the element of fantasy in lewis carrolls

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The Element of Fantasy in Lewis Carroll’s

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass

Seema Devi Yein

“…when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and

looks at it,....she ran across the eld after it, and was just in time to see it

pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge. In another moment down

went lice after it, ne!er once considering how in the world she was to get

out again."

- lice#s d!entures in $onderland, Chapter 1, Pg. 10

And thus begins Alice’s fantastical adventures in wonderland orunderground and in the looking-glass room. or over a centur!, the novel

has endured admiration b! the audience, in"uencing contemporar!

writers, artists, and inspiring adaptations to the stage and screen. #he

element of fantas! is seen as a facet in the novel.

$antas!%, according to %oncise &'ford (ictionary, )enth *dition, $is the

facult! or activit! of imagining improbable or impossible things. &t is a

genre of imaginative 'ction involving magic and adventure.%

#here are various wa!s that fantas! writers set up their worlds. (omenovels begin and end in a fantas! world. or instance) )he +obbit . *thers

start in the real world and move into a fantas! world like lice in

$onderland or eter an. Another t!pe of fantas! is set in the real world

but elements of magic intrude upon it as in ary oppins or +avid

Almond’s kellig. &n a fantas!, realistic settings are often called primar!

worlds while fantas! settings are referred to as secondar! worlds.

And as ..Abrams’ and eo/re! alt arpham’s +andbook of /iterary

terms tells us, $antas! is as old as the 'ctional utopias, and its satiric

forms have an important precursor in the etraordinar! countriesportra!ed in onathan (wift’s 0ulli!er#s )ra!els 213456. Among the notable

recent writers of fantas! are C.(. 7ewis and .8.8. #olkien 2 )he +obbit and

)he /ord of the Rings6, whose works incorporate materials from classical,

biblical, and medieval sources.%

#here are di/erent t!pes of fantas!. (ome of them are) +ark antas!,

eroic antas!, 9angsian antas!, igh antas!, edieval antas!, :rban

antas!, Comic antas!, aslamp antas!, uvenile antas!, air!tale

antas!, Contemporar! antas!, 8omantic antas!, (lavic antas!, ard

antas!, 7ow antas!, istorical antas!, and the likes.



*ne of the most fascinating 'gures of the ;ictorian period, who is known

for his immensel! famous fantas! novel lice#s d!entures in $onderland

was Charles 7utwidge +odgson, renowned b! his pen name, 7ewis Carroll.

e has inherited the status of a classic. antas!, parod!, humor, love for

childhood and lamentation in the loss of it were some common themes in+odgson’s works. e was a master of nonsensical verse and some of his

best known works are composed of nonsensical verses. <hat made him so

special was his abilit! to capture the imaginations of children and adults

alike not st!mied of the boundaries created b! time.

7ewis Carroll was born on anuar! 43, 1=>4, in a small parish named

+aresbur!, ?ngland. e was educated at 8ugb! and Christ Church, *ford,

where he became a lecturer in athematics in 1=@@. is most famous

work lice#s d!entures in $onderland 21=5@6 originated in a boat trip

with the !oung daughters of .. 7iddell) 7orina, Alice and ?dith it was forAlice that he epanded an unpremeditated stor! into book form. )hrough

the /ooking-0lass and $hat lice 1ound )here followed in 1=31 both

volumes were illustrated b! #enniel. *ne reviewer attributed the success

of these works to the fact that, unlike most children’s books of the period,

the! had no moral and did not teach an!thing. +odgson’s other works

include hantasmagoria and &ther oems 21=5B6, )he +unting of the

nark 21=356, and yl!ie and 2runo 21==B, vol. 4, 1=B>6. #he most

valuable of his various mathematical treatises is his light-hearted defense

of ?uclid, *uclid and +is odern Ri!als 21=3B6. +odgson was also a keenamateur photographer, with a particular interest in photographing little

girls, whose friendship he valued highl!. is diaries were edited b! 8.7.

reen 24 vols., 1B@>6, his letters b! .. Cohen with 8.7. reen 24 vols.,

1B3B6.

- 2&'ford %oncise %ompanion to *nglish /iterature, Pg. 1B3,1B=6

Duoting (tuart +odgson Collingwood, Carroll’s nephew, about his uncle

that, $he 2Carroll6 invented the strangest diversions for heEmade pets of

the most odd and unlikel! animals, and numbered certain snails and toadsamong his intimate friends%. #he element of fanc! was common in his

poems and he was fascinated b! an!thing that aroused his imagination.

$*riginall! entitled lice3s d!entures 4nder 0round, and written for his

!oung friend Alice 7iddell, it tells how Alice dreams and pursues a <hite

8abbit down a rabbitFhole to a world where she encounters celebrated

characters such as the +uchess and the Cheshire Cat, the ad atter and

the arch are, the Ging and Dueen of earts, and the ock #urtle. &t

contains the poems HIou are old, ather <illiam’, H9eautiful (oup’, and

others, and CarrollJs t!pographical eperiment Hur! and the ouse’, in



the shape of a mouseJs tail.% 2&'ford %oncise %ompanion to *nglish

/iterature, Pg. 1>6

#he main focus of this paper will be based on the element of fantas! and

how it is proKected in the novel lice#s d!entures in $onderland and

)hrough the /ooking-0lass b! 7ewis Carroll.

7ewis Carroll’s peculiar mi of fantas!, creativit!, nonsense, satire, and

dr! wit have gained him highl! acclaimed status in popular culture with

such memorable characters as Alice herself, the white 8abbit, the arch

are, a mad atter, the sleep! +ormouse, the wise +odo, the +uchess,

the Dueen, the hookah smoking Caterpillar, and the Cheshire Cat. e is

the source of such oft-Luoted witticisms, puns and nonsense phrases like

$?ver!thing’s got a moral, if onl! !ou can 'nd it%, $(peak in rench when

!ou can’t think of the ?nglish for a thing, turn !our toes out when !ouwalk, And remember who !ou areM%, $<e called him #ortoise because he

taught us%, $o good 'sh goes an!where without a porpoise%, $<ho in the

world am &N Ah, thatJs the great puOOle%, $(he generall! gave herself ver!

good advice, 2though she ver! seldom followed it6%, $(he doesn’t believe

there’s an atom of meaning in it%, $& canJt eplain m!self, &’m afraid,

because &’m not m!self, !ou see%, $Iou would have to be half mad to

dream me up.% $#he rule is, Kam tomorrow and Kam !esterda!but never

Kam toda!%, $8ule ort!-two. All persons more than a mile high to leave

the court%, $(entence 'rst, verdict afterwards%, $#hatJs the reason the!Jre

called lessons, because the! lessen from da! to da!% and $Curiouser and

curiouserM% &t also repeats certain phrases like $old !our tongueM%, $*/

with their headsM% and so on.

&n the novel lice#s d!entures in $onderland b! 7ewis Carroll, the

protagonist Alice, is a seven !ear-old girl. (he falls down into a rabbit-hole

while chasing a <hite 8abbit and ends up in <onderland, a place where

logic no longer applies and animals talk. <e follow her on her adventures

where she encounters with absurd characters such as the Cheshire Cat,

the ad atter, the Dueen of earts and the Caterpillar.

#he title of the novel itself tells the readers that it has an element of

fantas! in it. #he word $wonderland% can be referred to something which

does not eist in realit! but in the fanc! of human beings, especiall!

children. As a child, we often listened to stories told and re-told b! our

grandparents or parents. ost of them were fair!tale or horror stories but

we were not aware of the fact that it too had an element of fantas! within

these stories.

&n lice#s d!entures in $onderland too the element of fantas! is ver!poignant. Alice is like an! child but when she noticed the white rabbit and



followed it into the rabbit hole under the hedge, she too became a part of

the transient world of fantas!. &n ever! fantas!, there is a certain entit!

which connects the real and the world of fantas!. &n this novel the rabbit

hole which for Alice is, $what seemed to be a ver! deep well% serves its

purpose. $+own, down, down. <ould the fall never come to an endN%Again, at the end of the novel, she wakes up 'nding that it was Kust a

dream, $*h, &’ve had such a curious dreamM% and narrates to her sister

about the adventure that she had in wonderland or underground.

#here are numerous events that take place in the stor!. (he meets various

kinds of animals who can actuall! speak like her. or instance, the white

8abbit who sa!s, $*hM #he +uchess, #he +uchessM...%, then the caterpillar,

attar, arch are, +ormouse, Cheshire Cat, Crab, +uck, +odo, 7orr!,

?aglet, ouse, <hite Dueen, and the likes . &t is also to be marked that

some of these creatures does things that are be!ond imagination. orinstance, the caterpillar sits on a mushroom and takes hookah. &t also

gives advice to Alice, $Geep !our temper.% Again, the bab! of the +uchess

turns into a pig. $&f it had grown up,% she said to herself, $it would have

made a dreadfull! ugl! child) but it makes rather a handsome pig, & think.%

oreover the pigeon calls Alice as serpent, $&Jm *# a serpentMJ said Alice

indignantl!. Q7et me aloneM% et, the three gardeners were seen painting

the white rose tree red in fear of the Dueen. Again, the mock turtle went

to a school under the sea shore and was taught b! a tortoise. oreover,

the Dueen eecutes an!one whom she feels as anno!ing. (he eveneecutes the +uchess who was invited to pla! the CroLuet.

Certain things keep on repeating like Alice grows and reduces in siOe after

she eats a cake or an!thing that is labeled as, $+8&G ?M% or $?A# ?M%

At one point, she also realiOes that the 8abbit’s fan which she was holding

unknowingl! made her shrink rapidl! so she drops the fan. &t is Luite funn!

when the readers learn that Alice got drown in her own tears. Poor Alice

was literall! swimming in the salt-water and regrets later, $& wish & hadnJt

cried so muchM% #his also created a racket among the other animals. All

the animals were seen swimming. &t is also interesting when we come toknow that the mouse speaks in rench tongue.

Alice also encounters with a hattar, arch are and dormouse at a mad

tea-part!. And when Alice gets o/ended at the part!, she walks o/. or

her, $&t’s the stupidest tea-part! & ever was at in all in m! lifeM% ust then

she 'nds that there was a tree and one of the trees had a leading door

right into it to which out of curiosit! she enters. ere, again the element

of fantas! is found.



&t is also to be stated that though it’s a book for children but the readers

also come across names of high pro'le people like ar! Ann, <illiam the

ConLueror, +uchess and so on. Alice who went to school and is an

intelligent child can memoriOe poems and knows about other subKects like

histor!, geograph!, etc. 9ut after she enters the world of wonderland sheforgets whatever she has learned. (he gets confuse with words, $/et me

see5 four times !e is twel!e, and four times si' is thirteen, and four times

se!en is - oh dear6 I shall ne!er get to twenty at that rate6 +owe!er, the

ultiplication )able doesn3t signify5 let3s try 0eography. /ondon is the

capital of aris, and aris is the capital of Rome, and Rome - no, that3s all

wrong, I3m certain6 I must ha!e been changed for abel6"

“ 7&8 with her head63 the 9ueen shouted at the top of her !oice. :obody

mo!ed. 7$ho cares for you;3 said lice, <she had grown to her full si=e by

this time.> 7?ou3re nothing but a pack of cards63 " And then the adventurein the world of fantas! comes to the world of realit! when all the pack of

cards rises up in the air and Alice 'nds herself sleeping on her sister’s lap.

#he element of fantas! is well portra!ed in the novel.

$ lice had begun with 3/et3s pretend we3re kings and @ueensA3 and her

sister, who liked being e'act, had argued that they couldn3t, because

there were only two of them, and lice hand been reduced at last to say,

3$ell, you can be one of them then, and I3ll be the rest."

-)hrough the /ooking 0lass and what lice found there 2Chapter16

&n Carroll’s seLuel to lice#s d!entures in $onderland, Alice once again

'nds herself in a biOarre and nonsensical place when she passes through a

mirror and enters a looking-glass world where nothing is Luite as it seems.

rom her guest appearance as a pawn in chess match to her meeting with

umpt! +umpt!, )hrough the /ooking-0lass and what lice found there

follows Alice on her curious adventure and shows Carroll’s great skill at

creating an imaginar! world full of the fantastical and etraordinar!

elements.

)hrough the /ooking-0lass and what lice found there is an adventurous

Kourne! of Alice, where she is shown growing into womanhood. ere, she

meets few animals and mostl! talking "owers and insects. #he game of

chess is a prominent factor in this novel. Alice pla!s the part of the <hite

Dueen’s daughter 7il! as she is sick and becomes the <hite Dueen’s

pawn. Alice is told that at the eight sLuare she would become the Dueen.

#he whole novel is transformed into a chess board where the white pawn

2Alice6 wins the match in eleven moves.



<hile in the process she meets people like #weedledee and #weedledum,

:nicorn, (heep, <hite Gnight, essenger, umpt! +umpt!, Carpenter,

<alrus, Crow, 7ion, *!ster, <hite Ging and Dueen, 8ed Ging and Dueen,

aged man. #he strange things about these creatures are that, the!

suddenl! transform form one person to another. or instance) the <hiteDueen transforms into a sheep, the egg which Alice bu!s from the sheep

turns into umpt! +umpt!, the 8ed Dueen turns into the kitten and so on.

#his is fantas!.

Alice in Chapter 1 of )hrough the /ooking glass and what lice found

there tells her kitten, $7et’s pretend that !ou’re the 8ed Dueen, Gitt!M%

And in Chapter 10 and 11, we come to know, $#he 8ed Dueen made no

resistance whatever) onl! her face grew ver! small, and her e!es got large

and green) and still, as Alice went on shaking her, she kept on growing

shorter-and fatter-and softer-and rounder-andand it reall! was a kitten,after all.% #his is a combination of fantas! and realit!.

#he ideolog! in the world of 7ooking glass is ver! contradictor!. or

instance) $A slow sort of countr!MR said the Dueen. Row, here !ou see, it

takes all the running !ou can do, to keep in the same place. &f !ou want to

get somewhere else, !ou must run at least twice as fast as that.R. et,

RIouJd be nowhere. <h! !ouJre onl! a sort of thing in his dreamMR, R&f that

there Ging was to wake,R added #weedledum, R!ouJd go out -- bangM -- Kust

like a candleMR #hen, $Iou ma! look in front of !ou, and on both sides, if

!ou like,R said the (heep Rbut !ou canJt look all round !ou - unless !ouJve

got e!es at the back of !our head.R Again, $Iou donJt know how to

manage 7ooking-glass cakes,R the :nicorn remarked. Rand it round 'rst,

and cut it afterwards.R All these are various kinds of ideas and events

which occurs in the world of 7ooking-glass.

oreover, whenever Alice was in danger, someone comes and saves her

like the 8ed knight comes to harm Alice while the <hite knight saves her.

#he moves are analog! to the chess game. Alice can never come

backward or think her past because she is a pawn. #he <hite Lueenappears an!where and at an!time because she can take moves in all

direction. #he Ging can take onl! one step. All these rules which are

applied in chess are applicable in the world of the 7ooking-lass as well. &t

is the world of fantas!.

$Children !et, the tale to hear,?ager e!e and willing ear,7ovingl! shall nestle near.

&n a <onderland the! lie,



+reaming as the da!s go b!,+reaming as the summers die)

?ver drifting down the stream7ingering in the golden gleam

7ife, what is it but a dreamN%

7ife is a dreamed-realit!. or man! people, life is a dream. <e want to go

ahead in life. (ome does, but not all. 7ike Alice, man! of us too dream in

our own wonderlands. <e want to visit the looking glass, the other side of

realit! which is a fanc!. <e interact with animals in our dail! life but in

wonderland it is di/erent. or Alice, in lice#s d!entures in $onderland it

was a Lueer thing when she saw the white rabbit in a waistcoat, the

caterpillar taking hookah, the bab! of the +uchess turning into a pig, the

wa! she was growing and shrinking in siOe, the mad tea-part! which she

attended, the gardener painting the white roses red, the wa! she was

forgetting her lessons, the stories and the poems that she shared with the

creatures and so on. (he never epected these things to happen in her

real life. &n her dream, she even meets the Dueen, the +uchess, visits a

ro!al courtroom, which most probabl! is not possible for a !oung girl like

her. All want to achieve success like Alice, who becomes HDueen Alice’ in

)hrough the /ooking 0lass and $hat lice found there . 9ut to get there

she had to face obstacles and was of course rescued b! the white-knight.

<e too have our saviours our conscience or od who directs our wa!. or

us, we are our own master but the od is the master of all beings. Alice

thought that it was her dream but later comes to know that she was in the

dream of the 8ed Ging. Carroll ve! cleverl! makes its readers to get inside

the book. 9ut some chapters end abruptl! like the $umpt! +umpt!%. All

these are possible due to the element of fantas! which the novel

formulates. #he element of fantas! is impeccabl! penned down b! 7ewis

Carroll which makes the readers amusing.

Bibliography:

• Abrams, .. and eo/re! alt arpham. +andbook of /iterary )erms. &ndia) Cengage 7earning, 4011.



• Carrol, 7ewis. lice#s d!entures in $onderland and )hrough the

/ooking-0lass. 7ondon) Penguin Classics, 1BB=.

• +rabble, argaret and enn! (tringer. &'ford %oncise %ompanion to

*nglish /iterature. ew Iork) *ford :niversit! Press, 4003.

References:

• www.online-literature.com

• www.poetr!foundation.org

• www.victorianweb.org

http://www.online-literature.com/

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

http://www.victorianweb.org/

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

http://www.victorianweb.org/

http://www.online-literature.com/

the element of fantasy in lewis carrolls

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