Alice in Wonderland Original Art Work Lion and the Unicorn

Sharing the cake between the Lion and the Unicorn, by Sir John Tenniel. Wood-engraving by Dalziel. Illustration for the 7th affiliate of Lewis Carroll'south Through the Looking Glass (1871). The pun on "Panthera leo" in both the character's name every bit well as in the words "lion's share of the cake" is some other example of the wordplay plant throughout the tale. There is an inherent irony in the portrayal of majestic animals such as the Unicorn and Lion squabbling over a piece of cake.

In 2000 student assistants from the University Scholars Program, National Academy of Singapore, scanned this epitome and added text under the supervision of George P. Landow. [You may use this prototype without prior permission for whatever scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the site and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Spider web in a print 1.]

Commentary by Ray Dyer

Tenniel's final portrayal of the plant nursery-rhyme characters carries their political associations further. There is a paradox here: the rhyme traditionally presents the Lion equally the victor, whereas here Tenniel depicts him as ragged and wearied; on the other hand, the Unicorn appears quite cocky-assured, well-clean-cut and debonair. This becomes more extraordinary when we detect Hatta telling the King that each of the rivals had "been downwards," remarkably, almost fourscore-seven times and that this had created "such a deject of grit." Carroll, it seems, has not for the first time turned "contrariwise," and has instructed his creative person to reverse the traditional outcome of the famous see. At the literary level likewise, Carroll makes this quite clear, as the Unicorn is described as casually sauntering by, with easily in pockets, and declaring that he "had the best of it this time." Curiouser and curiouser, equally Alice might have said.

Patriotic Victorians such every bit Carroll and Tenniel are unlikely to take been mobilising partisanship either for or confronting either England or Scotland at the national level. Carroll, all the same, had a satirical bent. By 1870 he had aimed a number of biting satires at persons he knew and had dealings with, including the venerable "D. D.s" or Doctors of Divinity of his Christ Church building college (Collingwood, xl-124; Wakeling, The Oxford Pamphlets). It seems that he had a different target in mind hither — ane in the political arena.

Carroll took a dandy interest in parliamentary matters, and regularly deployed his somewhat privileged franchise of the vote, in both higher elections and national ones. When visiting London he occasionally went to "the Firm" at Westminster, to watch the belatedly-nighttime debates from the public gallery, as on Friday 3 and Friday 24 Apr 1868 (Diaries six: 12, 28). On such occasions he had met such prominent members of the Business firm equally the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Ward Hunt. The great political protagonists of the day were undoubtedly Benjamin Disreali and William Ewart Gladstone. Carroll certainly watched their debates in 1868. Whilst Gladstone every bit a Liberal held the Oxford seat, Disraeli as a Immature Conservative had largely helped the ageing Lord Derby with his 1867 Reform Deed, which widened the franchise of the vote — a thing close to Carroll's heart. 1 of Carroll'south satirical pieces at this fourth dimension was the anagram and anti-Gladstone tilt, "A wild human will get at trees" (65, n.93), from "William Ewart Gladstone." Carroll likewise favoured anagrams by others, including "I lead, Sir!" from "Disraeli" (65).

In short, the Tenniel drawing above may well illustrate Carroll'southward political preference for Disraeli, in the guise of the dandified and victorious Unicorn, over Gladstone (known for chopping logs and suchlike at his rambling country estate), in the guise of the rougher, exhausted King of beasts.

In his last children's story Carroll would provide further political parodies, with forays around "Political Dichotomy," "Obstructionism," "British Pride" and, not to forget his pet hate, "War." While these are after delivered in the vocalism of his aged avatar "Mein Herr," Carroll's literary dexterity also immune him to take a subtler, more oblique, less strident approach — allowing the canny reader to pick up the references. Every bit the Narrator in his later work remarks so astutely, "I thought it best to say nix" (Sylvie and Bruno Ended, Ch. Xiii).

Related Fabric

• Alice through the Magnifying Glass, Visual and Verbal Interplay in Wonderland

Bibliography

Carroll, Lewis. Sylvie and Bruno Concluded. London: Macmillan, 1893.

_____ . Lewis Carroll's Diaries. The Private Journals of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Vol. six. Ed. Edward Wakeling. England: Lewis Carroll Society, 2001.

_____. The Oxford Pamphlets, Leaflets and Circulars of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Ed. Eastward. Wakeling. Virginia: University Press, 1993.

Collingwood, Stuart D. The Lewis Carroll Picture Book. London: Fisher-Unwin, [1899] 1961. [The work in question, reproduced hither, was Carroll'south acerbic and humorous drove of short pieces, c.1865-1874, under the allonym of "An Oxford Chiel" or "fellow." See Notes By An Oxford Chiel. Oxford: James Parker & Co., 1874. The drove together with other like pieces was afterwards republished by Wakeling in Carroll, 1993.]

Wakeling, Edward, Ed. (Come across Carroll, 1993).

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Last modified xx July 2021

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