Hatter (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)

For other uses see Mad Hatter (disambiguation)

The Hatter as depicted by Sir John Tenniel, reciting his nonsense poem, "Twinkle twinkle little bat"

The Hatter is a fictional character initially encountered at a tea party in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and later again as "Hatta" in the story's sequel, Through the Looking Glass. He is popularly referred to as the "Mad Hatter," but is never called by this name in Carroll's book- although the Cheshire Cat does warn Alice that he is mad, and the Hatter's eccentric behavior verifies this. (Likewise, the chapter in which he first appears, "A Mad Tea-Party", is often erroneously called "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party" but in fact it takes place in the garden of the March Hare.) He has been portrayed on film by Edward Everett Horton, Sir Robert Helpmann, Martin Short, Peter Cook, Anthony Newley, and Ed Wynn, and in a music video by Tom Petty.

Appearances in the Alice books

The Hatter explains to Alice that he and the March Hare are always having tea because, when he tried to sing for the Queen of Hearts at a celebration of hers, she sentenced him to death for "murdering the time". For reasons that are never explained, he escaped decapitation, but since he comes to the conclusion that time itself was indeed "murdered", he and the March Hare continue to have tea as though the clock had truly stopped. His tea party, when Alice arrives, is characterised by switching places on the table at any given time, making (along with the March Hare) somewhat short, personal remarks, asking unanswerable riddles and reciting nonsensical poetry, all of which eventually drive Alice away. He appears again 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 also cautions him not to be nervous "or I'll have you executed on the spot".

When the character makes his appearance as "Hatta" in Through the Looking-Glass, he is in trouble with the law once again. This time, however, he is not necessarily guilty: the White Queen explains that quite often subjects are punished before they commit a crime, rather than after, and sometimes they do not even commit it at all. He is also mentioned as being one of the White King's messengers, and the March Hare appears as well as "Haigha", since the King explains that he needs two messengers: "one to come, and one to go". Sir John Tenniel's illustration also depicts him as sipping from a teacup as he did before in the prequel, adding weight to Carroll's hint that the two characters are indeed the same.

"Mad as a Hatter"

The "10/6" on the Hatter's hat means ten shillings and six pence, the price of the hat in pre-decimalisation British money. As the price of the hat would normally be taken off after purchase, this adds credence both to the fact that he is mad, and/or that he is a hatter. The name Mad Hatter was undoubtedly inspired by the phrase "as mad as a hatter". There is some confusion as to whether this originally meant "angry" or "insane" as a hatter, as incidents of both meanings exist in literature, long before Lewis Carroll's book. Evidently one or the other of the meanings resulted from a misinterpretation of the original use, and passed into common usage.

There is scientific evidence behind the meaning of insanity. Mercury was used in the process of curing felt used in some hats. It was impossible for hatters to avoid inhaling the mercury fumes given off during the hat making process. Hatters and other men in working mills died early due to the residual mercury caused neurological damage, as well as confused speech and distorted vision. As the mercury poisoning progressed to dangerously high levels, sufferers could also experience psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations. Given that anyone exhibiting an altered mental state was dubbed mad at the time, the cause of such malady, and subsequent death of such people doubtless went unexplained for a long time.

The Mad Hatter does not exhibit the symptoms of mercury poisoning. Principal symptoms of mercury poisoning are “excessive timidity, diffidence, increasing shyness, loss of self-confidence, anxiety, and a desire to remain unobserved and unobtrusive” . Most likely the Mad Hatter's character was modeled on someone who was not a hatter.

Model

The Hatter is generally believed to be based on Theophilus Carter, at one time a servitor at Christ Church, one of the University of Oxford's colleges. He invented an alarm clock bed, exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, that tipped out the sleeper at waking-up time. He later owned a furniture shop, and became known as the Mad Hatter from his habit of standing in the door of his shop wearing a top hat. Sir John Tenniel is reported to have come to Oxford especially to sketch him for his illustrations.

The Mad Hatter's riddle

In the chapter "A Mad Tea Party", the Mad Hatter asks a famous riddle: "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" When Alice gives up, the Hatter admits he does not have an answer himself. Lewis Carroll originally intended the riddle to be just a riddle without an answer, but after many requests from readers, he and others, including puzzle expert Sam Loyd, thought up possible answers to the riddle. One possible answer is "Poe wrote on both", a reference to Edgar Allan Poe, who wrote The Raven.

Popular culture

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The Mad Hatter, as he appears in American McGee's Alice.

The Mad Hatter character appears in a number of other places:

• The song "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" written by Bernie Taupin, sung by Elton John on the album Honky Château, and covered by Mandy Moore on her Coverage album.
• In the computer game American McGee's Alice, a gothic sequel of the story, the Mad Hatter is warped into a mad scientist obsessed with time. He has turned the March Hare and the Dormouse into steampunk cyborgs, and has plans to turn all the Wonderland inhabitants into his automaton robots. He has also turned himself into a robot, a fact made obvious when Alice defeats him.
• The Mad Hatter is a DC Comics supervillain modelled on the Wonderland character, and a foe of Batman.
• Belial is a character known as "the Mad Hatter" in the Japanese comic Angel Sanctuary.
• In one episode of the animated television series Futurama, "Insane in the Mainframe", a robot in a mental house dresses and acts like the Mad Hatter. He is seen pouring either tea or oil into an overflowing cup and randomly shouting, "Change Places!" Making the robots scatter about the table, looking for a new seat.
• Hatter M is a dark comic book that features what it claims is the real version of the Hatter — a bodyguard and soldier who wields a bladed hat, based on the character from The Looking Glass Wars.
• Charisma Records, the progressive record label owned by Tony Stratton-Smith, used the image of the Mad Hatter prominently in its logo in the 1970s.
• In the online cartoon Neurotically Yours, the main character, Foamy, has a friend named "The Hatta", a brown squirrel with a love for tea.
• In the anime, Ouran High School Host Club, the character Tamaki Suoh plays the part of the Mad Hatter in the episode "Haruhi in Wonderland".
• The Disney version of the Hatter from Alice in Wonderland is featured as a guest in House of Mouse and Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse.
• The Mad Hatter also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character.

Further reading

• Heavens to Betsy! and Other Curious Sayings, Charles Earle Funk. HarperCollins Publishers, 2002. ISBN 0-06-051331-4