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Charles Lutwidge Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll

ENG 463: The Victorian Period

Ryan Latta

Introduction

Topics

All topics are based on chapter titles of Sally Mitchell's Daily Life in Victorian England (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996).

Class, Tradition, and Money

While Rev. Dodgson led an unquestionably dull life, his fascination with children often allowed people to understand what his otherwise guarded opinions may have been.

"Now then! Show your ticket, child!" the Guard went on, looking angrily at Alice. And a great many voices said together ("like the chorus of a song," thought Alice) "Don't keep him waiting, child! Why, his time is worth a thousand pounds a minute!"[...] And again the chorus of voices went on. "There wasn't room for one where she came from. The land there is worth a thousand pounds an inch!"[...] "I shall dream about a thousand pounds to-night, I know I shall!" thought Alice.(Annotated Alice 169)

This passage, like many found in Dodgeson's work is both fantastic and symbollic. This passage illustrates the bewildering nature of money and economy to a child. How value is placed on objects that seemingly make no sense, and further how understanding of the subject is cause for seperation amongst people. The nature of money itself in Victorian times was evolving itself, and even Dodgeson was caught by its fluxuations.

Using a rough rule of fifty modern pounds equalling one Victorian pound, Dodgson's £148 overdraft in June 1863 was the approximate equivalent of £7,500 now, and that was fairly typical. For many years, these overdrafts were sufficiently low to be paid off as soon as he received his half-yearly pay from Christ Church. After "Alice" began producing income, the annual revenues, which quickly reached several hundred pounds a year, also helped his solvency.(Victorian Web)

While typically very particular about most of his affairs, his finances showed a noticable lack of attention. His friends even wrote at how he would maintain two purses, one for the pre-determined amount for rail expenses and the like, and the other for spending money. In his fifties, Dodgson went further into debt, one that he most likely never recovered from. However, diary entries give no insight as to how he responded to this crisis.

Banking during the Victorian times evolved quickly toward capitalism, and the times of outstanding debts and overdrafts ended. It could be common for people to have substantial overdrafts with no real penalties. In fact, your social class could even dictate if you could become imprisoned for outstanding debts. These class specific standards undoubtedly over complicated the nature of one's finances.

Working Life

Child at work.

Dodgson himself was a Reverend, and found himself in a unique position within Victorian society. While many struggled and paid heavy tolls to survive, he gave sermons and lectures on logic and mathematics. He was not, however immune to the suffering of those that found themselves trapped within the terrible working conditions. He would use food in his stories to remind people of so many people's struggle to earn enough.

 "Its wings are thin slices of bread-and-butter, its body is a crust, and its head is a lump of sugar."
 "And what does it live on?"
 "Weak tea with cream in it."
 A new difficulty came into Alice's head. "Supposing it couldn't find any?" she suggested.
 "Then it would die, of course"
 "But that must happen very often," Alice remarked thoughtfully.
 "It always happens," said the Gnat.
 (Annotated Alice 175)

Indeed, this was the condition for many working class within the times. As standards within the workplace were just in their infancy, there were health issues compounded with the poverty that gripped so many. Carroll's love of children undoubtedly moved him to some degree at the sights and conditions of children at work.

While thousands of children worked down the mine, thousands of others worked in the cotton mills. The mill owners often took in orphans to their workhouses, they lived at the mill and were worked as hard as possible. They spent most of their working hours at the machines with little time for fresh air or exercise. Even part of Sunday was spent cleaning machines. There were some serious accidents, some children were scalped when their hair was caught in the machine, hands were crushed and some children were killed when they went to sleep and fell into the machine(Industrial Revolution).

While mostly untouched by such conditions himself, Dodgson was aware of the conditions and used food as a device to excite people toward understanding the working life that so many people struggled to survive in.

Science and the Urban World

Government and the Law

Political Cartoon by John Tenniel (also illustrated Alice in Wonderland)

The Victorean Era is uqnesitonably an era of transitions. In terms of government, many social institutions began that woudl become the predecessors of modern welfare. Further, legal changes took place, especially in regards to voting. Women were beginning to gain more importance in the legal arena, although their rights as married women remained pitiful. Dodgson (Carroll) himself was raised in a family with government positions. His uncle, Robert Wilfred Skeffington Lutwidge served on the Lunacy Commmission after being its Secretary and being an Inquiry Commissioner.

On 1.8.1856 the asylum doctors' association passed "amidst applause" a vote of congratulations on his appointment. His "firmness, prudence, good temper, and gentlemanly feeling" as Secretary had "elicited the most sincere respect and esteem". Dr Bucknill moved the motion and Forbes Winslow, seconding, "bore cordial testimony to the uniform courtesy and urbanity, which all... had uniformally received on personal and general grounds from Mr Lutwidge"(Lunacy Commission, Chapter 6)

Lewis Carroll himself took an interest in politics as an educated outsider. He would pen many letter and pamphelets to encourage better methods and laws for every day social standards. He was considered an activist for the rights of women, the underprivilaged, women, and voters. He would even use Game Theory mathematics to develop voting into a more mature and fair process.

In A Method of Taking Votes, Dodgson recommended an approach to choosing a winner that permitted voters to change their votes when cycles were present in order to produce a consensus ranking based on inversion. This approach matured into the coalition strategies he advocated for allotting seats to candidates in an ordered list in The Principles of Parliamentary Representation (item 30), which Duncan Black (1908-1991), the Scottish economist and political theorist, described as "the most interesting contribution to Political Science that has ever been made"(The Central Argument in Lewis Carroll's 'The Principles of Parliamentary Representation 1-17)

While Dodgson continued to write his pamphlets and letters under many pseudonyms, he was very keen on the laws and politics of the day and used his altruistic and mathematical mind to encourage a better government for everyone.

House, Food, and Clothes

The Rabbit. The Annotated Alice pg 12

Certainly one of the most interesting and long lasting aspects of the Victorian era is that of the clothing people wore. It is stylized in movies and literature as standing out among other historical clothing types. Girls often wore dresses similar to that of an adult woman. The largest variation took place in the skirt. A young girl's skirt would start at her knees and continue to lengthen as she aged. A further development was the story of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland which also encouraged the clothing styles to change.

Books were responsible for some of the fads: Little Lord Fauntleroy inspired black velvet suits for boys; many styles of girls' dresses were based on the illustrations from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland or the loose mock-Regency gowns depicted in Kate Greenway's drawings.(Daily Life in Victorian England pg. 135)

Lewis Carroll used clothing throughout his stories to dictate class and attitude which was evident in society as well. As stated earlier, he also used food constantly as both enticement and as an illustration of the types of diets that were available.

There was nothing so very remoarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" (when she thought it over afterwards, it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but, when the Rabbit acutally took a watch out of his waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on...(Annotated Alice pg 11,12)

Family and Social Rituals

One of the larger images of Victorian England are the complex social rituals that society went through as a whole to both stand out as distinguished individuals of character by following established rules of etiquitte. A common occurence in Carroll's Alice, there are social encounters that wind up taking a very "illogical" turn.

 You look a little shy: let me introduce you to that leg of mutton," said the Red Queen.           
 "Alice --Mutton: Mutton --Alice." The leg of mutton got up in the dish and made a little   bow to Alice, and Alice returned the bow, not knowing whether to be frightened or amused.
 "May I give you a slice?" she said...
 "Certainly not," the Red Queen said, very decidedly: "it isn't etiquette to cut any one you've been introduced to. Remove the joint!" And the waiters carried it off, and brought a large plum-pudding in its place.
 "I won't be introduced to the pudding, please," Alice said rather hastily, "or we shall get no dinner at all." (Annotated Alice)

In this particular example, Alice is politely introduced to her food. She is then corrected for her lack of etiquette for wanting to eat her acquaintance. This scenario occurs many times, and always adds an unexpected element. Etiquette was such an imporant aspect of society that many people were unsure of the protocol, which prompted several manuals of etiquette to be published.

Introduction merely for the purpose of dancing with a lady, does not give a gentleman the right to be recognised by her on future occassion; but the lady has the privilege of renewing the acquaitance, if she thinks fit to do so. (Hand Book of Etiquette, Pg. 12)

Education

The system of Education went through many changes during the Victorian Era. It went from being a singularity among the rich to a required aspect of every child's lives. That said, there were still distinctions made between class and gender. Women and men learned different subjects as each genders' role was considered unequal. Also, the wealthy sent their children to prestigious private schools, and others simply enrolled in the free public schools, and governesses were still common as well. Often for the public education, paper was too expensive to distribute to students, so memorization and recital were the primary learning tool.

Children who did go to school learned reading, writing and arithmetic, studied the Bible and memorised the catechism. Children usually learned by rote. Paper was expensive so there were few books and only slates to write on.(The BBC)

Lewis Carroll's Alice often found herself trying to understand her surroundings and test her own well-being by reciting her many lessons throughout her stay in Wonderland. This was often a device for Carroll to create parodies of popular poems, as well as furthering the nonsense that made Wonderland so enchanting.

 "Well, I've tried to say 'How doth the little busy bee,' but it all came different!" Alice replied in a very melancholy voice.
 "Repeat 'You are old, Father William,'" said the Caterpillar.
 Alice folded her hands, and began:-

 "You are old, Father William" the young man said...

 "Thats not said right," said the Caterpillar.
 "Not quite right, I'm afraid," said Alice, timidly: "some of the words have got altered."
 "It is wrong from beginning to end," said the Caterpillar; decidedly; and there was silence for some minutes.(Annotated Alice, pg. 49-52)

Many times throughout Carroll's stories, he will introduce rhymes and poems for amusement and parody sake. Familiar scenes have been created from the Caterpillar, Jabberwocky, and The Walrus and the Carpenter. Interestingly enough that Victorian education was based of memorization of popular and relevant poems, and now in contemporary education, we learn the stories that parodied them.

Health and Medicine

Holidays, Sports, and Recreation

Among the classes within the Victorian Era, there grew varying cultures of recreation. The wealthiest classes, may live only lives of recreation, while the lowest working class may only be able to celebrate certain Holidays. However, with rapid industrialization and modernization, the notion of games and sports would have their impact on everyone. Lewis Carroll's works have left familiar scenes in everyone's mind, such as croquet with the Queen, the Mad Hatter's tea party, or the caucus race. There were several occassions within Alice where recreation became the setting for his improbable and illogical.

 "A bright idea came into Alice's head.  "Is that the reason so many tea-things are put out here?" she asked.
 "Yes, that's it," said the Hatter with a sigh: "it's always tea-time and we've no time to wash the things betweenw whiles."
 "Then you keep moving round, I suppose?" said Alice.
 "Exactly so," said the Hatter: "as the things get used up."
 "But what happens when you've come to the beginning again?" Alice ventured to ask.(Annotated Alice, pg. 74)

Carroll and recreation are nearly all that people associate any more. In fact, Alice was invented over an afternoon taking the Liddel sisters out on a boat trip. As a mathematician, he posed interesting riddles for people to solve with arithmatic in the form of stories.

 There was an anxious pause. "How large did he say the pudding was to be?"  Balbus said at last.  "Takes its cubical contents, divided by the cubical contents of each man can eat.  And the quotient--"
 "He didn't say anything about pudding," said Hugh, "-- and here's the Square," as they turned a corner and came into sight of th first "eligible apartments."
 "It is a Square!" was Balbus' first cry of delight, as he gazed around him.  "Beautiful!  Beau-ti-ful! Equilateral! And rectangular!"(A Tangled Tale, pg. 8)

While Carroll had many hobbies and amusements; photography, logic, mathematics to name a few, he is best known for his story of whimsical recreation in Wonderland.

Religion and Reform

Charles Lutwidge Dodgeson was a reverend. As was required for teaching in Victorian England. However, there is a lack of material on his actual religious beliefs. We know his preferences were for games, logic, math, and children. However, we don't know how religion played into his life.

But the problem is Dodgson never left a clear statement of his very personal religious views. All we have is a scattering of observations, comments, hints and semi 'confessions', which leave us realising his views were anything but 'simple'.(Lewis Carroll and his religion)

Further, there is a lack of any concrete reference to religion in his most popular work of Alice. One of the few metaphors that was created, however, was the notion that the Walrus and the Carpenter poem is actually a criticism of institutionalized religion. This of course was made in the movie Dogma.

Lewis Carroll did, however, write several articles and pamphelets, as mentioned earlier that encouraged social and governmental reform. In fact, some of his game theories proved to help with economics and the voting strucutre. As noted above.

Morality

Beatrice Henley. Source:http://people.virginia.edu/~ds8s/carroll/dodgson.html. Print:Lewis Carroll, Photographer by Helmut Gernsheim. London : Max Parrish & Co. 1949.

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson or Lewis Carroll has led a life that still creates questions for scholars to answer. The most popular of these questions is about his potential as a pedophile. The scholars remain torn on this issue, some assert he was, and others assert he wasn't. However, it is commonly known that he was fond of children. He even went through pains to photograph them, as a hobby. Even Alice from his great work herself, is based of real child named Alice Liddell, whom Dodgson was very fond of. However, in his works alone, he left his own opinions out of the matter.

“Tut, tut, child,” said the Duchess. “Everything’s got a moral if only you can find it.” (Annotated Alice, pg. 91)

"'Tis so," said the Duchess: "and the moral of that is-- 'Oh, 'tis love, that makes the world go round!'"(Annotated Alice, pg. 92)

While the Duchess was one of few characters that droned about the morality of things in a very peculiar way, nearly all characters within Carroll's story acted as a good figure should have. Their morality was almost dictated by the character and status of the character within the story.

So the question remains. What did Dodgson believe? There isn't a lot of material outside of his personal journals for insight. Even with them, it seems as though he rarely extemporates on the ideals of morality and good behavior. However, he did write at least one piece entirely about the notion of atonement.

"Oh on such easy ones!" she answered with a beaming smile, "The Gardner's Son, who was so gentle and so good, knew before He came that we could never win the spotless flower, and so He told us that He Himself would freely give it to us, that we might have the right to go home once more. All we have to do is leave these flowers around us and to gather Him a few little daisies, just to show that we trust and obey Him. Oh, they are such easy terms."(A Dream of the Atonement, pg. 28-29)"

While this is clearly meant as a metaphor for accepting Christ, and his story is a journey through the christian faith; it is interesting to note that the primary characters of this story are all beautiful children.

England and Empire

References

Carroll, Lewis. The Annotated Alice.NY: Norton, 2000.

Various. The Victorian Web. 2005

Various. Industrial Revolution. 2005

Black, Duncan. "The Central Argument in Lewis Carroll's 'The Principles of Parliamentary Representation,'" Papers on Nonmarket Decision Making 3 (1967), 1-17.

Roberts, Andrew 1981- The Lunacy Commission <http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/study/01.htm> Middlesex University web, London.

Mitchell, Sally. "Daily Life in Victorian England." CT: Greenwood, 1996

Casell. "The Hand-Book of Etiquette: Being the Complete Guide to the Usages of Polite Society." London:Peter and Galpin, 1860

Various. [1] Education in Victorian Wrexham Visited 3/22/07

Carroll, Lewis. "A Tangled Tale." London:Macmillan and Co, 1885

Leech, Karoline. <http://www.lewiscarroll.org/religion.html>. Accessed:4/14/07. Updated: 4/22/2002. Dodgson, Charles Lutwidge. "A Dream of the Atonement." London:Rivingtons, 1882.