Problem is, the rain didn't let up when I finished watching. So I did a government assignment.... And then watched another adaptation from the SyFy channel called Alice. Oops. But all this movie watching did get me curious about one particular aspect- the Mad Hatter.
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| This classic Disney movie actually terrified me as a child. |
Disney's cartoon classic depicts him as a lisping, over-energetic, madman who is so demanding at tea time that he eventually drives Alice away. But if you look at the historical context of the Hatter, you'll find his madness does not fit at all.
The victorian reference to the mad hatter (though he was never called 'mad' in the original book) was explained by mercury poisoning. Hatters, who made the felt top hats which were so popular during the era, used mercury on the felt for a glossy finish. The long term exposure to mercury would soak into their hands and lungs and lead to neurological damage.
Specifically, mad hatter disease causes sensory hallucinations, slurred speech, anxiety, tremor and poor coordination, irritability, and depression. But the strange thing is, virtually none of the reincarnations of the Mad Hatter hold any of these symptoms. If anything, they make the Mad Hatter too manic and not timid enough.
Of course Lewis Carroll was no physician (he was a mathematics teacher at Oxford) so it's acceptable that he misrepresented the symptoms. But I find it fascinating to find the fact behind the fiction.
I never really got the whole "Alice in Wonderland" thing. I got a free ebook, and read it on my phone. Just a few clever wordplay and that's about all I got from it.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean "I never got the whole Alice in Wonderland thing"?
DeleteMy personal opinion is that the only way to really understand Alice in Wonderland is if you get an annotated copy. Otherwise you miss pretty much all of the inside jokes and references.
DeleteAlice in Wonderland was written by Charles Dodgson (pen name- Lewis Carroll) for Alice Liddell and her sisters. I believe her father was the dean at Oxford and Carroll was a mathematics professor. The whole tale was invented through many afternoon spent picnic-ing and telling stories. Eventually Alice begged Carroll to write the tales down, which he did.
But all the characters are supposed to be references to real world people. The dodo was Carroll, Alice was Alice, and the Egret and Owl were her sisters. Also, there are a lot of mathematic jokes that Carroll made. I honestly didn't get those but....
You really need to read the annotated copy to truly understand the tale.