How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Volume.Chapter.Paragraph) and (Volume.Chapter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #13
"Evil is an early or primitive stage of moral development. All children are fiends by nature. The criminals among us are those who didn't progress . . ."
"I think it's a presence, not an absence," said an artist. "Evil's an incarnated character, an incubus or a succubus. It's an other. It's not us." (5.7.59-60)
Avaric throws the best dinner parties. The idea of evil as an "absence" makes another appearance, but we also get some new ideas here: evil as "primitive" or as an "other." This is a really elitist and possibly even racist idea. Basically, Anonymous Dinner Guest is saying that evil is a trait of "lesser" and primitive people, like the Quadlings or criminals. It's the lower strata of society who are the "evil" ones, not "us." The denial of evil, and of "personal responsibility" once again, might be a form of evil in and of itself.
Quote #14
"Sir," she said, "I think you are a very bad wizard."
"And you," he answered, stung, "are only a caricature of a witch." (5.4.78-9)
Gee thanks, guys – way to ruin the whole Wizard of Oz for us. The Witch isn't really a Witch? The Wonderful Wizard is just a jerk? Appearances are deceiving, especially in the world of Wicked. So it's probably fitting that our supposedly good Wizard is really bad and our supposedly Wicked Witch is pretty good.