Okay I feel like we should have a Elphaba dissection.
Because Glinda, as we understand, is neither hero nor villain. Complicit? Yes. Deeply flawed? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, human. Her arc explained in an oversimplified sentence: began ignorant, learned from her errors too late, but essentially learned, became--and is working to be--a much better person. Which is a very human experience as majority of us, especially those raised in that system, experienced this too.
But Elphaba isn't as such. She began easily seeing how fucked up everything is as an oppressed and marginalized individual.
It doesn't make her exempt from certain things though.
For one, she believed in the propaganda of the Wizard, which I don't think is a bad thing at all. But it's not only for plot set up. It showed us that she was, in fact, hopeful. When she tells Dillamond in pt 1, "someone has to tell the Wizard" during Something Bad, it showed that she, at some point, told an oppressed community to "tell the authorities." And let's be real, many of us once told our fellow marginalized individuals this at one point because we thought it worked.
Again, this doesn't make her bad. But it does show that she's still very human and not exempt from being hopeful. She was pragmatic, yes, but not entirely exposed to that further of a reality.
"Oh but her childhood-" Yeah she definitely was exposed to the shit of the world early on. She was bullied a lot, and neglected by who she saw as her biological father. And though Nessa turned out the way she did, Elphaba has most likely witnessed some form of discrimination against Nessa, who's clearly disabled in a way that affects the convenience of those around her.
However, I hope we recall that the girl is the daughter of a governor.
She wasn't given the love she deserved, she was treated like shit. But that still protected her in more ways than individuals like the animals.
No one would raid a governor's house. No one would just snatch up a person in power's workers (aka the animals that worked for Frex). And though she's not sheltered, the fact that she still lived in materialized comfort puts her in a safer position unlike the others who don't have that privilege. She doesn't see it as such because she was still horrifyingly mistreated, but it still gave her some form of a shield.
So yes, she saw the world for what it was. But there are parts of the story she hadn't read yet.
Now let's move over to The Wizard and I.
This is her I want song. There's one little thing about it that reveals a very human thing about her:
"Cause once you're with the Wizard, no one thinks you're strange."
"And all of Oz has to love you. When, by the Wizard, you're acclaimed."
"Elphaba, a girl is so superior,"
"Held in such high esteem"
She's dreaming to be accepted, to be loved. That's not bad, she has every right to want that and have that.
Now in Every Day More Wicked:
"When I stop the Wizard, all Oz will applaud.
How I saved them from the Wizard by revealing he's a fraud."
We all know she's the closest to morally good, and we all know she's not at all a performative person. But there was a part of her that wanted validation. That's not a bad thing, but, realistically, someone's tiny little need for themselves often merges with the things they do, no matter how selfless.
And that need for validation from others but mostly from herself, definitely made her mess a little thing up: strategizing. The self validation, we'll get to in a second. Let's talk about her great strength that's at the same, her flaw.
Now, when I say strategize, I don't mean "oh but make change from within-" no that's not what I meant.
I meant that she had no real direction.
She's acts on her instinct and by what is right which is GREAT. But if you mix resolve and instinctual response with a need for self validation, it turns into recklessness.
She has an end, but no means to get to it other than dive in head first with hopes that she floats.
Example: The opening scene of For Good. She helped those animals (are those oxen? I'm not sure), yes.
The yellow brick road was still finished, which was likely finished by more animal labor.
She may have helped at that moment, but it didn't have a lasting impact because she acts immediately.
She did the right thing, she did. But why is it that she hasn't been able to land the impact she wanted other than her lack of social power (which we will also get to later)?
She didn't think it through. Not fully. She knew the risks without analyzing the side effects.
Let's look at the Lion cub. I hate that fucking Lion. but here's the thing: okay she saved him from the cage. Then what? Left him in the forest? As a cub? Without adult supervision? At all?
I love Elphaba, but this scene shows her impulse and lack of strategic thinking. What did she think was gonna happen? He was a cub. It's like rescuing a three year old toddler caught in a fishnet but then leaving them alone in the city (Fiyero too btw. He fucked this one up too)
And let's be real. She never would've been able to get the Wizard to agree to free the monkeys in Wonderful on her own unless she resulted to violence. That's why Glinda was added to that scene (yes yes I know how Bway worked, but it was a weak point of the stage version considering how impulsive she is; she wouldn't have sat for that conversation if it weren't for adding Glinda who Elphaba actually respects, cause she never would've really heard the Wizard out).
Elphaba had a plan in theory, not in practice.
The monkeys had to be free without violence in order for the releasing the trapped animals scene to work btw. The monkeys are trapped by the Wizard, so if it was only Elphaba who let them go, they'd hesitate since their families will he in jeopardy (as shown in Morrible's threat to them in act 1).
So yeah...she didn't think that through.
She definitely realized it by the end (aka her plan to fake her death) that without strategy, her end can't really be achieved.
Now let's to what I mean by self validation.
No Good Deed has her say:
"One question haunts and hurts
too much, too much to mention
Was I really seeking good?
Or just seeking attention?"
Two things can be true at once.
Elphaba did, in fact, struggle with what goodness is.
She was seeking good. But there's a part of her that's also seeking self and external validation (see the lyrics I quoted from The Wizard and I and Every Day More Wicked).
That question hurts cause she knows it's true. She wasn't going without caring about what others think, part of her wanted external validation. She wanted that to feel self validated.
Which she overcame in No Good Deed as well; upon realizing that simply good deeds aren't the key for people to learn because some are genuinely blinded by what they see and hear.
Which is what For Good wraps up. Elphaba finally strategizes a way that's effective to achieve her cause (at the same time Glinda finally fully gets courage to do the right thing).
It's a tragic strategy, but an effective one.
(Which also hurts, because it really would've been nice if they had worked in tandem that didn't end like this)
Elphaba is the closest to morally good in the whole series. But there are things she lacked. It doesn't do anything to her resolve or water down her absolute courage to take a stand. It simply shows that her method may have been born out of courage and resolve to do what's right, but you still have to sketch on a canvas before you get a painting.
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