The Hatter tells Alice how he once always had Time on his side, but explains that now they have argued – they are always having tea because when he tried to sing for the foul-temperedQueen of Hearts, shesentenced him to death for "murdering the time", but he escapesdecapitation. In retaliation, nowTime (referred to as "he" by the Hatter) will not do a thing for the Hatter, keeping him trapped at 6:00 pm (aka teatime).
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. The Hatter appears again in "Chapter Eleven – Who Stole the Tarts?", as a witness at theKnave of Hearts' trial, where the Queen appears to recognise him as the singer she sentenced to death, and theKing of Hearts also cautions him not to be nervous or he will have him "executed on the spot".
The character also appears briefly in Carroll's 1871Through the Looking-Glass, the sequel toAlice's Adventures in Wonderland. Under the name of "Hatta," the Hatter was in trouble with the law once again. He was, however, not necessarily guilty, as theWhite 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. 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. Alice does not comment on whether Hatta is the Hatter of her earlier dream.
Mercury was used in the manufacturing of felt hats during the 19th century, causing a high rate ofmercury poisoning among those working in the hat industry.[1] Mercury poisoning causes neurological damage, including slurred speech, memory loss, and tremors, which led to the phrase "mad as a hatter".[1] In theVictorian 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 likeAlton Locke byCharles Kingsley andNorth and South byElizabeth Gaskell, whichLewis Carroll had read. Many such workers were sent to Pauper Lunatic Asylums, which were supervised by Lunacy Commissioners such as Samuel Gaskell andRobert Wilfred Skeffington Lutwidge, Carroll's uncle. Carroll was familiar with the conditions at asylums and visited at least one, the Surrey County Asylum, himself, which treated patients with so-callednon-restraint methods and occupied them, amongst others, in gardening, farming and hat-making.[2] Besides staging theatre plays, dances and other amusements, such asylums also held tea-parties.[3]
Although, 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. 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". This is further elaborated on inThe Nursery "Alice", a shortened version ofAlice's Adventures in Wonderland, adapted by the author himself for young children. 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 inpre-decimal British money as tenshillings and sixpence (orhalf a guinea).[4]
Illustration of the March Hare, one of the Hatter's tea party friends, bySir John Tenniel.
The Hatter and his tea party friend, theMarch Hare, are initially referred to as "both mad" by the distinctiveCheshire Cat. The first mention of both characters occurs in the sixth chapter of Carroll'sAlice's Adventures in Wonderland, titled "Pig and Pepper", in a conversation between the child protagonistAlice and the Cheshire Cat, when she asks "what sort of people live about here?" to which the cat replies "inthat direction lives a Hatter, and inthat direction, lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad!" Both then subsequently make their actual debuts in the seventh chapter of the same book, which is titled "A Mad Tea-Party". Alice elects to visit the March Hare (reasoning he may be less mad as it is May) but of course meets both at the Tea Party.
Hat making was the main trade inStockport where Carroll grew up, and it was not unusual then for hatters to appear disturbed or confused; many died early as a result of mercury poisoning. However, the Hatter does not exhibit the symptoms of mercury poisoning, which include excessive timidity, diffidence, increasing shyness, loss of self-confidence, anxiety, and a desire to remain unobserved and unobtrusive.[5]
It has often been claimed that the Hatter's character may have been inspired byTheophilus Carter, an eccentric furniture dealer.[6][7] Carter was supposedly at one time aservitor atChrist Church, one of theUniversity of Oxford's colleges.[8] This is not substantiated by university records.[8] 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.[6][7] SirJohn Tenniel is reported to have come to Oxford especially to sketch him for his illustrations.[6] There is no evidence for this claim, however, in either Carroll's letters or diaries.[9]
In the chapter "A Mad Tea Party", the Hatter asks a much-noted riddle: "Why is araven like awriting desk?" When Alice gives up trying to figure out why, the Hatter admits "I haven't the slightest idea!". Carroll originally intended the riddle to be without an answer, but after many requests from readers, he and others—including puzzle expertSam Loyd—suggested possible answers; in his preface to the 1896 edition ofAlice's Adventures in Wonderland, Carroll wrote:
Inquiries 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, "because it can produce a few notes, though 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.[10][a]
Loyd proposed a number of alternative solutions to the riddle, including "becausePoe wrote on both" (alluding to Poe's 1845 narrative poemThe Raven) and "because the notes for which they are noted are not noted for being musical notes". The April 2017 edition of Bandersnatch, the Newsletter of the Lewis Carroll Society [Issue 172,ISSN0306-8404, Apr 2017], published the following solution, proposed by puzzle expert Rick Hosburn: "Why is a Raven like a Writing-desk?" "Because one is a crow with a bill, while the other is a bureau with a quill!" TheRSPB, in its definition of Raven, states: "The raven [...] is all black with a large bill, and long wings." American authorStephen King provides an alternative answer to the Hatter's riddle in his 1977 horror novelThe Shining. Snowbound and isolated in theRocky Mountains,Danny Torrance hears whispers of the malign "voice of the [Overlook] hotel" inside his head, including this bit of mockery: "Why is a raven like a writing desk? The higher the fewer, of course! Have another cup of tea!"
Other proposed answers include; "because one has flapping fits and the other fitting flaps"; "because one is good for writing books and the other better for biting rooks"; and "because a writing desk is a rest for pens and a raven is a pest for wrens".[11]
In the 1951Walt Disney animated featureAlice in Wonderland, the Hatter, referred to by others as "The Mad Hatter", appears as a short, hyperactive man with grey hair, a large nose and a comical voice. He was voiced byEd Wynn in 1951, and byCorey Burton in his later appearances (Bonkers,House of Mouse), whileAlan Tudyk voices him in the short filmOnce Upon a Studio.[14] Alice stumbles upon the Hatter and the March Hare having an "un-birthday" party for themselves. The Hatter asks her the infamous riddle "why is a raven like a writing desk?", but when she tries to answer the Hatter and the March Hare think she is "stark raving mad" and the Hatter completely forgot that he asked her the riddle. Throughout the course of the film, the Hatter pulls numerous items out of his hat, such as cake and smaller hats. His personality is that of a child; angry one second, happy the next.
The Hatter appears inTim Burton's2010 version ofAlice in Wonderland, portrayed byJohnny Depp and given the nameTarrant Hightopp.[15] In the film, the Hatter takes Alice toward the White Queen's castle and relates the terror of the Red Queen's reign while commenting that Alice is not the same as she once was. The Hatter subsequently helps Alice avoid capture by the Red Queen's guards by allowing himself to be seized instead. He is later saved from execution by the Cheshire Cat and calls for rebellion against the Red Queen. Near the end of the film, the Hatter unsuccessfully suggests to Alice that she could stay in Wonderland and consummate his feelings for her. Critical reception to Johnny Depp's portrayal of the Hatter was generally positive.David Edelstein ofNew York Magazine remarked that while the elements of the character suggested by Depp don't entirely come together, "Depp brings an infectioussummer-stock zest to everything he does."[16] Bill Goodykoontz ofThe Arizona Republic said that "Depp is exactly what you'd expect, which is a good thing. Gap-toothed and leering, at times he looks likeMadonna after sticking a fork in a toaster. How he finds his characters is anybody's guess, a sort of thrift-store warehouse of eccentricities, it seems like. But it works."[17]Owen Gleiberman ofEntertainment Weekly had a more mixed opinion and commented that Depp as the Hatter is "a fantastic image, but once Depp opens his mouth, what comes out is a noisome Scottish brogue that makes everything he says sound more or less the same. The character offers no captivatingly skewed bat-house psychology. There isn't much to him, really—he's just a smiling Johnny one-note with a secret hip-hop dance move—and so we start to react to him the way that Alice does to everything else: by wondering when he's going to stop making nonsense."[18]Kenneth Turan ofLos Angeles Times stated that "there's no denying Depp's gifts and abilities, but this performance feels both indulgent and something we've all seen before."[19]
The Mad Hatter appears inAlice, portrayed byAndrew-Lee Potts. This version is a smuggler who starts off working as a double agent for the Queen of Hearts and the Wonderland Resistance in the story; over the course of the story, he begins to side more and more with the Resistance, and ends up falling in love with Alice as he helps her along the way.
In the 2000 video gameAmerican McGee's Alice, the Mad Hatter is portrayed aspsychotic, literally gone "mad" and obsessed with time and clockworks, and considers himself to be a genius. He invents mechanical devices, often evidently using the bodies of living organisms for the base of his inventions, as he plans to do to all of Wonderland's inhabitants. He appears in the 2011 sequelAlice: Madness Returns in the same appearance, although this time, he requests Alice's help in retrieving his lost limbs from his former compatriots the March Hare and Dormouse.
The Mad Hatter appears in theSunsoft's 2006mobile gameAlice's Warped Wonderland (歪みの国のアリス,Yugami no kuni no Arisu;Alice in Distortion World). He is portrayed as a middle-school age boy in oversized clothes and a large hat that covers his whole head. Unlike most Wonderland residents, he acts rather bratty and rude to Ariko (the "Alice" of the game). In one of the bad endings, Mad Hatter is killed by theCheshire Cat.[21][22]
The Hatter takes on the role of narrator, guiding players through a detective quest based onAlice's Adventures in Wonderland inSherlock: Hidden Match-3 Cases, developed byG5 Entertainment in 2020.
The song "Mad Hatter" by an American garage rock band Shag was inspired by the character. It appeared on their self-titled album in 1969.
Sir John Tenniel's drawing of the Hatter, combined with a montage of other images fromAlice in Wonderland, were used as a logo byCharisma Records from 1972 onwards.
The Mad Hatter is referenced to in the eponymous 2015 song byMelanie Martinez, alongside several other characters from Carroll'sAlice in Wonderland.[2]
In 1887, the Alice books were adapted for stage by Savile Clarke. Lewis Carol wrote a review he called ""Alice" on the Stage". He singled out for praise "the Hatter" played by Sydney Harcourt (who also played Tweedledum), saying "To see him enact the Hatter was a weird and uncanny thing, as though some grotesque monster, last seen in a dream, should walk into a room in broad daylight and quietly say "Good Morning!" I need not try to describe what I ment the Hatter to be, since, as far as I can now remember, it was exactly what Mr. Harcourt has now made him: and I may say nearly the same about Tweedledum: but the Hatter surprised me most-perhaps only because it came first in the play."
InShrek The Musical, the Mad Hatter plays a small role as a fairytale creature (replacing the Gnome) and has two lines in songs including "They ridiculed my hat" and "I smell like sauerkraut".
Frank Wildhorn composed the music to and co-wrote the music toWonderland: A New Alice. In this adaption the Hatter is portrayed as a female, the villain of the story, and Alice's alter-ego and is a madwoman who longs to be Queen. She was played by Nikki Snelson in the original Tampa, Florida production, and then by Kate Shindle in the Tampa/Houston Tour, and the production on Broadway.
The Mad Hatter appears in the 2012 musicalAlice By Heart by Duncan Sheik, Steven Sater, and Jessie Nelson. The character outside of Wonderland is called Harold Pudding, and has been notably played by Alex Brightman and Wesley Taylor.
In the 2015 Cbeebies Pantomime, the Mad Hatter (here just called the Hatter) is played by Andy Day, who got top male billing in promotional material. He first appears at the tea party, which is also attended by the March Hare, the Doormouse, the White Rabbit and Alice herself. They play the game and sing the song "Ring Around the Table". He later appears at the Queen of Hearts' Garden Party where he competed in the Croquet game (alongside the Queen and the Duchess); he hit the hedgehog but missed the hoop.
TheMad Hatter (Jervis Tetch) is asupervillain and enemy ofBatman in theDC Comics universe, first appearing inBatman #49 (October 1948).[23] He is portrayed as a brilliant neurotechnician with considerable knowledge in controlling the human mind.[24] Tetch is obsessed with Lewis Carroll's books and believes himself to be the reincarnation of the Mad Hatter.
A spin-off of the traditionalAlice in Wonderland story,Frank Beddor'sThe Looking Glass Wars features a character named Hatter Madigan, a member of an elite group of bodyguards known in Wonderland as the "Millinery" after the business of selling women's hats. He acts as the bodyguard of the rightful Queen, and as guide/guardian to the protagonist, Alyss Heart.
The Mad Hatter in thePandora Heartsmanga series is a chain (creature from the Abyss) that was contracted by Xerxes Break. The hatter resembles a large top hat with flowery decorations (similar to Break's top hat) and a tattered cape. When summoned, it destroys chains and objects from the Abyss within a large area.
The JapanesemangaAlice in the Country of Hearts has been translated into English. The Hatter role is played by Blood Dupre, a crime boss and leader of a street gang called The Hatters, which controls one of the four territories of Wonderland.
^abKohlt, Franziska (26 April 2016). "'The Stupidest Tea-Party in All My Life': Lewis Carroll and Victorian Psychiatric Practice".Journal of Victorian Culture.22 (2):147–167.doi:10.1080/13555502.2016.1167767.
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