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Mad Hatter
The Hatter as depicted by Sir John Tenniel, reciting his nonsense poem, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat"
First appearance	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Last appearance	Through the Looking-Glass
Created by	Lewis Carroll
Information
Aliases	Hatta
Species	Human
Gender	Male

The Hatter is a fictional character initially encountered at a tea party in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and later again as "Hatta" in the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass. He is popularly referred to as the "Mad Hatter", but is never called by this name in Carroll's book—although the Cheshire Cat does warn Alice that he is mad, and the Hatter's eccentric behaviour supports this. Likewise, the chapter in which he first appears, "A Mad Tea-Party", is often called "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party" (despite the fact that it is actually being held at the March Hare's house). 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, on television by John Robert Hoffman and in New York City by Ragtime Mark Birnbaum.

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 a celebration of hers, she sentenced him to death for "murdering the time," but he escapes decapitation. Out of anger at this attempted "murder", 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 (along with the March Hare) somewhat 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."

The Hatter and March Hare try to put the dormouse in a teapot

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 before in the original novel, adding weight to Carroll's hint that the two characters are indeed the same.

Mad as a hatter

Although the name "Mad Hatter" was undoubtedly inspired by the phrase "as mad as a hatter", there is some uncertainty as to the origins of this phrase. As mercury was used in the process of curing pelts used in some hats, it was impossible for hatters to avoid inhaling the mercury fumes given off during the hatmaking process. Hatters and mill workers often suffered mercury poisoning as residual mercury vapor caused neurological damage including confused speech and distorted vision; hatmaking was the main trade in Stockport, near where Carroll grew up. It was not unusual then for hatters to appear disturbed or mentally confused; many died early as a result of mercury poisoning. However, the Mad Hatter does not exhibit the symptoms of mercury poisoning, which include "excessive timidity, diffidence, increasing shyness, loss of self-confidence, anxiety, and a desire to remain unobserved and unobtrusive."^[1]

Model

The Mad Hatter's character was possibly inspired by an eccentric furniture dealer, not by a victim of mercury poisoning. The dealer, Theophilus Carter, supposedly at one time a servitor at Christ Church, one of the University of Oxford's colleges. He invented an alarm clock bed, exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851, that tipped out the sleeper at waking-up time. He later owned a furniture shop, and became known as the Mad Hatter from his habit of standing in the door of his shop wearing a top hat. Sir John Tenniel is reported to have come to Oxford especially to sketch him for his illustrations.^[1]

10/6

The mad tea party

The card or label on the Hatter's hat reads "In this style 10/6". "10/6" means ten shillings and six pence (or a half guinea), the price of the hat in pre-decimalised British money and acts as a visual indication of the hatter's trade. (There were 21 shillings to the guinea, 20 shillings to the pound and 12 pennies to a shilling ... thus 10/6 = £0.525.) With inflation, £0.525 in 1865 would be worth about £40.55 in 2002^[2].

Mad Hatter's riddle

In the chapter "A Mad Tea Party", the Mad Hatter asks a notable riddle: "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" When Alice gives up, the Hatter admits he does not have an answer himself. Lewis Carroll originally intended the riddle to be just a riddle without an answer, but after many requests from readers, he and others, including puzzle expert Sam Loyd, thought up possible answers to the riddle. One possible answer is "Because Poe wrote on both", a reference to Edgar Allan Poe, who wrote The Raven. In the preface to the 1896 edition, Carroll wrote:

Enquiries have been so often addressed to me, as to whether any answer to the Hatter’s Riddle can be imagined, that I may as well put on record here what seems to me to be a fairly appropriate answer, viz: "Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!". This, however, is merely an afterthought; the Riddle as originally invented, had no answer at all".^[3]

Adaptation in Batman

The Mad Hatter (a.k.a.: Jervis Tetch) is a fictional character, a supervillain and enemy of the Batman in DC comic books, making his first appearance in October 1948 (Batman #49). The Hatter has gone through many changes in physical appearance over the years, but his basic look remains the same -- short with large teeth, almost invariably wearing a large hat. While the Mad Hatter has no inherent superpowers, he is portrayed as a brilliant neurotechnician with considerable knowledge in how to dominate and control the human mind, either through hypnosis or direct technological means. In addition to comic books, the Mad Hatter has appeared as an enemy of the Batman in the Batman television series, animated series, and various video games.

Adaptation by Disney

Mad Hatter
First appearance	Alice in Wonderland
Created by	Lewis Caroll
Portrayed by	Ed Wynn (original film) Corey Burton (Bonkers, House of Mouse) Johnny Depp (2010 film)

1951

In the Disney animated feature Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter appears as a short, hyper, tea-loving person. 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 flee towards 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 anger Alice due to the fact they do not let her answer because of their antics. 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. The Mad Hatter and The March Hare then kick the rabbit out and Alice follows him, and 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.

In the 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. Tim 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."^[4] 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."^[5] 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".^[6]

Other adaptations

The Mad Hatter has been featured in nearly every other adaptation of Alice in wonderland to date.

Wonderland

Frank Wildhorne composed the music to and co-wrote the music to Wonderland: Alice's New Musical Adventure. The Mad Hatter in this adaptation is portrayed as the real villain of the story, a mad woman of dastardly deeds who longs to be Queen.

SyFy miniseries Alice

In the Syfy miniseries Alice, The Hatter, played by Andrew-Lee Potts, is shown to be a suave character who owns a business that sells the human emotions like drugs, with the Dormouse in his services. He helps Alice in her misadventure through Wonderland. All the time, she refuses to trust him at any length. She even refuses to tell him her plans even though they are on the same side. After Hatter is tortured by Mad March (a re-imagining of the March Hare who is an assassin) and Dr.s Dee and Dum (re-imaginings of the Tweedles; they are sadistic torturers who try to get information from prisoners) after trying to rescue her, Alice realizes that he truly is worthy of her trust. The two grow very close after Hatter helps Alice with her fear of heights at the beginning when they first meet, and eventually fall in love. Alice even turns down Jack, the man she had been trying to find all through the first episode, to be with Hatter, and he goes to our world to be with her at the end.

American Mcgee's Alice

In the videogame American Mcgee's Alice, The Mad Hatter remains a fanatic of time, but is no longer the tea party-loving hatter that he was during Alice's last visit to Wonderland. He is now a psychopath, literally gone "mad" and obsessed with time and clockworks, and considers himself to be a genius. He invents mechanical devices, often evidently using the bodies of living organisms for the base of his inventions, as he plans to do to all of Wonderland's inhabitants. His victims include the March Hare, the Dormouse, and countless insane children. The Mad Hatter appears as green skinned and wears what looks like a loosened strait jacket, a large gear protruding out of his back. He wields a cane and his hat has changed, being taller and covered in astrological symbols.

The Looking Glass Wars

A spin-off of the traditional Alice in Wonderland story, The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor has a character named Hatter Madigan. He is based on and in many ways resembles the Mad Hatter but with a twist, most notably that his well-known hat is able to flatten into two S-shaped boomerang blades. He acts as the body guard of the rightful Queen Genevieve of Hearts (not to be confused with her sister, the wicked villain and usurper of the crown Queen Redd) and as guide/guardian to the protagonist Alyss Liddell.

Wizards of Waverly Place

In the Wizards of Waverly Place episode, "Alex in Wonderland", the Mad Hatter will be played by cc garippo.

References

Further reading

• Heavens to Betsy! and Other Curious Sayings, Charles Earle Funk. HarperCollins Publishers, 2002. ISBN 0-06-051331-4