Fairies and Fantasy: The Wizard of Oz part 3
At the end of Act II of The Wizard of Oz, the Wizard sends Dorothy out to get the broom of the Wicked Witch. Dorothy immediately grasps the import of this command: the Wizard’s not in need of a broom, he’s ordering her to kill the Witch.
Why? Has the Witch been troubling the Emerald City? I don’t see how — the Emerald Citizens are all jolly, healthy and well cared-for — not a winged monkey in sight. Does he send her to kill the Witch because she’s kind of "brought the Witch to their doorstep?" Maybe — maybe he thinks that the "SURRENDER DOROTHY" that the witch writes in the sky over the Emerald City is directed towards himself. "Uh-oh, the Witch wants this little girl, I’d better give her what she want, maybe then she’ll go away." Is the Wizard the Neville Chamberlain of Oz, and Dorothy Czechoslovakia?