Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

What is the significance of the Queen of Hearts in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?

I have decided to read Alice again because the last time I read it, I didn't like it. We all know that tastes change, so I am giving it one last chance.

Well, I finished the first part of her adventures and I have no idea who the Red Queen is. The only British queen who had many people executed was Queen Elizabeth I, but I'm sure that was politically incorrect in Carroll's time.

Charles Dodgson (Carroll) wrote that the Queen of Hearts wasn't a specific person but "ungovernable passion," while the Red Queen (Through the Looking-Glass) was a parody of governesses in general. I've wondered, though, whether the Queen of Hearts was supposed to be a parody of Victoria, whom the Brits saw as out of touch and quick to make snap judgments after Albert's death. (I'm currently reading a biography of V&A's daughter Louise, and the one thing the author does well is illuminate Victoria's quick anger and bullish personality.)

Alice is a book that delight our hearts. I love the Cheshire Cat.

I just finished reading this book and I really enjoyed it this time. What an odd dream to have as a little girl. Sometimes dreams are like that

I read this book for the first time about a week ago and I'm not sure how I feel. I truly believe that Carroll Lewis had an incredibly vast imagination; and in that respect it was amazing. But, I also felt confused as I was reading it - like - why?

I definitely believe it's one of those books that you have to read more than once to get it, which I'll be sure to do!

I have read the book , many times. The first time when I was about 7 or 8. I loved it them and I love it now. But a few things: Lewis Carroll was the authors pen name and he suffered from Todd's Syndrome. It's a rare neurological syndrome that causes the patient to have hallucinations and affects the size of objects visually, causing some to feel bigger or smaller than they were. He obviously incorporated that into the book. The book was originally just a story told to entertain the children on a summer's day. The children loved it and wanted more. He wrote it out and gave it to Alice Liddell as a gift. Then he sent a copy to his publisher and the rest is history. It has been analyzed by social scientists and mathematicians for years, I think it should just be enjoyed for what it is, a children's story.

Kayla, I agree about the book. I can appreciate the wit and the fantasy, but maybe it didn't have a meaning. There are many strange characters and events. My favourite part has always been the poetry.

Peggy, thank you for that useful and interesting information about Lewis Carroll.

I hope this doesn't seem picky, but the title is of course Alice in Wonderland or Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, not Alice and Wonderland, as it shows above. Can someone please correct it?

This was one of the few books I owned as a child, with the original pictures. It didn't bother me that it didn't make a lot of sense.

Robin is right about the title.

I had to read this book in an honors math class in college, believe it or not, because of the illustrations of logic throughout. I love it and recite long passages to myself now and then (okay I'm strange). But I read somewhere that Carroll wrote it as a satire on the Anglican Church, or some other kind of political satire, and nothing dates faster than satire so by now it's probably impossible to know who certain characters were meant to be.

Many of the poems are parodies of Victorian moral poems. I think Carroll chafed under Victorian morality and decorum, and preferred to embrace the absurd. And of course children, like the real Alice, are happy to let their imaginations run free.

The poems are my favourite part of the book.

Lisa wrote: "I had to read this book in an honors math class in college, believe it or not, because of the illustrations of logic throughout. I love it and recite long passages to myself now and then (okay I'm ..."

I think its mainly a satire on Victorian morality, but this was sustained by the Anglican church and the middle class.