#Alice madness returns mad hatter trial#

Illustration of the March Hare, one of the Hatter's tea party friends, by Sir John Tenniel. Here it is stated that the character is wearing a hat on his head with a price tag containing the numbers 10 and 6, giving the price in pre-decimal British money as ten shillings and six pence (or half a guinea). This is further elaborated on in The Nursery 'Alice', a shortened version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, adapted by the author himself for young children. The character's signature top hat comes from John Tenniel's illustrations for the first edition, in which the character wears a large top hat with a hatband reading 'In this style 10/6'.

#Alice madness returns mad hatter trial#

Appearance Īlthough, during the trial of the Knave of Hearts, the King of Hearts remarks upon the Hatter's headgear, Carroll does not describe the exact style of hat he wears. Besides staging theatre plays, dances and other amusements, such asylums also held tea-parties.

Carroll was familiar with the conditions at asylums and visited at least one, the Surrey County Asylum, himself, which treated patients with so-called non-restraint methods and occupied them, amongst others, in gardening, farming and hat-making. Many such workers were sent to Pauper Lunatic Asylums, which were supervised by Lunacy Commissioners such as Samuel Gaskell and Robert Wilfred Skeffington Lutwidge, Carroll's uncle. In the Victorian age, many workers in the textile industry, including hatters, sometimes developed illnesses affecting the nervous system, such as central nervous system (CNS) tuberculosis, which is portrayed in novels like Alton Locke by Charles Kingsley and North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, which Lewis Carroll had read. Mercury poisoning causes neurological damage, including slurred speech, memory loss, and tremors, which led to the phrase ' mad as a hatter'. Mercury was used in the manufacturing of felt hats during the 19th century, causing a high rate of mercury poisoning among those working in the hat industry. The Hatter enjoying a cup of tea and bread-and-butter, by Sir John Tenniel. Alice does not comment on whether Hatta is the Hatter of her earlier dream. He was also mentioned as one of the White King's messengers along with March Hare, who went under the name of 'Haigha.' Sir John Tenniel's illustration depicts Hatta as sipping from a teacup as he did in the original novel. He was, however, not necessarily guilty, as the White Queen explained that subjects were often punished before they commit a crime, rather than after, and sometimes they did not even commit one at all. Under the name of 'Hatta,' the Hatter was in trouble with the law once again. The character also appears briefly in Carroll's 1871 Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The Hatter appears again in 'Chapter Eleven – Who Stole the Tarts?', as a witness at the Knave of Hearts' trial, where the Queen appears to recognise him as the singer she sentenced to death, and the King of Hearts also cautions him not to be nervous or he will have him 'executed on the spot'. When Alice arrives at the tea party, the Hatter is characterised by switching places on the table at any given time, making short, personal remarks, asking unanswerable riddles, and reciting nonsensical poetry, all of which eventually drives Alice away. In retaliation, Time (referred to as 'he' by the Hatter) halts himself in respect to the Hatter, keeping him stuck at 6:00 pm (or 18:00) forever.

The Hatter explains to Alice that they are always having tea because when he tried to sing for the foul-tempered Queen of Hearts, she sentenced him to death for 'murdering the time', but he escapes decapitation. In 'Chapter Seven – A Mad Tea-Party', while exploring Wonderland, Alice comes across the Hatter having tea with the March Hare and the Dormouse. The Hatter character, alongside all the other fictional beings, first appears in Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The March Hare and the Hatter put the Dormouse's head in a teapot, by Sir John Tenniel.