monster Elphaba's traits are similar to a typical monster she portrays in people's eyes. Elphaba is an ideal model of what we see in a monster would be: abnormal, scary appearance and blunt behavior. She is the subject of gossip for those who don't even know her. Typically in monster stories, monsters are usually characterized as: evil, unstoppable, destructive, and evil. Surprisingly, from birth to adulthood, Elphaba did not play the role of an evil monster, but of a caring person who cares about what she thinks is right. When Elphaba was born, she was expected to be a curse in her family. For example, his father Frex said, “It's the devil” and “The devil is coming” (Maguire 10). He is very unhappy, cruel and neglects her since birth because of her physical appearance. He gets the center of everyone's attention due to unusual characteristics such as green skin, water allergy and razor sharp teeth. Even though she plays the role of the Wicked Witch of the West, she can still be a caring and loving person. As a college student, she cared deeply about all the animals in the land of Oz and was willing to put herself in danger to save them. He saved a monkey from drowning in the w...... middle of paper ......g the Wizard, but it makes a difference to those who oppose the idea between the sexes. Monsters are always misunderstood and misinterpreted character. We can never classify the monster as good or bad unless we know the person well enough to judge or assume. Our judgment of the character may consist of the character's personality, behavior, values, conscience, and morals. We know quite well that in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz we can be wrong to consider our character, the Wicked Witch of the West. Now that we know more, can we use our own judgment to classify whether Elphaba is really classified as the Wicked Witch of the West or not? What is our judgment and our value in judging such a particular character? Works Cited Maguire, Gregory. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. HarperCollins. New York: 1995.