In honor of my studio performing "Alice in Wonderland-The Ballet" I'm going to give you some interesting facts about the story.
Did You Know??
In 1931, the book was banned in
Hunan, China because "animals should not use human language" and it "put animals and human beings on the same level."
The card on the Madd Hatters hat is a price tag in 'old' English money: pounds, shillings and pennies, which was then written as l/s/d. Lewis Carroll has explained the meaning of the tag in his 'Nursery Alice':The Hatter used to carry about hats to sell: and even the one that he's got on his head is meant to be sold. You see it's got its price marked on it - a "10" and a "6" - that means "ten shillings and sixpence."
From the book (Mad Hatters Riddle)-A raven is like a writting desk because-In a new preface that Carroll wrote for the 1896 edition of Alice, he gave what he considered to be the best answer to the Mad Hatter's riddle. This is what he wrote:
"Enquiries have been so often addressed to me, as to whether any answer to the Hatter’s Riddle can be imagined, that I may as well put on record here what seems to me to be a fairly appropriate answer, viz: "Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!" This, however, is merely an afterthought; the Riddle as originally invented, had no answer at all."
Note the spelling of "never" as "nevar" (discovered by Denis Crutch). Carroll intended to spell "raven" backwards. The word was corrected to "never" in all later printings, perhaps by an editor who thought he had found a printer's error. Because Carroll died soon after this "correction" had destroyed the ingenuity of his answer, the original spelling was never restored. Whether Carroll was aware of the damage done to his clever answer is not known.
Others have made up anwsers such as-"because Poe wrote on both", and my personal favorite "because there's a B in both and an N in neither".
Some Characters
Alice- is the main character of the story "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and the sequel "Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found there". She is a seven-year-old English girl with lots of imagination and is fond of showing off her knowledge. Alice is polite, well raised and interested in others, although she sometimes makes the wrong remarks and upsets the creatures in Wonderland. She is easily put off by abruptness and rudeness of others.
Cheshire Cat- is the cat of the Duchess. Alice meets it when she leaves the Duchess house, and finds it in a tree. It constantly grins and can disappear and reappear whenever it likes. Sometimes it disappears and leaves its grin behind.
The Cheshire Cat is the only character in Wonderland who actually listens to Alice. With his remarks, he teaches Alice the ‘rules’ of Wonderland. He gives her insight in how things work down there.
It is not 100% clear why Carroll named this character 'Cheshire Cat'. "To grin like a Cheshire Cat" was a common phrase in Carroll's day. Its origin is unknown, but it may have originated from a sign painter in Cheshire, who painted grinning lions on the sign-boards of inns in the area. Another source may be the following: when you take a good look at the 'Alice Window' in Christ Church, Oxford, you can see 3 grinning animals at the top of the Liddell's family arms. Perhaps this is what inspired Dodgson. Also, at one time, Cheshire cheeses were molded in the shape of a grinning cat. Finally, the Cheshire Cat might be inspired by a carving in Croft Church.
Mad Hatter- is one of the members of the Mad Tea Party. Later he also appears as a witness during the trial. He occasionally is very rude and provokes Alice during the tea party. When he is called upon by the Queen, he is very nervous and frightened.
In 'Through the Looking Glass', the Hatter returns in the form of the Anglo-Saxon messenger 'Hatta'
The phrase 'mad as a hatter' was common in Carroll's time. 'Mad as a hatter' probably owes its origin to the fact that hatters actually did go mad, because the mercury they used sometimes gave them mercury poisoning.
Queen of Hearts- is one of the playing card characters Alice meets when she is finally able to enter the beautiful garden through the door in the hallway.
The Queen of Hearts rules over Wonderland and is a tyrant - violent, authoritative and dominant. She likes to play croquet with live flamingoes and hedgehogs as mallets and balls (but only when she wins, and by her own rules) and constantly orders the beheading of people when something isn't to her liking (although these orders apparently never are actually carried out). She also has her own ideas about how trials should be conducted, and is feared by all other Wonderland inhabitants because of her lack of patience and explosive character. Carroll wrote the following about the Queen of Hearts: "I pictured to myself the Queen of Hearts as a sort of embodiment of ungovernable passion – a blind and aimless Fury."
Stay tuned for part 2!
