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
“Go get ‘em, Pop!” a man yells from the crowd as Charles makes his way to the stage. The Dust Witch begins to “tremble secretly,” and Mr. Dark offers Charles his hand to help him onto the platform. He politely declines. “But—” Mr. Dark says to Charles, “your left hand, sir, you can’t hold and fire a rifle.” Charles tells him he will manage with one hand. “Hoorah!” yells a boy from the crowd. Mr. Dark “snaps” the rifle and throws it to Charles, who catches it easily.
When the man in the crowd refers to Charles as “Pop,” it is another reference to Charles’s advancing years, though at this point Charles seems to have moved past his simple fear of aging. Mr. Dark believes Charles to be helpless, but when Charles so easily catches the rifle, it suggests otherwise.
Themes
“I need a boy volunteer to help,” Charles says. Several hands shoot up in the crowd, but he wants Will. “Hold on. My son’s out there,” he says. “Will! Come on, boy!” Will hears his calls from the Wax Museum, and after several minutes, he begins to make his way to the stage. “Here’s my good left hand!” Charles says.
Charles’s reference to Will as his “good left hand” is evidence of the love that he feels for his son, which will later help Charles to destroy the Mirror Maze and bring down Mr. Dark. The love and confidence in Charles’s voice is able to free Will from the Wax Museum.
Themes
Mr. Dark hands Charles a bullet. “Mark it with your initials,” he says. Instead, Charles carves a “crescent moon” into the bullet. Mr. Dark takes the personalized bullet, and seeing nothing wrong with the strange shape, puts it in the chamber and throws the rifle back to Charles. Mr. Dark turns and walks toward the Witch, but he is stopped by the sound of Charles “cracking” the rifle.
The “crescent moon” that Charles carves into the bullet is symbolic of his smile and happiness. Mr. Dark sees nothing wrong with this shape because he doesn’t make the connection. Mr. Dark is the epitome of evil, and as such, he doesn’t realize what the shape means.
Themes
Charles ejects the bullet. “Let’s cut our mark more clearly, eh, boy?” Charles says to Will as he carves another moon into the bullet. Charles knows that this new bullet is a replacement—Mr. Dark has the original, which he will discreetly hand to the Witch to slip into her mouth. The bullet in the chamber now is wax, and it will disintegrate once Charles fires. Then, the Witch will stand opposite him with the original bullet between her teeth. “Fanfare! Applause!”
Charles must carve his smile again because this new bullet must reflect his happiness as well for his plan to work. He sees through Mr. Dark’s tricks (which for once are entirely non-supernatural) and uses them against him. Still, Mr. Dark is unaware of the significance of the shape.
Themes
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Charles readies the rifle to fire and the crowd begins to laugh and clap. “Show the lady your teeth, Will!” Charles yells. Both father and son smile at the Witch, and as the crowd continues to laugh, Charles can see her tremble and fade. “It is my own smile,” he thinks. “I have put my own smile on the bullet in the rifle.” He waits a moment to give the Witch time to feel his thoughts, and then he fires.
Charles thinks about the smile on the bullet because he knows that the Witch will be able to sense his plan. Charles hopes that this smile, along with their actual smiles and the laughter of the crowd, will be enough to combat the dark powers before them. Like Will does on the roof, Charles directly faces his fear of the Witch and is able to destroy her.
Themes
