Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Something Wicked This Way Comes, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Good vs. Evil
Age, Time, and Acceptance
Love and Happiness
Fear, the Supernatural, and the Unknown
Summary
Analysis
Behind the parade the Dust Witch scurries to catch up, and behind her, Charles walks slowly with the “remembrance of age.” Mr. Dark leads Will and Jim to the carnival grounds and brings them to the Wax Museum. “Sit,” Mr. Dark orders. “Stay.” Will and Jim sit amongst the wax renderings of “murdered” and “gunshot” men and women, and the carnival goers have no idea that the boys are not wax.
Just like Charles can’t keep up with Will and Jim, he can’t keep up—physically, at least—with the carnival. Will and Jim are sit so still in the museum as to be confused for wax statues—either a result of their extreme terror, Mr. Dark’s supernatural power to paralyze them, or both.
Themes
“Ladies and gentlemen!” Mr. Dark yells. He tells the crowd that it is time for the last show of the night: “The Most Amazingly Dangerous, ofttimes Fatal—World Famous BULLET TRICK!” One of the freaks hands Mr. Dark a rifle. The Witch, he says, is the “death-defier, the bullet-catcher.” Mr. Dark calls for a volunteer from the audience and then discreetly turns to the Witch. “Is the clock stopped?” he asks.
Again, Bradbury draws a parallel between life and mortality and clocks. When Mr. Dark asks the Witch if “the clocked stopped,” he is referring Charles’s heart and inquiring whether the Witch was successful in killing him.
Themes
“Not stopped,” the Witch replies. Mr. Dark stares in disbelief. The Witch begs him to stop the show and he refuses. He finds the tattoo of the Witch on the inside of his wrist and pinches it. The Witch clutches her chest. “Mercy!” she yells. Mr. Dark ignores her and again calls for a volunteer from the audience. He is met with silence and is about to cancel the show when Charles stands up. “Here,” Charles yells.
The Witch’s plea to stop the show shows her own fear. She knows that Charles has the power to defeat them with happiness, and she does not want to die. Mr. Dark’s treatment of the Witch and his refusal to show her mercy suggests that, like Miss Foley and Mr. Fury, the Witch was once a carnival-goer who fell to temptation and is being held against her will.
Themes
