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The Personalities of the Main characters of Alice in Wonderland

Have you ever wondered what attracted you to read Alice in Wonderland? Is it because

of the fantasy background? Or is it the author's novel writing technique? Or the distinctive pe

rsonality of the heroes in the novel? Alice in Wonderland is a novel by Lewis Carroll, and the

diverse characterization helps readers connect with its plot development. Lewis Carroll uses

major characters to convey the themes of children’s innocence, curiosity, and identity. For ex

ample, Alice is the protagonist, and the whole story revolves around her imaginativeness, curi

osity, and adventure while she sleeps. She accidentally falls into a rabbit hole and begins a ser

ies of interesting rules about the underground kingdom and her experience in the undergroun

d kingdom; she finally discovers that it was an adventurous dreamland. Alice’s curiosity and

wisdom in the face of novelty, as well as her bravery, help her to always remain childlike.

Alice is a girl full of imagination, interested in novel things, and kind to others. She is

so surprised by the strange happenings in the hallway that she muses “Curioser and curioser!”

as she watches her feet disappear while she grows into gigantic height. She even figures that

she might have to buy her feet presents for them to continue taking her where she wants. At

the beginning of the story, Alice encounters the White Rabbit whom she follows into the

rabbit hole without second doubts. As a young girl, she loves exploring and is interested to

find out where the rabbit who is carrying a watch is headed. She encounters strange things in

the rabbit hole, and after peering through a small door, she is disappointed that she cannot fit

through. However, she decided to drink from a glass labelled “DRINK ME”, and although

she can fit through the door, she is too small to reach for the key at the table. She eats a piece
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of cake hoping to be restored to her normal height, but instead she grows into a giant and

starts crying. Later in Chapter 10, Alice encounters the Mock Turtle and Gryphon who are

full of adventures accounts and wonders whether she too, should share hers, “I could tell you

my adventures–beginning from this morning,’ said Alice a little timidly: ‘but it’s no use

going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then” The Mock Turtle and

Gryphon encourage her, and although nervous and afraid of them, she goes on to recount her

adventures since she met the White Rabbit. The nature of these two characters intrigue Alice

and she becomes curious about her own identity.

The Queen of Hearts is a stern, violent, and cruel queen. She doesn't cherish life. She is

authoritative and violent, ordering the execution of almost every character at trial with her

favorite line “Off with his head!” She likes to play by her own rules and expects things to go

her way. In Chapter 7, Alice learns that the Queen prefers red roses to white, but the

gardeners had planted white roses. When she asks about it, one of the gardeners, Two

answers, “Why, the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a red rose-tree, and we

put a white one in by mistake; and if the Queen was to find it out, we should all have our

heads cut off, you know.” Just as the gardeners were explaining about the roses, they heard

the Queen’s procession and laid flat on the ground with fear. Alice, perplexed, decides to

remain standing so that she can watch it: “When the procession came opposite to Alice, they

all stopped and looked at her, and the Queen said severely, ”who is this?” Although she was

intimidating, Alice reasons that she is just a card and she should not; therefore, be afraid of

her.

The white rabbit is a cautious and vivid image. He also acts as a guide for Alice and

takes her into the rabbit hole. When he passes by Alice musing about his lateness and takes

out a watch to check the time, her curiosity spikes: “But when the Rabbit actually took a

watch out of its waistcoat- pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her
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feet… see it pop down a large rabbit- hole under the hedge. Following the White Rabbit sets

off a series of events and experiences for Alice in Wonderland. He is always frantic and, in a

hurry, he even mistakes Alice for his housemaid Mary Ann, “Why, Mary Ann, what are you

doing out here? Run home this moment and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan!” Frightened,

Alice runs off without trying to explain that he had made a mistake.

The distinctive personalities of the main characters in Alice in Wonderland attract

readers. The characters are interesting and written through a child’s eyes; certain things are

logical while others are illogical. However, the diversity in the characters’ personalities

enrich Alice’s adventures. She learns tries to learn about the rules of Wonderland but is soon

aware that everyone there is mad. Almost everything that happens in Wonderland is made

interesting by the character of the main characters, herself included. Some offer a refreshed

point of view from her own, while others are ridiculous and bullies, like the Queen of Hearts.

An analysis of the main characters in the novel demonstrates how personality helps shape the

events of the story and thus help develop the themes of themes of growing up and identity.
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Works Cited

Carroll, Lewis. Alice in wonderland. Wordsworth editions, 1992.