Appreciation: The Mad Hatter

The Mad Hatter, in every version of Lewis Carroll's classic tale of Alice's adventures called simply the Hatter, is a thoroughly complex and fascinating character. He is whimsical, charming, deep, dark, and incredibly excited about tea. Although his friends the March Hare and the dormouse are just as mad and wonderful, the Mad Hatter is always considered a star in Carroll's amazingly nonsensical Wonderland.

Alice in Wonderland, III. by Arthur Rackham, 1907.

Early artwork for the series by Arthur Rackham show a familiar though unique image of the beloved character. In my opinion, he looks a bit frog-like, with long thin fingers, but he maintains the characteristic large nose. Some of us, particularly Disney fans, will notice something shocking about the Mad Hatter's hat - the card reads "8/11" instead of "10/6," disregarding Carroll's own description of the all-important hat.

Of course, Disney's animated adaptation kept the large schnoz and found itself closer to the original description Carroll gave in his whimsical series. This Hatter was goofy and definitely fulfilled the cartoon image, voiced by the distinctive Ed Wynn. We also remember this Hatter fondly for his oversized hat and willingness to break into song, another characteristic featured in the books.

In 1999, NBC contributed its own image of the Mad Hatter to the Alice in Wonderland land of adaptations. Played to perfection by comedian Martin Short, this Hatter maintains a light madness - one that's funny and wacky and just as musical as Disney's animated character. For Martin Short, though, we have a longer time with the character and come to appreciate his own kind of normalcy. Not to mention, this Hatter did huge heads before Tim Burton put one on the Queen of Hearts.

And we come to Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's now iconic Mad Hatter. This version - though fairly close to Lewis Carroll's original image in design - is significantly darker than previous adaptations. Depp's Hatter has the quirky madness we're accustomed, too, but often reveals an underlying darkness, something much more realistic to the mind's madness. Additionally, this Hatter is less musically inclined, but he makes up for that with his fashion abilities, creating a new dress for the shrunken Alice in under a minute. Tim Burton has always been successful with darkness but here he creates a symbiotic relationship between light and dark - and then he puts a hat on it. 

Which Hatter is your favorite Mad Hatter?