Free-write: Guilty until proven innocent or innocent until proven guilty?

1. Free-write: Guilty until proven innocent or innocent until proven guilty?

2. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Real Name: Charles Dodgson

3. Historical Context Queen Victoria: Crowned at age 18 in 1837.

4. A new focus on “family values” The European Industrial Revolution Development of a middle class. • Social codes meant to distinguish classes.

5. When Prince Albert died in 1861, Victoria entered a lifelong period of mourning. Prudery escalated to the point that people believed enjoyment of life correlated with immorality. "The time for levity, insincerity, and idle babble and play-acting, in all kinds, is gone by; it is a serious, grave time.” -Thomas Carlyle

6. Biographical Context • English author • Mathematician • Logician • Anglican clergyman • Photographer • Wrote The Alphabet Cipher. 1832-1898

7. Oxford

8. Photography

13. The Real Alice 1852-1934

14. Alice and her sisters:

15. A boat beneath a sunny sky, Lingering onward dreamily In an evening of July-- Children three that nestle near, Eager eye and willing ear, Pleased a simple tale to hear-- Long has paled that sunny sky: Echoes fade and memories die. Autumn frosts have slain July. Still she haunts me, phantomwise, Alice moving under skies Never seen by waking eyes. Children yet, the tale to hear, Eager eye and willing ear, Lovingly shall nestle near. In a Wonderland they lie, Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming as the summers die: Ever drifting down the stream-- Lingering in the golden gleam-- Life, what is it but a dream? The River Thames (Isis) from Folly Bridge A commemorative acrostic poem:

16. Dean Dr Henry Liddell, father of Alice Liddell… …was notorious for running late.

17. The Dining Hall at Oxford

18. The Real Rabbit Hole?

19. Alice’s long neck: A fireplace in the dining hall at Oxford.

20. The Cathedral Garden Alice and her sisters called it “The Forbidden Garden,” as they were not allowed to enter it.

21. The Door to Wonderland?

22. The Duck, Lorry, Eaglet and Dodo: The Duck is Canon Duckworth, the friend that went with them on the boat trip. Lorina is the Lorry and Edith the Eaglet. Dodo was Charles Dodgson, who had a slight stutter which made him sometimes give his name as 'Do-do-Dodgson'.

23. “Mad” means crazy or eccentric in this context. Animal fur was treated with a mercury compound before it could be worked into a hat. The hatters would handle the fur in poorly ventilated rooms for long periods of time, breathing in the toxic fumes. At that time, no one knew mercury accumulated in the body, causing kidney and brain damage. The symptoms include trembling, slurred and confused speech, irritability, memory loss, distorted vision, anxiety, and depression. Advanced cases would have hallucinations and other psychotic Symptoms. So the original mad hatter was actually a victim of an early occupational disease. The Mad Hatter

24. “Grinning like a Cheshire Cat” A horse chestnut tree in the Dean’s garden, said to be the tree the Cheshire cat sits in. Cheshire County, Dodgson’s home county, was famous for its Cheshire cheese. Cats would wait at the piers for the cheese boats to dock, so they could catch the rats and mice trapped on board. These cats were considered the happiest anywhere, hence the phrase: “grinning like a Cheshire cat”.

25. The Doormouse The Dormouse may have been modeled after Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s pet wombat, which had a habit of sleeping on the table. Carroll knew the Rosetti’s and occasionally visited them.

26. Artwork His Work: 2300 cartoons. Innumerable minor drawings. Double-page cartoons for Punch's Almanac and other special numbers. 250 designs for Punch's Pocket-books. Famous for satirical artwork. Drew from memory, not models. Lost sight in one eye during a fencing match in his youth. He was knighted in 1893. John Tenniel

27. Victorian Satire In Victorian times, if someone was socially inferior, one would only extend two fingers for them to shake. Tenniel parodies this to the extreme here – the Dodo extends only one finger – a ridiculous exaggeration of the class segregation, and in this instance, the separation between children and adults.

28. Notice that his nose and chin are actually two of his legs… The circular design of the hookah draws the eye to the caterpillar, and re-centers on him as the focal point. Notice Alice’s eyes are exposed, but her mouth is blocked – a common Victorian perspective on children was that “they should be seen not heard”.

29. The anamorphic qualities are reduced to just the head. The rest of their bodies are humanoid. The bodily positions for formally meeting are exaggerated. Notice their feet in the perfect third position for ballet.

30. So what do you think…. Is Lewis Carroll guilty or innocent?

31. Sources: • Artwork and Analysis courtesy of: • http://www.victorianweb.org • Story Origins: the people, places and events that influenced the characters, settings and plot are courtesy of: • http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/ • Research on Queen Victoria (including lecture): • Arnstein, Walter L. “The Warrior Queen: Reflections on Victoria and Her World”. Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies. 30.1 (1998): 1-28. • Schama, Simon. “The Domestication of Majesty: Royal Family Portraiture, 1500-1850”. Journal of Interdisciplinary History. xv II:I (1986): 155-I83. • Lewis Carroll/Charles Dodgson Information (including lecture): • http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/carroll/index.html