How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Volume.Chapter.Paragraph) and (Volume.Chapter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #4
The Witch had waited fifteen years, but her timing was off by five minutes. ... She didn't care if she was sentenced and executed for the battery of Madame Morrible's corpse. (5.7.1)
The first sentence here really hammers home Elphaba's defeat. Again, we also hear about the "Witch" waiting fifteen years to kill Morrible, even though back then Elphaba wasn't a witch yet. Or she wasn't called a witch at least; perhaps the witch was lurking within Elphaba the entire time.
Quote #5
He could see Elphaba working, he could see her hands fighting with each other, to do it anyway, to keep from doing it – whatever it was....
Elphaba crumpled and sank back against a pillar, shivering with self-loathing so violently that Fiyero could see it from fifty yards away. (3.15.23-24)
It's notable that this scene is told entirely from Fiyero's point of view. We have no idea what Elphaba is thinking, and we are never told what her inner turmoil was about here. Was she fighting to go through with the assassination or fighting to stop herself?