Wicked Witch of the West the Witch" (Compare the character Mombi from "The Marvelous Land of Oz"). In the film, Momba has an unspecified hold over the Wizard, who promises his crown to anyone who can release him from Momba's power. Momba captures Dorothy and her companions, evoking the events in Baum's original novel, and is destroyed when Dorothy throws a bucket of water over her. Mombi's likeness and costume in the 1914 silent film, "His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz" is based on Denslow's illustrations of the Wicked Witch of the West. In the 1939 version of "The Wizard of Oz", Margaret Hamilton plays
Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz people (and even the Good Witches) into believing he is benevolent, wise, and powerful when really he is a selfish, evil humbug. He sends Dorothy into severe danger hoping she will rid him of his enemy the Wicked Witch of the West. He is powerless and, as he admits to Dorothy, "I'm a very bad Wizard". Hugh Rockoff suggested in 1990 that the novel was an allegory about the demonetization of silver in 1873, whereby “the cyclone that carried Dorothy to the Land of Oz represents the economic and political upheaval, the yellow brick road stands for the gold standard,