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Lisa Yang
English 114B
Prof. Lewis
April 1, 2014
Alice in Wonderland Through Lewis Carroll
In the novels Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll,
these stories have been widely recognized for its curiosities, strange characters, and most of all; a
young girl falling down a hole, entering a completely new world. Carrolls audiences may view
these novels as a childrens book, but through psychoanalytic Freudian lenses, these novels
portrays numerous of psychological issues, which Carroll incorporates into the novel through
various characters that may be hidden messages.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, or better known by Lewis Carroll, he was a British English
writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer that was born on January 27,
1832 January 14, 1898. In his life, he was a well-educated man that has accomplished many
careers as stated above. Growing up, Carroll developed a stammer. His stammer did not
discourage his ability to become an educated and successful man. He was a man who was loved
playful with children and got along rather well with children as well. Rumors have adjourned
that Carroll was a pedophile, because he was infatuated by young girls. His photography career
may possibly support that this assumption may be plausible. A collection of his photography has
been recorded. 60% of his portfolio has mysteriously disappeared and what has been recorded,
were mostly of semi-nude or nude girls and over 50% of his work were young girls, as said from
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the website Wikipedia. Though no one quite understood why Carroll was so interested into
young girls or if he really had interests in young girls, Carrolls work was widely recognized and
fancied worldwide through many interpretations.
Sigmund Freud is a Jewish psychologist that is known as the father of psychology. He
has contributed in many psychological discoveries such as the therapeutic technique free
association, transference, Oedipus complex, dreams, repression, the unconscious/conscious
mind, and the mental processes of death drive, hate, aggression, and lastly neurotic guilt. To
specify the three Freudian terms id, ego, and superego, Wikipedia has provided that the id is the
unorganized part of the personality structure that contains a human's basic, instinctual drives; the
only component of personality that is present from birth. It is the source of our bodily needs,
wants, desires, and impulses, particularly our sexual and aggressive drives. For the ego, it acts
according to the reality principle; it seeks to please the id's drive in realistic ways that will
benefit in the long term rather than bring grief. Finally, to specify what the superego is, it is the
cultural rules, mainly taught by parents applying their guidance and influence at a young age.
These three Freudian terms are what seems to identify Carrolls incorporation of Alice in
Wonderland.
Psychologists have theories that Lewis Carroll may have been portraying his life into
Alice in Wonderland characters to incorporate his id, ego, and superego. A.M.E. Goldschmidt
has provided interesting evidence that most people would have not notice with their naked eye.
Goldschmidt stated, Alices penetrating the rabbit hole, the keys and the locks, and the small
door, are colorful symbols of the act of sex, which he interprets as proof of the the presence, in
[Lewis Carrolls] subconscious, of an abnormal emotion of considerable strength. From an
audience perspective, an individual would have never bestowed on this assumption. This
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incorporates part of Carrolls id; his desire that contains bodily needs, wants, desires, and
impulses, particularly our sexual and aggressive drives that is unconscious that is part of the
unconscious mind. It is well addressed that the id may not be detainable unless if the superego
overrides it.
As another example that may further Carrolls id, Goldschmidt has also stated that, Here
we find the common symbolism of lock and key representing coitus; the doors of normal size
represent adult women. These are disregarded by the dreamer and the interest is centered on the
little door, which symbolizes a female child; the curtain before it represents the child's
clothes According to Goldschmidts evidence, we cannot say this is true or false, but it is all
in the psyche. We can agree that the novel has been incorporated to vast ideologies, whereas this
one focuses on Carrolls sexual frustrations and fantasies. If you analyze the story a little further,
the story was based off of Alice Liddell, the daughter of Henry Liddell, a family friend. Liddell
can also be portrayed as either a child that Carroll fancys, or himself. Alice (Liddell) may be
incorporated as Carrolls innocence which serpents the superego; where Carroll is preconscious
of his thoughts and actions. In the film and novel, Alice is a curious child. She questions
everything, and has certain adequate that she believes is normal. This can be converted to
Carrolls conscious/unconscious view of his psychological views on his sexual desires. In other
words, consciously, Carroll is aware that having such fantasies of having sexual intercourse with
children is wrong, but unconsciously, that is his hidden desire, which can only leave him with
illustrating his frustrations into a novel, his preconscious mind.
To further my support in this argument, Carroll has invented characters in Wonderland
that has very strange, out of the normality personalities that can be traced back to Carroll
himself. It may be surreal that Carroll may have borderline personalities. The Borderline
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personality is known to fear of own urges, feelings, impulses and desires, as they fear a wider
loss of control as a result. His books appear to be a more unconscious revelation of his own
escapism reality and childhood, and hence the quick descent from the normal childhood of his
story character Alice into the surreal and distorted world of Wonderland in his tales, stated
Richard Boyd from the article Alice in Wonderland A Borderline Personality Tale. Boyd also
states that there is some evidence that Lewis Carroll had some form of eating disorder linked to
anxiety throughout his life, hence, when Alice changed shape and size from eating and drinking
which is a reference to Carrolls own fears and distortions around such actions around food and
drink. In the novel, you may also witness that Alice undergoes changes of shapes and finds that
she is not satisfy with her body, which is another interpretation of Carrolls disorder. Not to
mention, throughout the novel, you can see that the novel has input many scenes involving food.
As examples; the Knave of Hearts accusation of stealing the Queen of Hearts tarts; the Mad Tea
Party with the Mad Hatter intensively wanting to have tea and bread, and the Cheshire cats grin,
mouth, smile, which incorporates oral consumptions. The famous quote from the Cheshire cat
were all mad here, or else we wouldnt be where we are, is an astonishing definition of an
individual mindset where one person has complete different mental process compared to the
normality. Of course, Carroll may have the knowledge that he has a different perception than
majorities, which may explain why he cunningly incorporated that quote into his story.
Carrolls personality can also be categorized as having split-personality where
Carl Jung noted that majority of fairy tales illustrates the good fairy godmother versus the bad
witch as an example in Boyds article. To specify this split-personality, it is where a child
cannot differentiate the difference between good and bad. In this case, the White Queen
represents the good, kindness, whereas the Queen of Hearts establishes the bad, hatred, and
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aggressive side of Carrolls split-personality. In the beginning of the novel, Alice witnesses the
White Rabbit who is running late and out of time. This can be part of Carrolls psyche where his
mind exaggerates on situations and overthinks situations which can be trigger by the fear of
being late, which can also incorporates Carrolls obsession about time. Tweedle Dee and
Tweedle Dum are another great example of Carl Jungs split personality; a part of Carrolls
reality that reflects how his personalities splits to cope with his childhood traumas. We see
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum as two split personas in the fairy tale who had disowned all
shadow or negative emotions. They were oppositional to each other and they also had
dysmorphic body shapes which again relates to Carrolls fear of loss of bodily control, states
Boyd. Another great example is the Mock Turtle. As Alice enters the realm of the Queen of
Hearts, the Queen introduces Alice to the Mock Turtles story. As the Mock Turtle tells his story
to Alice, the Mock Turtle is in complete depression and etiquette. When the Mock Turtle told his
elongated story of his history of going to school in the sea, he tells Alice what is right and what
wrong, confusing poor Alice. Carrolls depression and proper etiquette is portrayed through the
Mock Turtle, and Alice herself. As an example of Alice, when she invited herself to the Mad
Hatters Tea Party, she labeled the Mad Hatter and his guests as rude individuals because they
commented that she should not intrude their conversations. According to Alice, she believes that
whatever she is saying is correct. This may incorporate the Carrolls close mind set, that he is
mostly always correct.
Least, but not last, Carroll was able to write his second novel of Alice in Wonderland,
Through the Looking Glass. In this novel, Alice finds herself back into Wonderland, and once
again, she is unsure of how it is possible. As Alice enters Wonderland, she encounters flowers
that are able to move. She converse with them just like how she would converse with anyone else
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without the logic of actually knowing if they are part of her imagination or part of her reality.
With this being said, this can also prove that Carroll may have some psyche issues that caused
him to hinder the difference between reality and fantasy. In most parts, Alice are familiar with
certain characters such as Tweedledum and Tweedledee because of a nursery rhyme she has once
been familiar with. In this rhyme, encounter, she is able to identify who they are, but she is
unsure of how it is all real. The Tweedles draw Alice's attention to the Red King ,who is loudly
snoring away under a nearby tree, that maliciously provoke her with terms that she exists only as
an imaginary figure in the Red King's dreams. Thereby, implying that she will cease to exist the
instant he wakes up. This can imply to Carrolls familiarity of knowing that part of his psyche,
may just all be part of his imagination. In the end of the novel, Alice become Queen after she has
reached her destination by playing what seems to be, a chess-like game. Carroll may
acknowledge and praise himself for believing that he is a clever and articulate man. However, it
can be concluded that he is psychologically disturbed in many ways. It is quite impressive that
Carroll is able to do so, despise the fact that he may suffered from serious psychological stresses
such as split personalities and being a pedophile.
The approach of Carrolls novel Alice in Wonderland through a psychology perspective,
it can all be plausible with the overload evidence. We can say that these portrayals are all
something that can be considered due to Carrolls unnatural behavior growing up and
psychologically through his id, ego, superego, and split personalities.



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Work Cited
A.M. E. Goldschmidt, "`Alice in Wonderland' Psychoanalyzed," in The New Oxford
Outlook, Ed. Richard Crossman, Gilbert Highet, and Derek Kahn. Basil
Blackwell, 1933. Web.
Boyd, Richard. "Alice in Wonderland - A Borderline Personality Tale." Alice In
Wonderland Borderline Personality Tale. Energetic Institute, 2011. Web. 31 Mar.
2014.
"Id, Ego and Super-ego." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 31 Mar. 2014. Web.
"Lewis Carroll." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Mar. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Web.