The Doorway to the Feast — Illustrations for Through the Looking Glass by John Tenniel

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The Doorway to the Feast

Sir John Tenniel

Wood-engraving by Dalziel

Illustration for the ninth chapter of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (1871). [Click on the image to enlarge it.]

"She was standing before an arched doorway, over which were the words 'QUEEN ALICE' in large letters, and on each side of the arch there was a bell-handle; one was marked 'Visitors' Bell,' and the other 'Servants' Bell.'"

In 2000 student assistants from the University Scholars Program, National University of Singapore, scanned this image and added text under the supervision of George P. Landow. See below for commentary, and mouse over the text for links.

Commentary by Ray Dyer

Frogs have long featured prominently in children's literature, from nursery rhymes and songs such as "Froggy would a courting go," to tales such as "The Frog Prince," and fables such as Aesop's one about the frog and the mouse who argue over who owns the bog, only for both to fall prey to the swooping kite. What is interesting at this point in Through the Looking Glass is that Tenniel depicts his anthropomorphic Frog Gardener a little differently from the way he depicted a similar character, the Frog Footman, in the earlier Alice story. The degree of anthropomorphism, some six or seven years later, shows a slight reduction in the figure's elegant clothing, with greater exposure of the frog's face and limbs/extremities.

It is possible, but unlikely, that this shows Tenniel's sympathy with Carroll's acknowledged "Broad Church" views, and dislike of the elaborate vestments of Oxford High Church Ritualism. More probably, it simply reflects the growing interest in natural science at this time. Carroll and Tenniel, and their many readers, would have been familiar with pond life, and the way tadpoles progress to adult frogs, and science popularisers like Charles Kingsley and Margaret Gatty were now urging their readers to observe these creatures and their lives more closely.

In an interesting shift with his later fantasy work, and with the new and younger illustrator Harry Furniss, Carroll would discard the present sartorial anthropomorphism, and his literary frogs would revert to the countryside species. In the prolonged saga of the Sylvie and Bruno books, frogs would there be collected and scattered in the bedroom of an unwelcome guest (Ch. VI ), and a whole further chapter would be devoted to "The Frog's Birthday-Treat" (Ch. XXIV), with much hopping about and croaking of satisfied applause by the lowly guests.

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Bibliography

Carroll, Lewis. Sylvie and Bruno. London: Macmillan, 1889.

Created 2000

Last modified 8 November 2021