Complete Alice in Wonderland - L. Carroll [106]
The Barrage of Lessons: Alice finds these two to be much more demanding than the Gryphon and Mock Turtle were. The emphasis is that these Queens are of two worlds; Alice from sensible England, and the Red and White Queens from Looking-Glass Land, where nonsense reigns. Of course, the real test behind the nonsense is one of wills.
Who Will Win?: The dominance of the Red Queen is very clear here. The White Queen feels compelled to follow the Red Queen’s lead in interrogating Alice, although she does so half-heartedly. She may well be secretly hoping that Alice will triumph, even as the aging White Queen falters. Alice served in the chess match as a White Pawn, and in reaching the last row she became an heiress and the second White Queen. Alice has the power to overthrow the Red Queen, if Her (overconfident) Red Majesty does not realize the full implications of what has transpired!
The Lot of the White Queen: This scene tells us quite a bit about Looking-Glass Land. The Red Queen is clearly the ruling matriarch, while the White Queen belongs to a challenging, but still inferior, lineage of royalty. The royal palace is on the Red Queen’s side of the board, while the poor White Queen only lives in a little house. We are also reminded that the White Queen is in desperate need of a lady’s-maid, and was eager to seek Alice’s dressing assistance.
Hush-a-By Lady: With this not-so-innocent lullaby, the Red Queen is condescending to the White Queen, implying that she is so helpless and childlike that the young Alice should take care of her.
Two Great Heads Suddenly Vanished: This curious scene tells us that the Red and White Queens have dreamed themselves into the palace. The parallels to the Cheshire-Cat’s vanishing act are interesting!
“Wexes It”: The old Frog is saying that knocking “vexes” the door. His accent indicates his rustic nature; he might indeed be the gardener or the grounds keeper.
“It Isn’t Etiquette to Cut Anyone”: The joke here is that “to cut” someone, in Victorian parlance, is to intentionally slight someone by refusing to acknowledge their handshake, introduction or conversation.
The Simplicity of Defiance: Alice begins to win the duel of wills when she contradicts the Red Queen’s order with one of her own. She is strengthened when she speaks out, and everyone honors her with silence. This moment is a more mature echo of the incident in Wonderland, when Alice first defied the Queen of Hearts.
“Leave All the Conversation to the Pudding”: This is a hostess’s dinner joke, as in “It’s bad manners to wait until desert before talking with your guests.”
“We Must Support You”: This is an ominous glimpse of the Queens keeping up appearances before their subjects, and hiding their quarrelsome battle. In fact, the whole theme of the formal chess match might be ritualized combat, to avoid civil war in Looking-Glass Land through the creation of “bread and circuses.”
“Something’s Going to Happen”: Indeed! The White Queen knows that Alice will either lose (and perhaps be trapped in Looking-Glass Land), or wake and leave forever. The White Queen hides in the soup-tureen for shelter. The Red Queen, her temper finally percolating past the boiling point, is causing the environment to change. But unlike the White Queen’s kindness, with the gentle lessons of the Sheep Shop and the river of dreams, the Red Queen’s change of the feast-hall is one of direct challenge. Alice, however, succeeds in defying the Red Queen, just as she did the Queen of Hearts in Wonderland, by refusing to give in to fear and standing up for herself. And with that, she is ready to begin growing up, and is woken out of Looking-Glass Land.
Chapter XI
Shaking, Waking: In this scene, Alice is finally angered into forgetting all meek propriety. She simply defies the Red Queen’s mischief. In doing so, she reveals the true nature of what has happened: in the dream of the Red King which Alice fell into, Kitty (the black kitten of Alice’s reality) embodied the Red Queen. Once Alice asserted herself and punished the Red Queen/Kitty