Symbol Watcher

In alchemical texts, the green lion eating the sunflower conveys the experience of being frustrated because our wild desires (the green lion) are overtaking our conscious attitude (the sun/sunflower). Most of us know this experience as a depression.

Last night I went to see the Broadway hit “Wicked.” As many of you already know, the musical is based on Gregory Maguire’s revisionist take on L. Frank Baum’s classic, ”The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” So green plays prominently in the production. There are costumes in all shades of green. There are trips to the Emerald City, a place some people have interpreted as standing for American capitalism and the move away from gold to paper money. And of course there’s Elphaba, the “Wicked” witch herself.

Elphaba was born with green skin, an anatomical fact which instantly ostracizes her from her parents and most everyone she meets. After all, we like our plants and our money green, but not our people. Historian Jack Tressider reminds us, “Satan himself is sometimes represented as green. Perhaps this stems from the fact that green is not the skin-colour of healthy normality.”

I haven’t been able to find out why Satan is sometimes pictured in green. So, if you know the origins, please post. More often than not, green has positive symbolic associations — renewal, fertility, hope, and most recently, ecology. Green is even a sacred color in Islam, standing for the Prophet and divine providence. 

But green is also the color of envy and jealousy. Perhaps these associations — given his jealousy of Christ — are the reasons why Satan is portrayed in green. I don’t know.

As for Elphaba, I’ve read some hypotheses that her green skin symbolizes the jealousy she feels toward her wheelchair-bound sister because her sister was her parents’ favorite. I disagree. Elphaba was born with green skin — before she ever had a chance to develop any envy or jealousy toward anyone. She even used her magical powers to cure her sister’s paralysis. 

I’m wondering if Elphaba’s green skin isn’t more of a harbinger of her fate, a sign that no matter what her actual intentions or actions, she was destined to be labeled “wicked,” a sister of the green-skinned devil himself.

Are there any “Wicked” fans out there? What do you think is the symbolic meaning of Elphaba’s green skin?

– Writeye  

Posted on June 18th, 2009 under Art, Jungian Psychology • Tags: Elphaba symbolism, green devil symbolism, green symbolism. •  Print This Post •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback