Edited by: Manisha Bali
I personally love witches, and increasingly, it seems like everyone else does too. From Halloween costumes to movies like Wicked, witches seem to be everywhere. But why?
For centuries, witches were seen as terrifying, demonic figures who made deals with the devil and brought misfortune to everyone around them. They were blamed for society’s problems and represented everything people feared. So, what changed? How did we go from wanting to get rid of witches to wanting to be one?
Well, I think the answer is actually quite simple: witches represent women.
More specifically, they represent women who refuse to fit into the boxes society creates for them.
Historically, women who challenged expectations, spoke their minds, or lived independently could find themselves viewed with suspicion. While the reasons behind witchcraft accusations were complicated, the witch became a symbol of society’s fear of women who existed outside social order. A woman who didn’t need a man to protect her, who had knowledge of her own, and who wasn’t afraid to be different? Apparently, that was terrifying. Give her a broomstick and a little magic, and suddenly she’s the villain.
I mean, personally, I would love the power to turn some people into toads. But jokes aside, I think our changing relationship with witches says a lot about how our understanding of women has evolved. We no longer need every female character to be innocent, agreeable, and conventionally likeable. We can root for women who are complicated, ambitious, and misunderstood. And one of my favourite examples of this is Wicked.
When The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939, the Wicked Witch of the West was exactly what her name suggested: wicked. She was the villain Dorothy had to overcome and someone audiences were encouraged to fear. But when Wicked premiered on Broadway in 2003, it asked a rather interesting question: what if the Wicked Witch wasn’t truly wicked at all?
Through Elphaba, the green-skinned girl who becomes the Wicked Witch of the West, we see a completely different side of the story. She’s judged for her appearance, treated as an outsider, and punished for challenging those in power. Rather than changing herself to gain acceptance, she stands by her beliefs, even when it costs her.
The film adaptations in 2024 and 2025 brought this re-imagining to an even wider audience, giving us another reason to question everything we thought we knew about the Wicked Witch. Suddenly, the witch wasn’t just a villain. She was a woman who refused to conform, and that made her dangerous to the people who wanted to control her.
I think this is what makes the modern witch so appealing. For generations, women who stepped outside society’s expectations were treated as problems that needed to be fixed. But now, we’re telling their stories differently. We’re asking why the witch was considered evil in the first place, and whether the people who condemned her were indeed as “good” as they presented to be.
Of course, not every witch story is a feminist masterpiece. Sometimes, we just want a spooky movie, a pointy hat, and an excuse to embrace Halloween icons. But there’s something meaningful about how witches have transformed from figures of fear into symbols of independence and power. They remind us that being different isn’t the same as being bad.
At the end of the day, whether she’s the villain of a classic fairy tale or the misunderstood hero of a modern musical, the witch represents a woman who lives life on her own terms.
So, as I hop on my broomstick and fly away, I hope you take this interpretation to heart. And the next time someone calls a woman a witch, perhaps we should question why. Maybe she’s not wicked at all. Maybe she’s just powerful, independent, and unapologetically herself.
And honestly? I would love to be just that.