Why was the witch mean in the Wizard of Oz?

Answer 1

The Wicked Witch of the West is the foil, the complete opposite of Dorothy Gale. That opposition is more apparent in the beloved 1939 film version than in the original 1900 book edition of The Wizard of Oz. In the film, the Witch appears soon after Dorothy's farmhouse lands in the beautiful, enchanted, magical lands of Oz. From the moment that Dorothy gets the Slippers of the Wicked Witch of the East, she is perceived as the enemy of the Wicked Witch of the West. Until her death therefore, the Wicked Witch of the West is Dorothy's antagonist and her nemesis.

Answer 2

No real reason was provided in either the book or the movie. The Wicked Witch was merely mean because the story needed an antagonist to help drive the plot.

Gregory McGuire's book Wicked explores the question of what made the witch wicked, whether or not she really was, and whether people are born wicked or driven to it.

Answer 3

That Dorothy Gale has the beautiful, magical slippers of the Wicked Witch of the East is what angers the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz."

Specifically, in both the original 1900 book edition and the beloved 1939 movie version, the Wicked Witch of the West wants the slippers that the Wicked Witch of the East is wearing when she is flattened by Dorothy's house. Both Witches are aware of the slippers' powers whereas Dorothy has no idea of what the shoes can do for her. As much as Dorothy wants to get home, the Wicked Witch of the West wants the shoes, which she considers hers by witchly right.