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
The Dust Witch screams and falls from the platform. Charles instantly knows she is dead. “It’s all right!” Mr. Dark reassures the audience. “Show’s over! Just fainted!” In the commotion, Charles tells Will to jump from the platform, and they run to Jim. He is still in the Wax Museum, but Charles must first go through the Mirror Maze to get to him. “Dad, don’t go in!” Will warns, but Charles steps inside.
Will doesn’t want Charles to enter the Mirror Maze because Charles’s image will be distorted in the mirrors and he will be reflected as a much older man. Knowing his father’s struggles with old age, he doesn’t want him to be tempted by the carousel as well.
Themes
Inside the Mirror Maze, Charles can see the endless reflection of “one million sick-mouthed, frost-haired, white-tine-bearded men.” The man reflected in the mirrors is much too old, Charles thinks, and he is getting older the farther back the reflection goes. The “wild image repeats to insanity,” and as Charles puts up his hands to fend off the old man in the mirrors, the lights go out in the Mirror Maze.
Charles sees himself reflected as an old man because this cuts right to his own fears and insecurities—old age and mortality. Charles is clearly frightened and risks going mad, despite his previous confidence.
Themes
