Duchess (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Duchess |
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| Alice character | |
Alice and the Duchess, 1865 illustration by John Tenniel
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| First appearance | Alice's Adventures in Wonderland |
| Created by | Lewis Carroll |
| Information | |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Female |
| Nationality | Wonderland |
The Duchess is a memorable character from Lewis Carroll's famous book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This book was first published in 1865.
Carroll doesn't tell us much about how the Duchess looks. But in Chapter 9, Alice describes her. Alice didn't like being close to the Duchess. First, the Duchess was "very ugly." Second, she was just the right height to rest her sharp chin on Alice's shoulder. This made Alice uncomfortable.
The Duchess's strange look is well-known. This is mostly thanks to John Tenniel's drawings. These drawings show her as very unattractive.
Contents
Who is the Duchess?
The Duchess is often seen as an opponent of the Queen of Hearts. When Alice first meets her, the Duchess seems almost as unfriendly as the Queen. But later, she treats Alice with kindness and respect.
Where the Idea Came From
According to a book called The Annotated Alice by Martin Gardner, John Tenniel's pictures of the Duchess were inspired by a painting. This painting is called The Ugly Duchess by Quentin Matsys. It was painted around 1513.
Some people say the painting is a portrait of Margaret, Countess of Tyrol. She was known for being very ugly. However, the painting was made 200 years after she died.
About the Duchess
The Duchess lives in a small palace in Wonderland. It is just outside the Caterpillar's forest. She has a footman who looks like a frog to Alice. She also has a Cook who loves pepper too much. The Cook throws dishes and kitchen tools around without caring who might get hit. The footman often stares at the sky for days. He doesn't notice most people around him.
The Duchess also has a baby and a cat. This cat is the famous Cheshire Cat.
Lewis Carroll doesn't describe the Duchess's looks in detail. But Tenniel's drawings show her as an ugly woman with a very large head. Her personality changes a lot. Sometimes she seems to have two different personalities. When Alice first meets her in the kitchen, the Duchess acts nervous and aggressive.
She recites a well-known rhyme from the book. In this rhyme, she suggests hitting a child for sneezing: Speak roughly to your little boy
and beat him when he sneezes
he only does it to annoy
because he knows it teases.
I speak severely to my boy
I beat him when he sneezes
for he can thoroughly enjoy
the pepper when he pleases
The Cook has filled the kitchen with pepper. Because of this, the baby sneezes all the time. This suggests the baby might have been hurt by his mother. Alice feels sorry for the child and takes him away. But then, the baby turns into a pig! It's never explained why this happens. Alice decides that even though the baby wasn't pretty, he makes a good-looking pig.
Of everyone in the Duchess's house, the Cheshire Cat seems the most sensible. But even the Cat says that everyone in Wonderland is mad. It's a mystery how the Cat came to live with the Duchess. Later, the Cat meets Alice again. It seems the Cat has left the Duchess for good.
When Alice meets the Duchess a second time, it's at the Queen's croquet party. The Duchess is much friendlier and very talkative. She seems determined to charm Alice. She keeps resting her chin on Alice's shoulder. Alice finds this unsettling and uncomfortable because the Duchess has a very sharp chin.
Alice starts to think that the Duchess might actually be nice. She wonders if her earlier harshness was just because of all the pepper. The Duchess doesn't seem to care about her baby now that he's a pig.
The Duchess is often seen as how a child might view adults. Adults can be moody and mysterious. They might switch between bad moods and kind affection without warning.
The Duchess' Cook
The Duchess' Cook lives in the Duchess' Palace. She is obsessed with pepper and throws it everywhere. This makes the Baby and Duchess sneeze constantly. She also smashes plates and kitchen tools all over the place.
The Cook in Tim Burton's Film
In the 2010 Tim Burton film, the character Thackery Earwicket (March Hare) has many traits of the Cook. He also enjoys smashing plates and throwing pepper.
The Duchess in Other Stories
The Duchess appears in many other books, games, and shows.
- In the 2006 mobile game Alice's Warped Wonderland, the Duchess is a huge, very overweight woman. She eats non-stop for twelve years. The game's Alice, named Ariko, must make her stop.
- The Duchess was in an episode of The Muppet Show that was a Muppet version of "Alice in Wonderland." A special puppet was made to play her.
- She also appears as a small character in the Disney TV series Adventures in Wonderland.
- In the video game American McGee's Alice, the Duchess is the first boss Alice fights. She is very large and ugly. She uses a pepper shaker to shoot black pepper at Alice. Her first words suggest she wants to eat Alice. After Alice defeats her, the Duchess is overcome by pepper. She returns in the game's sequel, Alice: Madness Returns. In this game, she is polite and asks Alice to find pig snouts.
- In the SyFy miniseries Alice, the Duchess is very different. She is tall, beautiful, and blonde. She is supposed to marry Jack Heart, the Queen's son. But she helps Jack escape from the Queen. She tells him she only acted the way she did to survive in the Queen's court. She also reveals she cares for Jack.
- In the manga Are You Alice?, the Duchess is a cute little girl with pink hair and big eyes. She wears a black-and-white striped dress. Her role is to be a replacement for Alice. The Queen of Hearts executes her for not doing her job.
- In Marissa Meyer's 2016 novel Heartless, a character named Lady Margaret Mearle is described as very ugly and proper. She marries the Duke of Tuskany, who is a warthog, and becomes the Duchess. Catherine, who later becomes the Queen of Hearts, dislikes the Duchess.
See also
In Spanish: Duquesa (Alicia en el país de las maravillas) para niños
