Between Roses begins with no Hatter (link goes to the book on Amazon) mad or otherwise. Theophomilus Kranterdale Hatter begins as dead, and that’s no spoiler.
“Theophomilus Kranterdale Hatter” in Between Roses
For my story, I thought it would be nice to use the name Lewis Carroll gave the Hatter, but Carroll apparently never really named the Hatter, only calling him “the Hatter”. “Mad as a hatter” was a common phrase in his time, supposedly because hatters went mad from the poisonous mercury used to make the hats. So, the Mad Hatter comes about.
What a grueling job, huh?
But, can the illustration, perhaps, tell us anything? Maybe I can find out something behind the art and go from there?
The illustrator, Sir John Tenniel, possibly modeled him off of a man named Theophilus Carter who was a furniture dealer with eccentric ideas and always wore a top hat. People called him “the Mad Hatter”. Some people say it’s Thomas Randall, an Oxford tailor (did he wear hats or make them? unclear). This information is from the Mad Hatter portion of this very Alice-in-Wonderland website where I’ve learned a lot about the original stories, and about Carroll himself, and Tenniel, and you can, too. Idk who put this website together, but it’s awesome.
Theophomilus Kranterdale Hatter is the name I made up from Theophilus, Carter, and Randall. Of course, I had to add in “Hatter” as part of his name because I like it, and his friends call him “Hatty”.
Between Roses does go into a little bit of his lore, talking about how he ended up mad, and died in a cup of tea (literally). However, Carroll doesn’t go into any detail about the Hatter in his story. In fact, in Through the Looking-Glass, the Hatter appears as Hatta, a completely different version of himself, so we get no insight into his backstory.
But could we speculate?
What is the Hatter’s Backstory?
So, in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, what can we say could be the Hatter’s backstory? Considering the phrase “mad as a hatter” came from the fact that hatters got mercury poisoning and went mad, it’s fair to assume he was or is probably a hat maker. But what is a hat maker doing hosting a mad tea party in the middle of a forest? And why are the other characters (March Hare and Dormouse) also mad? Do they know each other?
A Note on These Theories
Note that all the theories below are based on speculations grounded in the fictional world. I’m not saying real people with real mental illnesses are “mad as a hatter” and therefore would likely join the mad tea party.
Theory 1:
The Hatter goes mad from mercury poisoning and ends up in a mental asylum. There, he meets March Hare (also mentally unstable) and the two escape. They find Dormouse living in a teapot. Dormouse is mentally unstable and agoraphobic. They end up caring for him. To cheer him up, they start hosting unbirthdays and constant tea parties until it becomes nonstop when they feed off each other’s madness.
Theory 2:
The Hatter goes mad from mercury poisoning and abandons his work, going into the forest to host a tea party. He meets Dormouse living in one of the teapots his buys and decides to take him in. March Hare was also a hat maker, but for the animals. He also goes mad. He happens upon the tea party and naturally joins in.
Theory 3:
The Hatter and March Hare work at the same hat shop. The March Hare is the Hatter’s assistant. One day, they attend a tea party, but they are on the brink of madness from mercury poisoning, and then they snap. The others who joined the tea party leave out of fear and/or disgust, but the March Hare, and the Hatter keep going. The only one who is left is Dormouse, sleeping in a teapot and half drunk. Dormouse has a sleep disorder and agoraphobia, and is possibly mentally unstable, so accepts this new reality.
And so, the three of them come to be known as the only eternal members of the Mad Tea Party. Possibly all are insomniacs as well with severe distortions on reality.
Did we learn anything about the Hatter?
As an author myself, I learned that if the author himself hadn’t thought of it much, perhaps there’s nothing. Perhaps we must end this with just our speculations. Sometimes, there is no backstory and as readers or Wonderland enthusiasts, we have to accept it. If you have any information, feel free to share it in the comments.
FOXWOOD FOREST 