The Original

The Hatter first appeared in Lewis Carroll's novel Alice's Adventures In Wonderland.

Hatter, one of the members of the tea party Alice joins, isn't the easiest to get along with.
Sometimes rude and sometimes cryptic the original Hatter provokes Alice to the point she wants to leave the party.
It is explained that Hatter had sung for the Queen of Hearts who ordered his head chopped off for "Murdering the Time".
Time, in this book being personified, took offense to Hatter at this stage and so kept Hatter and March Hare stuck permanently at the time of 6:00. Tea time.

Later in the tale Hatter appears as a witness at the trial of the Knave of Hearts.
Once again his remarks get him into trouble and once the Red Queen recognises him he again is sentenced to execution. Of course he manages to avoid it.

The second novel, Through the Looking Glass, has Hatter as a messenger for the White King.
Hatter, though innocent, is in trouble again and being persued by the authorities.

Carroll only alludes to the fact that it is, in fact, the same character from the first book but coupled with the illustrations it is safe to say it is indeed the one and same Hatter.

It's strange to think that Hatter wasn't actually "The Mad Hatter" in the books. Carroll only referred to him as "The Hatter" in the first book and "Hatta" in the second.

It is rumoured that Carroll based the Hatter on Theophilus Carter, an eccentric furniture dealer in Oxford. Carter was often wearing a top hat and his eccentric ideas got him the nickname "The Mad Hatter".

Carroll apparently requested Sir John Tenniel, the books illustrator, to draw "The Hatter" as a caricature of Mr Carter but it's hard to confirm this.


Two of the things that seem to stick with readers of the Alice books are these...

1. "Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
2. The tag on Hatter's hat saying "10/6"
   

The riddle "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" was actually designed to have no answer originally, however after many requests Carroll gave it an answer.


Some are confused by the 10/6 label on the famous hat but the truth is that the card is a price tag!

I plan on discussing these in further detail in future in the blog section so I'll leave it there.

No matter who he based the character on, Lewis Carroll opened up a can of worms!

His character has been taken and put onto the screen with many of his other memorable characters. Hatter has been portrayed both in live action and animation over the years. In addition to this Hatter has also been taken and reinvented for many other situations as well. He has been made into a villain for a comic, used in a video game, been turned into a female character and has even turned Japanese since his first appearance.

I wonder if Lewis Carroll had ever imagined his character would be so popular!