Hatter

## Image gallery (14)

*"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"*

The **Hatter** is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland* and its sequel *Through the Looking-Glass*. He is very often referred to as the **Mad Hatter**, though this term was never used by Carroll. The phrase "mad as a hatter" pre-dates Carroll's works. The Hatter and the March Hare are referred to as "both *mad*" by the Cheshire Cat, in *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland* in the seventh chapter titled "A Mad Tea-Party".

## Fictional character biography

### *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland*

The Hatter character, alongside all the other fictional beings, first appears in Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland*. In it, the Hatter explains to Alice that he and the March Hare 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 retaliation, Time (referred to as a "he" in the novel) halts himself in respect to the Hatter, keeping him and the March Hare stuck at 18:00 (or 6:00 pm) forever.

When Alice arrives at the tea party, the Hatter is characterized 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 as a witness at the Knave of Hearts' trial, where the Queen appears to recognize 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".

### *Through the Looking-Glass*

The character also appears briefly in Carroll's 1871 *Through the Looking-Glass*, the sequel to *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland*, under the name "**Hatta**" – alongside the March Hare under the name "Haigha", which is pronounced "hare". Sir John Tenniel's illustration depicts Hatta as sipping from a teacup as he did in the original novel.

## Characterization

### Etymology

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. Mercury poisoning causes neurological damage, including slurred speech, memory loss, and tremors, which led to the phrase "mad as a hatter". In the Victorian age, many workers in the textile industry, including hatters, often suffered from starvation and overwork, and were particularly prone to develop 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. 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. 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. Besides staging theatre plays, dances and other amusements, such asylums also held tea-parties.

### Appearance

The Hatter introduced in Carroll's *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland* wears a large top hat with a hatband reading "In this style 10/6". This is the hat's price tag, indicative of The Hatter's trade, and giving the price in pre-decimal British money as ten shillings and six pence (or half a guinea).

### Personality

The Hatter and his tea party friend, the March Hare, are initially referred to as "both mad" by the distinctive Cheshire Cat. The first mention of both characters occurs in the sixth chapter of Carroll's *Alice's Adventures in Wonderland*, titled "Pig and Pepper", in a conversation between the child protagonist Alice and the Cheshire Cat, when she asks "what sort of people live about here?" to which the cat replies "in *that* direction lives a Hatter, and in *that* 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".

Hat making was the main trade in Stockport 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.

### Resemblance to Theophilus Carter

It has often been claimed that the Hatter's character may have been inspired by Theophilus Carter, an eccentric furniture dealer. Carter was supposedly at one time a servitor at Christ Church, one of the University of Oxford's colleges. This is not substantiated by university records. 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. There is no evidence for this claim, however, in either Carroll's letters or diaries.

## The Hatter's riddle

In the chapter "A Mad Tea Party", the Hatter asks a much-noted riddle "why is a raven like a writing 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 expert Sam Loyd—suggested possible answers; in his preface to the 1896 edition of Alice'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.
Loyd proposed a number of alternative solutions to the riddle, including "because Poe wrote on both" (alluding to Poe's 1845 narrative poem *The 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, 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!" The RSPB, in its definition of Raven, states: "The raven [...] is all black with a large bill, and long wings."

American author Stephen King provides an alternative answer to the Hatter's riddle in his 1977 horror novel *The Shining*. Snowbound and isolated "ten thousand feet high" in the Rocky Mountains, five-year-old Danny 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!"

## In other media

The Hatter has been featured in nearly every adaptation of *Alice in Wonderland* to date; he is usually the male lead. The character has been portrayed in film by Edward Everett Horton, Sir Robert Helpmann, Martin Short, Peter Cook, Anthony Newley, Ed Wynn, Andrew-Lee Potts, and Johnny Depp. In music videos, the Hatter has been portrayed by Tom Petty, Dero Goi, and Steven Tyler. He has also been portrayed on stage by Nikki Snelson and Katherine Shindle, and on television by John Robert Hoffman, Pip Donaghy and Sebastian Stan. In ballet adaptations, Steven McRae also portrayed him as a mad 'Tapper'. In March 2019, Chelsy Meiss became the first female soloist to play the Mad Hatter for the National Ballet of Canada.

### Batman

The Mad Hatter (real name Jervis Tetch) is a supervillain and enemy of Batman in DC comic books, making his first appearance in the October 1948 (#49) release of *Batman*. He is portrayed as a brilliant neurotechnician with considerable knowledge in how to dominate and control the human mind.

### Disney

In the 1951 Walt Disney animated feature *Alice in Wonderland*, the Hatter appears as a short, hyperactive man with grey hair, a large nose and a comical voice. He was voiced by Ed Wynn in 1951, and by Corey Burton in his later appearances. Alice stumbles upon the Hatter and the March Hare having an "un-birthday" party for themselves.

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 and March Hare make a cameo appearance in a painting in the Tea Party Garden in the *Kingdom Hearts* video game and the Hatter is also a greetable character at the Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort, Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland. This version of the character was also a semi-regular on the Disney Afternoon series *Bonkers* and one of the guests in *House of Mouse*, where he even made a cameo appearance in one of the featured cartoon shorts.

#### Tarrant Hightopp

*Main articles: Alice in Wonderland (2010 film) and Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016 film)*

The Hatter appears in Tim Burton's 2010 version of *Alice in Wonderland* and it's sequel portrayed by Johnny Depp and given the name **Tarrant Hightopp**.

### SyFy's *Alice*

*Main article: Alice (TV miniseries)*
This Hatter (Andrew-Lee Potts) is portrayed as 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.

### *American McGee's Alice*

n the videogame *American McGee's Alice*, the Mad Hatter is portrayed as psychotic, 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 *Alice: 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 the Dormouse.

### *The Looking Glass Wars*

A spin-off of the traditional *Alice in Wonderland* story, Frank Beddor's *The 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.

### *Alice in the Country of Hearts*

The Japanese manga *Alice 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.

### *Pandora Hearts*

The Mad Hatter in *Pandora Hearts* manga series is a chain (a creature from the Abyss) that was contracted by Xerxes Break. The hatter basically looks like a large top hat with flowery decorations (similar to Break's top hat) and a tattered cape. When summoned, it can destroy all chains and objects from the Abyss within a large area.

### *Once Upon a Time*

In *Once Upon a Time*, the Mad Hatter is presented as possessing the unique ability to cross dimensions through his hat, and has a daughter, Grace, who lost her mother as a result of a past deal with the Evil Queen. When the Queen offers him enough wealth to set his daughter up for life, he agrees to help her travel to Wonderland, but when it is revealed that the goal was for the Queen to retrieve her captured father, the Hatter is left trapped in Wonderland instead, as the portal will only allow two people to pass through it in either direction. Trapped in Wonderland, he was then driven mad as he attempted to find another way back to his world to reunite with his daughter.

*The Hunting of the Snark*
**🐰Universe🎩**
**Characters**
Dormouse
Red King
The Lion and the Unicorn
Jubjub bird
**Locations**
Looking-glass world
**Related**
*Mischmasch*
Works based on *Alice in Wonderland* (Films and television | Disney franchise)
Translations of *Through the Looking-Glass* | Unbirthday
**🐰Media🎩**
**Film**
1988 (Czechoslovak)
1999
**Stage**
*Alice in Wonderland* (opera)
*Peter and Alice* (2013 play)
*Wonder.land* (Albarn musical)
**Television**
*Once Upon a Time in Wonderland*
**Poems**
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat"
"The Walrus and the Carpenter"
"The Hunting of the Snark"
**Sequels**
*Alice of Wonderland in Paris* (1966)
*Automated Alice* (1996)
*Wonderland Revisited and the Games Alice Played There* (2009)
**Retellings**
*Alice's Adventures in Wonderland retold in words of one syllable* (1905)
*Alice in Verse: The Lost Rhymes of Wonderland* (2010)
**Parodies**
*Lost in Blunderland* (1903)
*Alice in Blunderland: An Iridescent Dream* (1904)
**Imitations**
*A New Wonderland* (1898)
*Alice in Orchestralia* (1925)
**Reimagining**
*Alice or the Last Escapade* (1977)
*Malice in Wonderland* (2009)
*Alice Through the Looking Glass* (2016)
**Literary**
*Miyuki-chan in Wonderland*
**Video games**
*Alice in Wonderland* (2010)
*Alice: Madness Returns* (2011)