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:"The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. 'Off with his head!' she said, without even looking round." |
:"The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. 'Off with his head!' she said, without even looking round." |
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| ⚫ | One of the Queen's hobbies - besides ordering executions - is croquet, however it is Wonderland croquet, where the balls are live hedgehogs and the mallets are flamingos. This is presumably with the aim that the birds' blunt beaks should strike, but, as Alice observes, it is complicated by the fact that they keep looking back up at the players- as well as the hedgehogs' tendency to scuttle away without waiting to be hit. The Queen's soldiers act as the arches (or hoops) on the croquet grounds, but have to leave off being arches every time the Queen has an [[Executioner (Wonderland)|executioner]] drag away the victim, so that, by the end of the game in the story, the only players that remain are the Queen herself, the King, and Alice. |
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[[File:Queenbycarroll.jpg|thumb|left|The Queen of Hearts as depicted by Lewis Carroll.]] |
[[File:Queenbycarroll.jpg|thumb|left|The Queen of Hearts as depicted by Lewis Carroll.]] |
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| ⚫ | One of the Queen's hobbies - besides ordering executions - is croquet, however it is Wonderland croquet, where the balls are live hedgehogs and the mallets are flamingos. This is presumably with the aim that the birds' blunt beaks should strike, but, as Alice observes, it is complicated by the fact that they keep looking back up at the players- as well as the hedgehogs' tendency to scuttle away without waiting to be hit. The Queen's soldiers act as the arches (or hoops) on the croquet grounds, but have to leave off being arches every time the Queen has an [[Executioner (Wonderland)|executioner]] drag away the victim, so that, by the end of the game in the story, the only players that remain are the Queen herself, the King, and Alice. |
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Despite the frequency of death sentences, it would appear few people are actually beheaded. The King of Hearts quietly pardons many of his subjects when the Queen is not looking (although this did not seem to be the case with The [[Duchess]]), and her soldiers humor her but do not carry out her orders. The [[Gryphon]] tells Alice that "It's all her fancy: she never executes nobody, you know." Nevertheless, all creatures in Wonderland fear the Queen. In the final chapters, the Queen sentences Alice again (for defending the Knave of Hearts) and she offers a bizarre approach towards justice: sentence before verdict. |
Despite the frequency of death sentences, it would appear few people are actually beheaded. The King of Hearts quietly pardons many of his subjects when the Queen is not looking (although this did not seem to be the case with The [[Duchess]]), and her soldiers humor her but do not carry out her orders. The [[Gryphon]] tells Alice that "It's all her fancy: she never executes nobody, you know." Nevertheless, all creatures in Wonderland fear the Queen. In the final chapters, the Queen sentences Alice again (for defending the Knave of Hearts) and she offers a bizarre approach towards justice: sentence before verdict. |
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Revision as of 11:18, 20 July 2015
| The Queen of Hearts | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Queen of Hearts |
|
First Appearance |
The European Magazine (April, 1782) |
|
Created by |
Unknown |
Origin
"The Queen of Hearts" is a poem based on the characters found on playing cards, by an anonymous author, originally published in the British publication The European Magazine, no. 434, in April, 1782. Lewis Carroll later developed characters from the nursery rhyme into his own story, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
"The Queen of Hearts" relates that the Queen of Hearts bakes some tarts which the Knave of Hearts steals. The King of Hearts has the Knave punished, so he brings them back and pledges not to steal again.
- The Queen of Hearts
- She made some tarts,
- All on a summer's day;
- The Knave of Hearts
- He stole those tarts,
- And took them clean away.
- The King of Hearts
- Called for the tarts,
- And beat the knave full sore;
- The Knave of Hearts
- Brought back the tarts,
- And vowed he'd steal no more.
Although it was originally published in a magazine for adults, it eventually became best known as a nursery rhyme and by 1785 had been set to music.
Wonderland
Alice observes three playing cards painting white roses red. They drop to the ground face down at the approach of the Queen of Hearts, whom Alice has never met. When the Queen arrives and asks Alice who is lying on the ground (since the backs of all playing cards look alike), Alice tells her that she does not know. The Queen then becomes frustrated and commands that her head be severed. She is deterred by her comparatively moderate husband by being reminded that Alice is only a child.
Generally, however, as we are told by Carroll:
- "The Queen had only one way of settling all difficulties, great or small. 'Off with his head!' she said, without even looking round."
The Queen of Hearts as depicted by Lewis Carroll.
One of the Queen's hobbies - besides ordering executions - is croquet, however it is Wonderland croquet, where the balls are live hedgehogs and the mallets are flamingos. This is presumably with the aim that the birds' blunt beaks should strike, but, as Alice observes, it is complicated by the fact that they keep looking back up at the players- as well as the hedgehogs' tendency to scuttle away without waiting to be hit. The Queen's soldiers act as the arches (or hoops) on the croquet grounds, but have to leave off being arches every time the Queen has an executioner drag away the victim, so that, by the end of the game in the story, the only players that remain are the Queen herself, the King, and Alice.
Despite the frequency of death sentences, it would appear few people are actually beheaded. The King of Hearts quietly pardons many of his subjects when the Queen is not looking (although this did not seem to be the case with The Duchess), and her soldiers humor her but do not carry out her orders. The Gryphon tells Alice that "It's all her fancy: she never executes nobody, you know." Nevertheless, all creatures in Wonderland fear the Queen. In the final chapters, the Queen sentences Alice again (for defending the Knave of Hearts) and she offers a bizarre approach towards justice: sentence before verdict.
Her and the King also have ten children (the numerical hearts suit of cards).
Public Domain Appearances
Nursery Rhyme:
- The Queen of Hearts
- King and Queen of Hearts: with the Rogueries of the Knave who stole the Queen's Pies
Book:
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
- A New Alice in the Old Wonderland
Film:
- Alice in Wonderland (1903)
- Alice in Wonderland (1915)
Notes
- Modern portrayals in popular culture usually let her play the role of a villain because of the menace the character exemplifies, but in the book she does not fill that purpose. She is just one of the many obstacles that Alice has to encounter on the journey, but unlike other obstacles, she makes a higher potential threat.
- She is commonly mistaken for the Red Queen in the story's sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, but in reality shares none of her characteristics other than being a queen. Indeed, Carroll, in his lifetime, made the distinction of the two Queens by saying: "I pictured to myself the Queen of Hearts as a sort of embodiment of ungovernable passion - a blind and aimless Fury. The Red Queen, I pictured as a Fury, but of another type; her passion must be cold and calm - she must be formal and strict, yet not unkindly; pedantic to the 10th degree, the concentrated essence of all governesses!
- While the original character is in public domain, the version of the character used by Disney and other later adaptations published after 1923 are NOT in the public domain.