College Research Papers and Essays

The Scarlet Witch

Note: This is an essay I wrote for my pop-culture/english literature class based on the witches module. So, this is basically an example of a surface-level analysis, not really something I would recommend considering a good essay. I received 10.5/15 in this, and an overall A- in the elective itself.

The Scarlet Witch

WandaVision is an American web television miniseries released in spring 2021, based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) superheroes, Wanda Maximoff (played by Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (played by Paul Bettany). The series is the sequel to Avengers: Endgame and the first installment of the MCU's Phase Four, making it a crucial part of subsequent stories to come. It is also the first form of media to officially introduce magic into the MCU.

Wanda Maximoff is believed to be a normal human who receives reality-warping powers through an experiment conducted on her by HYDRA - MCU's more powerful and unified version of the Nazis. Having lost her entire family and her husband Vision to war, Wanda is traumatized, and her coping mechanism is using her powers to enslave an entire town to act out a sitcom with her and Vision as the main leads. She, however, does not know the extent of her true powers and ends up materializing her husband and children out of thin air. This demonstration of powerful Chaos Magic attracts the attention of an ancient power-hungry witch, Agatha Harkness (played by Kathryn Hahn). In an attempt to mentally break her enough to conquer over her, Agatha forces Wanda to confront and recognize the hardships she has been through, in turn revealing her true identity as the Scarlet Witch. The main argument is that Wanda becomes the Scarlet Witch only after she recognizes how she has been rejected and neglected by everyone around her and isolates herself willingly. Like how Laura in Lolly Willows by Sylvia Townsend Warner turned into a witch only after distancing herself from her family (Bedenbaugh, 2021). I will be supporting this claim using the last two episodes of WandaVision, episode eight: Previously On and episode nine: The Series Finale.

Previously On begins with Agatha isolating Wanda from her family in a rune, where only she can use her powers, 'Your magic is no good here.... Only the witch who casts the ruins can use her magic.' (Previously On 06:07) Agatha is identified as a witch earlier in the episode where the audience sees her as a part of the Salem Witch Coven and this is the first time it is implied that Wanda is, like Agatha, a witch. She is the source of knowledge and the catalyst that Wanda needs to realise her truth. Agatha continuously forces Wanda to admit her status as a witch, 'I was so patient, waiting for you to reveal your true self...I need you to tell me how you did this.' (Previously On 06:54), but Wanda refuses as she herself is not aware of it, 'I didn't do anything... I'm not-' (Previously On 09:29). At this point, Billy and Tommy, Wanda's sons' voices are heard calling to her for help. Using their pleas against her, Agatha forces Wanda to go down memory lane to decipher the true extent of Wanda's magic and make it her own, 'I tried to be gentle, to nudge you awake from this ridiculous fantasy. But you would rather fall apart than face your truth.'(Previously On 10:50)

The scene cuts to Wanda's memory of her childhood. We see her enjoying a sitcom with her family, until a missile blasts her house apart and kills her parents. Wanda was born in Sokovia, a fictional country that was part of the Soviet Union, plagued by war. Sokovia was long forgotten and rejected by the world; its people suffered for the neglect of those who could have saved them. Even after Sokovia was destroyed in Avengers: Age of Ultron, the discrimination against Sokovians continued. Wanda, in particular, suffered the most due to being in the spotlight as an Avenger. In Captain America: Civil War the Sokovia Accords were made by the UN's Security Council specifically as an act of control and discrimination against Wanda. She spends that entire movie in confined isolation. This is similar to how Tituba in I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Conde was subjected to a worse fate than her white female counterparts due to her race. (Conde, 1992)