A-dressing the White Queen — Illustrations for Through the Looking Glass by John Tenniel

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A-dressing the White Queen

Sir John Tenniel

Wood-engraving by Dalziel

Illustration for the fifth chapter of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass (1871)

(Alice): "Am I addressing the White Queen?"

(Queen): "Well, yes, if you call that a-dressing"..." It isn't my notion of the thing, at all."

[The verbal humour here results from the confusion of "a-dressing" and "addressing".]

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.

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Commentary by Ray Dyer

This Tenniel illustration further hints at the author's continuing fond memories of his childhood — as seen in the previous chapter, where Alice pays such close attention to pinning up and adjusting the almost embattled Tweedle brothers.

The pun employed in the title would soon be joined by others, many culled no doubt from Carroll’s own past. Alice, however, no avatar of himself, would be allowed to remain in complete ignorance of such specialist meanings as (for example) a bird’s feather in the usage, "feathering one’s oars," or crab in the usage, "catching a crab" with a careless oar-stroke. Puns may thus be sub-categorised with other valued word-play techniques much employed by Carroll throughout his entire writing life, most notably in his Jabberwocky poem. In Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Chapter 12, "Alice’s Evidence"), the King at one point helpfully declares to the courtroom “It’s a pun!”, thereby also satisfying Lewis Carroll’s own genuine desire to inform and educate his mostly juvenile readers.

As an illustration, this Tenniel contribution stands securely within the traditional and detailed mid-Victorian storytelling genre, together with the political cartoonist’s trademark attention to strongly composed central figures. Here, however, as with the previous appearance of the Tweedle brothers' discarded umbrella, one should not overlook Tenniel’s scrupulous attention to another minor object - the hairbrush innocently placed in the foreground. Perhaps simply reminiscent of the untidy habits of middle childhood, it could well have been a marker or disguised reminder of something more significant from his own past.

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Last modified 23 June 2021