| The Red Queen | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Kitty |
|
First Appearance |
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871) |
|
Original Publisher |
Macmillan |
|
Created by |
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (as "Lewis Carroll") |
Origin[]
The Red Queen is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's fantasy novella, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. She is often confused with the Queen of Hearts from the previous book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, although the two are very different.
The Red Queen is usually viewed as an antagonist in the story as she is the queen for the side opposing Alice. Despite this, their initial encounter is a cordial one, with the Red Queen explaining the rules of Chess concerning promotion — specifically that Alice is able to become a queen by starting out as a pawn and reaching the eighth square at the opposite end of the board. As a queen in the game of Chess, the Red Queen is able to move swiftly and effortlessly.
Later, she appears with the White Queen, posing a series of typical "Wonderland-type" questions (ex: "Divide a loaf by a knife: what's the answer to that?"), and then celebrating Alice's promotion from pawn to queen. When that celebration goes awry, Alice turns upon the Red Queen, whom she "considers as the cause of all the mischief", and shakes her until the queen morphs into Alice's pet kitten. In doing this, Alice presents an end game, awakening from the dream world of the looking glass, by both realizing her hallucination and symbolically "taking" the Red Queen in order to checkmate the Red King.
Public Domain Appearances[]
Literary:
- Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There
- A New Alice in the Old Wonderland
- Comic:
- World's Greatest Stories #1
- The Adventures of Alice #1-2
- Comic:
Notes[]
- "Kitty" is Dinah's black kitten, who assumes the role of the Red Queen in Wonderland.
See Also[]
- Wikipedia
- ComicVine
- Kitty and the Red Queen @ the Alice in Wonderland Wiki
- Once Upon a Time in Wonderland Wiki