Characters

• Alice
• The White Rabbit
• The Mouse
• The Dodo
• The Lory
• The Eaglet
• The Duck
• Pat
• Bill the Lizard
• The Caterpillar
• The Duchess
• The Cheshire Cat
• The Hatter
• The March Hare
• The Dormouse
• The Queen of Hearts
• The Knave of Hearts
• The King of Hearts
• The Gryphon
• The Mock Turtle

For all other characters see: List of minor Characters in the Alice Series

[edit]Character overlap with Looking-Glass

The Jabberwock and Tweedledum and Tweedledee only appear in the sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. It is, however, often included in film versions, which are usually simply called "Alice in Wonderland", causing the confusion.

The Queen of Hearts is commonly mistaken for the Red Queen who appears in the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, but shares none of her characteristics other than being a queen and the fact that hearts is a red suit. The Queen of Hearts is part of the deck of card imagery present in the first book, while the Red Queen is representative of a red chess piece, as chess is the theme present in the sequel. Many adaptations have mixed the characters, causing much confusion.

[edit]Character allusions

The members of the boating party that first heard Carroll's tale all show up in Chapter 3 ("A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale") in one form or another. There is, of course, Alice Liddell herself, while Carroll, or Charles Dodgson, is caricatured as the Dodo. Carroll is known as the Dodo because Dodgson stuttered when he spoke, thus if he spoke his last name it would be Do-Do-Dodgson.^{[citation needed]} The Duck refers to Canon Duckworth, the Lory to Lorina Liddell, and the Eaglet to Edith Liddell (Alice Liddell's sisters).

Bill the Lizard may be a play on the name of Benjamin Disraeli. One of Tenniel's illustrations in Through the Looking-Glass depicts the character referred to as the "Man in White Paper" (whom Alice meets as a fellow passenger riding on the train with her), as a caricature of Disraeli, wearing a paper hat. The illustrations of the Lion and the Unicorn also bear a striking resemblance to Tenniel'sPunch illustrations of Gladstone and Disraeli.

The Hatter is most likely a reference to Theophilus Carter, a furniture dealer known in Oxford for his unorthodox inventions. Tenniel apparently drew the Hatter to resemble Carter, on a suggestion of Carroll's. The Dormouse tells a story about three little sisters named Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie. These are the Liddell sisters: Elsie is L.C. (Lorina Charlotte), Tillie is Edith (her family nickname is Matilda), and Lacie is an anagram of Alice.

The Mock Turtle speaks of a Drawling-master, "an old conger eel", that used to come once a week to teach "Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils". This is a reference to the art critic John Ruskin, who came once a week to the Liddell house to teach the children drawing, sketching, and painting in oils. (The children did, in fact, learn well; Alice Liddell, for one, produced a number of skilled watercolours.)

The Mock Turtle also sings "Beautiful Soup". This is a parody of a song called "Star of the Evening, Beautiful Star", which was performed as a trio by Lorina, Alice and Edith Liddell for Lewis Carroll in the Liddell home during the same summer in which he first told the story of Alice's Adventures Under Ground.