Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

The White Rabbit is the only character besides Alice who is present from the beginning to the end of the adventure. He appears as a kind of guide, piquing Alice’s curiosity about Wonderland and appearing at key moments to push her along in her journey. His refrain is that he is going to be late (at first, we do not know for what), and he is always seen hurrying away. His personality is worried, nervous, and at times, imperious.

Tenniel’s illustration depicts him carrying an umbrella in addition to his other clothing. Later, when Alice sees the Rabbit disappearing down the tunnel, she describes him as “splendidly dressed” (19). He is an administrator in the royal court and participates in the Queen’s trial.

Even though he serves various functions and does interact with Alice, his definitive role is as a mysterious guide. He represents curiosity, risk, and the unknown. The figure of the White Rabbit has entered popular culture, usually representing a starting point that can lead down a deep, strange path that reveals a truth. 

The Cheshire Cat is a guide and a mentor. It gives Alice advice and explains Wonderland’s rules. It presents her with philosophical challenges, especially on the nature of “madness.” In this context, “mad” and “madness” refer to general irrationality or absurdity (though the language retains, albeit to a lesser degree, a stigmatizing connotation of some unspecified psychiatric condition). The “madness” of Wonderland is that it flaunts the accepted rules of logic that govern the everyday world.

The Cat’s personality is mischievous, and it is characterized by its wide grin. The Cat’s other defining features are that it can appear and disappear at will. It first appears in the Duchess’s kitchen. When Alice sees the Cat in the tree, she describes it as looking “goodnatured” but that “it had very long claws and a great many sharp teeth, so she felt it ought to be treated with respect” (84-85). Tenniel depicts it as a large cat with round staring eyes, a long tail and a striped tabby coat.

The image of a grinning Cheshire Cat predates Carroll’s novel, though its origin and how Carroll came to know of it are unclear. Likewise mysterious is the reason for the grinning cat’s association with Cheshire, the county where Carroll was born.

Like the White Rabbit, Carroll’s Cheshire Cat has become iconic in popular culture. The Cheshire cat symbolizes paradox and is personified as friendly but threatening, with its wider-than-average grin creating an unsettling image. The Cheshire Cat has been associated with existential and Platonic philosophy, but like the other characters in Wonderland, it has multiple interpretations.

The Caterpillar is a sage. The narrator describes him as a large blue caterpillar sitting on a mushroom smoking a hookah. He is deep in meditation when Alice arrives. Tenniel illustrates the character from behind, and the figure has a caterpillar’s body, a human face on a caterpillar’s head, and a human arm grasping the hookah pipe. His arm is covered by a robe sleeve, and the robe covers his entire body. He challenges Alice but does not accept any of her answers. His attitude is contemptuous and aloof, and his constant demands for Alice to explain herself frustrate her.

The Cheshire Cat’s conversation with Alice explored the nature of “madness,” and the Caterpillar’s conversation explores the nature of self. Despite his rudeness, after forcing her to confront her confusion about who she is, he provides her with the antidote in the pieces of the mushroom that will allow her to control her height and minimize the drastic changes that she has been experiencing.

After giving her the advice, “Keep your temper,” he pauses and then asks: “So you think you’re changed, do you?” (61). This question challenges Alice’s belief that she has changed at all. He never agrees with her one way or the other, he only asks her what size she would like to be. This question and the subsequent offer of the mushroom pieces imply that even if it does not seem like it, Alice’s identity is under her control. 

The Hatter functions as a catalyst that propels Alice to the next phase of her journey. The Hatter’s personality is frantic and confused. His speech especially is elliptical, and he relies on puns and non sequiturs. The Hatter is stuck in a time loop in which it is always 6 o’clock teatime. While not an antagonist, he and the March Hare and Dormouse frustrate Alice and drive her away with their persistent disagreeability.

The Hatter and his friends challenge Alice’s understanding of language. The Dormouse asks if she has ever seen “a drawing of muchness” (101). The phrase “much of a muchness” refers to things that are similar, but the word muchness is never used on its own or in any other context. The Hatter exclaims that if Alice has never seen such a drawing, she should not talk (101). Because Alice cannot fathom their linguistic abstractions, they exclude her from the conversation.

Tenniel portrays the Hatter as short with a small body and a large head. He wears a checkered suit, a high collar, a polka dot bowtie, and a top hat with a label that indicates a price of 10 shillings and sixpence. His hair is in disarray under his hat, and the hat is so large that at times it nearly covers his face.

The Hatter is commonly referred to as the “Mad Hatter,” though Carroll never uses this term in the book. The phrase “mad as a hatter” was prevalent in Victorian times because mercury was used in the textile industry, and hatters often exhibited neurological symptoms associated with mercury poisoning.

Unlike the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat, the Hatter does not offer Alice help or advice. He has become iconic for his clever impetuousness and colorful characterization.

The Duchess is a minor character with a fondness for nonsensical truisms. The Duchess allows Carroll to poke fun at the moralizing often found in Victorian-era children’s literature. Her philosophy is: “Everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it” (121). The Duchess scolds Alice for thinking but agrees with Alice’s statements, and she finds morals in them, even when they are incorrect. For instance, when Alice says that mustard is a mineral, the Duchess readily applies a moral, but when Alice corrects herself, saying the mustard is a vegetable, the Duchess provides another moral without seeming to recognize the contradiction.

Tenniel portrays the Duchess as a short older woman with an enormous head, an upturned nose and elaborate clothing. She wears a large escoffion, a double-horned medieval headdress with a silk drape. The Duchess’s medieval clothing may represent her outdated ideas.

It may also be in keeping with the illustrations of the other members of the court, which come from playing cards. The design of modern playing cards originated in medieval Europe with slight variations occurring until the mid-1800s. The representation of the King, Queen, and Knave (Jack) retains the design of its medieval origins. There is no Duchess card, and Tenniel may be interpreting what Duchess from a pack of playing cards would look like. 

The Queen of Hearts is Alice’s primary antagonist, threatening to behead Alice when Alice defies the Queen’s order to hold her tongue (168). Although she bears no ill will toward Alice, Alice’s primary goal is to survive Wonderland, and the Queen poses the largest threat to that goal. Alice triumphs when she defies the Queen.

The Queen is represented as a Queen of Hearts from a deck of playing cards. She wears a look of constant displeasure and is fond of ordering executions by beheading with her iconic phrase “Off with their heads!”. Everyone in Wonderland fears the Queen, even though the Gryphon tells Alice that her execution orders are never carried out. The Queen represents the irrationality of anger because she would rather jump to a conclusion before hearing a rational explanation.

Ultimately the Queen’s threats are moot because like the other Wonderland characters, she is a product of Alice’s imagination. She may represent the side of Alice that is quick to retort or take offense, as Alice often does during her Wonderland journey. The Queen’s out of control temper recalls the Caterpillar’s advice to Alice to keep her temper; the Queen is an example of what happens when someone is ruled by their argumentative nature.