Alice in Wonderland Archetype Essay

Honors Junior English

Mr. Williams

September 14, 2010

Nicole Dailey
 Alice in Wonderland has always been a source of great whimsy and very odd concepts

that many would say could only be devised in our subconscious or in the mind of a child. It is no

wonder for this reason that Alice, in the new version of this movie by Tim Burton, believes that

the world of Underland, or more commonly called Wonderland, is all a dream that she can

control and that she will wake up from at any moment.

The whole world of Underland is a symbol of Alice’s lack of control of her environment

and a lack of identity. Alois Schicklgruber was the son of a nobody. His baptismal certificate as a

child, in replace of the name of a father, said ‘illegitimate.’ Because of this he tried his best to

become a somebody and through such he had many children none of which turned out well, one

turned out to be a thief. He had a child toward the last of his children that he swore would turn

out well. Alois beat his son mercilessly to control him. Alois later decided to change the name on

his baptismal certificate for ‘illegitimate’ to the name of his stepfather, Johann Georg Hiedler,

which was incorrectly spelled, ‘Johann Georg Hitler’ as spelling was still becoming

standardized. This son of Alois’s was named, ‘Adolf Hitler.’ All this because he was the child of

a nobody. And so Alice tries to control what she can, such as her stockings and her corset, such

as a child of abuse would try to harm themselves. Alice falls down the rabbit hole to face her

fears and all she is worried about.

From the very beginning the story is filled with adult situations. From the introduction

where her father must comfort her from her dreams while having to step away from his business,

to working with of her father’s friend in trade with China. Alice is being forced into a world of

adulthood. We can see from the beginning, where she strongly refuses to wear a corset and

stockings that she does not want to budge from her childlike state. When Alice runs away from

the engagement right in front of her it shows her immaturity and a need to not face situations in
front of her. This is a parallel to later on in the story where Alice must choose to slay the

Jabberwocky and be the champion but she runs away at first. She would rather follow a white

rabbit in a waist coat than to face the reality in front of her. Alice also has to face seeing her

brother-in-law cheating on her sister. This also says that this would be her fate if she was to

marry and be happy like her sister Margret and her sister says. Margret is oblivious to what is

going on around her.

She does running down the rabbit hole and the first this she does to start drinking and

eating odd substances to make her larger and smaller. For reference the drink is called Pishsalver

and the cake is called Upelkuchen. Her growing and shrinking could mean two things first, and

most probable, is that her changing of sizes has to do with her mental instability and insecurity,

but another idea is that it could mean she must conform to the things and the people around her.

Everyone expects her to marry Hamish and she must conform to fit into the doorway to get out

of the hall. Both could mean that she, in the beginning, would conform to those around her if

they pushed her to it and she had no ability to run away. This could also say that she is weak-

minded.

As the story continues Alice also finds that she has a lack of identity. The characters in

Underland tell her she is “the Alice” and throughout the story she must question who she is and

why she is running around everywhere in her own dream trying to solve a problem she thinks is

all in her mind. That being said essentially this is all in her mind. All the battles in this story,

though they manifest themselves strongly physically, are very emotional, mental, and spiritual.

Alice is often told that she must do one thing or another and eventually she says that she does not

want to be pushed and shoved and stuffed into a teapot that this is her dream and she can do what
she wants. This may be the turning point to Alice taking control of her life and not letting others

control her.

Absolum, the caterpillar, is a symbol of wisdom and answers. In the end Absolum helps

Alice to learn that she is “the Alice” that everyone is talking about and he gives her a sense of

identity. This could symbolize the idea of wisdom giving power and control here, specifically,

over the mind. There is a sentence in Latin that my friend had to conjugate and it says this,

“Veritas nos metu gravi iam liberat quo dui terribit sumus.” This means, “The truth has set us

free from the grave fear by which we have been frightened for a long time.” Alice was frightened

by her surroundings as many children are. The reason why the cool people are the cool people in

a school or in life is because they are not afraid of those around them or what those people think.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words may never hurt me.” Alice must learn this

lesson to continue on her journey.

When Bayard, the dog, goes to see the White Queen the queen is talking to her officials

about the castle. One of the things she says is for them to speak more kindly to the plants to help

them grow better. This is a direct archetype of plants being able to respond to their environment

and plants having power in themselves.

The Red Queen’s group of officials or friends all has odd enlarged body parts. This

symbolizes the false reign of the queen and that those round her must fake who they are and

conform to her. The Red Queen is also very controlling in her ways and is a very feminist

character as Alice ends up being in the end as well. The writer of the script of this movie uses

very subtle comments and actions to show off a feminist view. The Red Queen kills the king,

there are two women trying to fight over a very male society. (Just about all the other characters
in this story are male except for the queens and Alice.) Also the White Queen, who, in this story

would be considered the rightful heir to the throne, is actually the youngest which goes against

most of history and how the firstborn was had the greatest portion of everything. The greater

portion for the eldest son had to do with the fact that the eldest son had responsibility to take care

of his siblings and all the land his parents had. According to this, there are some very serious

family issues going on even beyond the general bickering of sisters.

At the end of the movie Alice tells everyone off and ends up working with her father’s

friend in trade with China, which would never have been done in the time period. This shows an

attempt for Alice to lord over her problems, which also includes the man she does not want to be

with. In the last scene Alice is standing on the boat and Absolum comes by. This implies that

though she has conquered her problems both her imagination and wisdom will guide her in this

new adult life she will lead.

Alice learns to grow from a child into a woman through these situations and the symbolic

archetypes that grew deep in her subconscious as they do ours as well. This story often teaches

us to become adults. Adults who say, “I’m late! I’m late! For a very important date!” It teaches

us, this version as women, to lord over men and be in control. It shows that wisdom will come

from worry, control, and strength over our environment. This tells us that in order to become an

adult we must worry and stress over many things just to be “responsible.”