Mad Hatter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Hatter is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the story’s sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. He is popularly referred to as the “Mad Hatter”. He has been portrayed on film by Edward Everett Horton, Sir Robert Helpmann, Martin Short, Peter Cook, Anthony Newley, Ed Wynn, Andrew-Lee Potts, and Johnny Depp, in music videos by Tom Petty and Steven Tyler, on stage by Nikki Snelson, and on television by John Robert Hoffman.
Appearances in the Alice books
The Hatter explains to Alice that he and the March Hare are always having tea because, when he tried to sing for the Queen of Hearts at her celebration, she sentenced him to death for “murdering the time,” but he escapes decapitation. In retaliation, Time (referred to as a “Him”) halts himself in respect to the Hatter, keeping him and the March Hare stuck at 6:00 forever. The tea party, when Alice arrives, is characterized by switching places on the table at any given time, making short, personal remarks, asking unanswerable riddles and reciting nonsensical poetry, all of which eventually drive Alice away. He appears again as a witness at the Knave of Hearts’ trial, where the Queen appears to recognize him as the singer she sentenced to death, and the King also cautions him not to be nervous “or I’ll have you executed on the spot.”
When the character makes his appearance as “Hatta” in Through the Looking-Glass, he is in trouble with the law once again. This time, however, he is not necessarily guilty: the White Queen explains that quite often subjects are punished before they commit a crime, rather than after, and sometimes they do not even commit it at all. He is also mentioned as being one of the White King’s messengers, and the March Hare appears as well as “Haigha”, since the King explains that he needs two messengers: “one to come, and one to go.” Sir John Tenniel’s illustration also depicts him as sipping from a teacup as he did in the original novel, adding weight to Carroll’s hint that the two characters are very much the same.
Adaptations
First appearance Alice in Wonderland
Created by Lewis Caroll
In the Disney animated feature Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter appears as a short, hyperactive man with gray hair, a large nose and a comical voice. He was voiced by Ed Wynn in 1951, and by Corey Burton in his later appearances. Alice stumbles upon the Mad Hatter and the March Hare having an “un-birthday” party for themselves. She sits at the table and they both run toward her, telling her “it’s very very rude to sit down without being invited”, although they immediately forgive her after she compliments their singing. Alice asks what an “un-birthday” is and they explain that “there are 364 days of the year that aren’t your birthday; those are un-birthdays.” They throw Alice a small un-birthday party. They ask Alice where she came from but they never give Alice a chance to answer. The Hatter and the Hare offer Alice tea several times but each time she is unable to even take a sip (they move to another seat at the table whenever the Hatter or the Hare find a clean cup). The Mad Hatter asks her the infamous riddle “Why is a raven like a writing desk?” but when she tries to answer, the Mad Hatter denies asking her the riddle. The White Rabbit then bursts in exclaiming that he is late. The Hatter and the Hare destroy his watch by putting numerous food items into it (claiming the watch is two days slow). The Mad Hatter and the March Hare then kick the rabbit out and Alice follows him, as the Hatter and the Hare begin singing the un-birthday song yet again. Later in the film, the Queen of Hearts calls the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse to Alice’s trial. She asks them what they know of the disaster during the croquet game. Instead of answering, they throw the Queen an un-birthday party that cheers her up.
Throughout the course of the film, the Mad Hatter pulls numerous items out of his hat, such as cake and smaller hats. He and the Hare also break the laws of physics more than once; they pour tea cups and plates out of tea kettles, and the Mad Hatter is seen eating plates and other inedible items at the tea party. His personality is that of a child: he is angry one second but happy the next. He also takes an immediate liking to Alice after she tells him she’s a fan of his singing.
The Mad Hatter and March Hare make a cameo appearance in a painting in the Tea Party Garden in the Kingdom Hearts video game, and the Mad Hatter is also a greetable character at the Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort, Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland. This version of the character was also a semi-regular on the Disney Afternoon series Bonkers and one of the guests in House of Mouse, where he even made a cameo appearance in one of the featured cartoon shorts.
Main article: Alice in Wonderland (2010 film)
In Tim Burton’s 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter is portrayed by Johnny Depp. He is very brave and loyal to the White Queen; he also becomes very emotionally attached to Alice and goes to great lengths to protect her. In this version, his full name is Tarrant Hightopp. Burton explained that Depp “tried to find a grounding to the character, something that you feel, as opposed to just being mad. In a lot of versions it’s a very one-note kind of character and you know his goal was to try and bring out a human side to the strangeness of the character.” The orange hair is an allusion to the mercury poisoning suffered by many hatters who used mercury to cure pelts. According to Depp: “I think he was poisoned, very, very poisoned, and it was coming out through his hair, through his fingernails and eyes.” In an interview, Depp stated his experience was “A dream come true” and that the Mad Hatter is like “A mood ring, his emotions are very close to the surface”.
