Complete Alice in Wonderland - L. Carroll [151]
The Riddle of the Poem: The prefatory piece is one of Carroll’s famous acrostic poems. The first letters of each line spell “Gertrude Chataway,” the girl to whom The Hunting of the Snark was dedicated. Also, more cleverly, the first words of each verse are “Girt-Rude,” “Chat-Away.” Gertrude was one of Carroll’s dear child-friends, but he did once write to Alice, “... My mental picture is as vivid as ever, of one who was, through so many years, my ideal child-friend. I have had scores of child-friends since your time: but they have been quite a different thing.”
The Helmsman With Tears in His Eyes: Carroll here is referring to the Boots.
Rule 42 of the Naval Code: Here, Carroll is making an insider’s joke. He was 42 when The Hunting of the Snark was published, and there were 42 boxes left on the shore when the ship set sail for Jabberwock Isle. Also, when Alice was defying the King of Hearts, the King was using Rule 42 to try to eject her from the court. Douglas Adams, providing a lasting tribute to Carroll’s obsession with this mysterious number, would later have 42 be the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.”
Pistol and the Bezonian: Carroll’s references to Pistol, the Bezonian, “Speak or die,” etc. may seem cryptic. They all refer to Shakespeare’s play, “History of Henry IV,” in which a character is forced to identify himself under extreme duress. Naming the wrong king would bring death. The naming of “Rilchiam” is a joking combination of Richard and William, so that someone who was asked to name either William or Richard would have their life spared no matter which answer was right.
Fit the First
The Bellman Revealed: Holiday’s illustration shows the Bellman bringing his crew ashore, one by one, in a nonsensical fashion (lifting them by their hair). The Bellman bears a surprising resemblance to a poet Carroll greatly admired, Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Tennyson was arguably England’s greatest poet. He became Poet Laureate in 1850 and stayed such until 1892, throughout virtually all of Carroll’s writing career. His style was romantic, dreaming and melancholy. The man was an inspiration to Carroll, telling the story of England with all of its people’s hopes and dreams. Indeed, the English populace followed the idealistic vision of Tennyson throughout his life. In this way, Tennyson was in every way the bellman, or town crier, of London itself. He not only gave voice to England’s dreams; when he chimed, everyone knew they were about to hear something important. If the Bellman is indeed Tennyson, the voyage to hunt the Snark is probably here leaving from his home on the Isle of Wight (or its equivalent, off the shores of Looking-Glass Land) and landing upon the Isle of Man (whose dream manifestation is the “manxome” Jabberwock Isle).
The Secret of the Snark?: From the nature of the Snark, and the way that it reflects a person’s doubts and fears, I believe that Snarks are phantasmal manifestations of those self-same thoughts. There are several sub-species, but they are all fantastical beasts of nonsense. To hunt for a Snark, then, is to chase after one’s own impossible fears, perhaps in the hope of conquering them. (The word itself is probably a portmanteau, combining the words “snail” and “shark.”)
The Spawn of the Questing Beast?: In portraying an uncatchable fabulous creature, Carroll is (either intentionally or not) drawing a parallel to the Questing Beast of Arthurian legend. The Beast is a nightmarish monster, much like the Jabberwock or the Boojum. It is a symbol of ill omen, the coming of bad tidings. We can only wonder if the Snark is the ancestral spawn of the Questing Beast itself, a Victorian manifestation of the fears of a darker yet modern age.
The Ship of Fools: In creating his ragtag crew, Carroll