In Lewis’ Alice in Wonderland, one of the most unique and unusual characters is the hatter the protagonist meets at a Tea-Party. Many people consider the Hatter to be a meaningless character who only adds a funny element to the novel, akin his friend the March Hare. However, though it may seem a contradiction, within his madness it lays order: “Ordo ab chao” (from chaos there is order). He makes clear that in a world such as Wonderland full of insanity, there are patterns, order, and social conventions established. Nevertheless, readers should be aware from the very beginning that everything occurs in Alice’s unconsciousness, and that this particular character partly teaches Alice the logical adult’s world through the madness of Wonderland.
Although the author only refers to him as the “Hatter”, readers know this character as the “Mad Hatter”. The phrase “as mad as a hatter” has its origins around the 19th Century because hatters were said to go mad for their long-term exposure to mercury compound in the making of fine hats. However, Lewis never implies that the Hatter is actually crazy. It is the reader who assumes that he and his fellows are not mentally sane because all social conventions there are inverted as regards Alice’s. If madness is defined as the set of behaviors that are completely deflected from those that are socially agreed as normal, then the crazy one in the story is no one but Alice. Wonderland has its own set of rules, though unusual to us. So, if those who act madly are not, who are the true bonkers? Certainly, the Hatter is not.
Moreover, the Hatter personifies Time explaining that he has quarreled with him at a concert given by the Queen of Hearts, at which he sang but hardly finished the first verse since the Queen interrupted yelling “He’s murdering the time!” (7.85.10). From that moment on, it is always six o’clock, it is always tea-time. A subjective personality replaces the indifferent conception of time, and he can punish all those who have offended him. And so he did with the Hatter and the March Hare which are trapped in a perpetual Victorian Tea-Party. The Hatter challenges Alice understanding of the fundamental concept of time, but what is time rather than a human invention? Through this eccentric character, Lewis is trying to show the readers that people created time and people can do what they please with it (or him). However, probably there is a reversal of values as regards the always-in-a-hurry White Rabbit.
Wonderland’s unusual sense of order is displayed when the Hatter says the answerless riddle “Why is a raven like a writing-desk?” (7.79.20). Here, chaos is the ruling principle but a strange sense of order still exists. Though riddles need not have answers, language must retain some kind of logic. This character plays jokes and makes puns on words all the time, yet he always speaks properly and corrects Alice’s speech. As when she is offered some more tea, she replies “I’ve had nothing yet, (…) so I can’t take more”. And the Hatter says: “You mean, you can’t take less…” (7.87). Even when the Hatter explains that meaning what she says and saying what she means are not the same thing (7.80.2-5). These language games underscore the inconsistency of this place, but also imply that the ordering principles that govern Alice’s world are just as arbitrary.
To conclude, the Hatter is a purposely contradiction (most probably, the whole Wonderland is). In a chaotic world, through “madness”, he teaches Alice some aspects of the real adult’s world: Order and social agreement are inherent to any society; and, the fact that there are many differences among them, does not mean that one is crazier than the other, or even wrong. So, what does this dream mean? Dreams mean everything, some people may say. They are the stories we tell ourselves of what could be, who we could become. Alice, therefore, through her childish self creates these odd world and characters, such as the Hatter, with hidden messages for she is beginning to lose her innocence and build her own identity.
By Natalia B.
