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The dialogue of Willy Wonka in the last scene of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is not making any sense to me.

Willy Wonka: But Charlie, don’t forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted.

Charlie : What happened?

Willy Wonka: He lived happily ever after.

Here I was expecting something like the man who got everything must sacrifice a lot or something painful like that. Probably because Willy Wonka started the sentence with a 'But'. He had already given Charlie everything, and what else was there to say except something contradictory to the happiness. Yet his answer was something of a great positive value.

Is there any hidden meaning to this which I'm not getting?

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    No way I can push this to an answer, but 'the right person' getting 'everything' will always be 'good'. The 'wrong person' ... well you already saw the results of that...
    – Tetsujin
    Oct 26, 2017 at 20:34
  • Well, the one who is getting everything (good, unimaginable though in this movie), is it not obvious/expected that he should be happy ? OR, as you said,"but 'the right person' getting 'everything' will always be 'good' " is expected, right ?? What is so special in announcing the absolute ?
    – Spectra
    Oct 26, 2017 at 22:47
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    Your expectation of it being a negative side effect of suddenly getting everything he always wanted was the whole point, so that he could subvert it by saying "He lived happily ever" unexpectedly, that was the joke. It's to underline how quirky he is, while in a funny, on-the-nose way book-ending a story, which typically end with "Happily ever after". It's also a very child-like response, as it goes against what wisdom would normally say. That's, again, one of the traits of Wonka. Oct 26, 2017 at 23:35
  • @GhotiandChips Your username makes me hungry LOL
    – Alfred
    Jan 25, 2022 at 7:47

1 Answer 1

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Charlie is seen by Wonka as a logical, trustworthy, genuinely good person once he returned the Everlasting Gobstopper, which had been promised to Slugworth. Of course we find out that the person portraying Slugworth is actually an employee of Wonka, so it was all part of a test to make sure that Charlie was worthy.

Someone with that much goodness in their heart, as reasoned by Wonka, would not stray into a path of corruption. As such, once Charlie got everything he always wanted, he would likely live happily ever after by continuing on a righteous path. By comparison, all the other children showed some form of narcissism to a certain degree, as all were eventually undone by their own selfish desires.

As Ghoti pointed out in his comment, it was also a nifty little subversion as you expect Wonka to mention something horrible, but instead the answer is perfect for a happy ending.

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