Vanishing Act and the Famous Grin of the Cheshire Cat

Lewis Carroll popularized the fictional character known as the Cheshire Cat in his work, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Recognized for its distinctive mischievous grin, the association of a "cheshire cat" with smiling existed prior to the 1865 publication of the book and has since extended beyond literary realms, embedding itself in popular culture across various media forms, including political cartoons, television, and interdisciplinary studies spanning business to science.

The hallmark of the Alice-style Cheshire Cat is its gradual disappearance, leaving only its iconic grin as the final visible trace. Originally belonging to the Duchess, the Cheshire Cat is now predominantly linked to the character from Lewis Carroll's novel.

In the narrative, Alice first encounters the Cheshire Cat in the Duchess's kitchen, and later on a tree's branches, where it mysteriously appears and disappears while engaging Alice in entertaining yet occasionally confounding conversations. 

The cat introduces philosophical points that both annoy and perplex Alice. However, it provides solace when it suddenly materializes on the Queen of Hearts' croquet field. During a peculiar trial where the cat is sentenced to death, it confounds everyone by making its head visible without its body, sparking a debate on whether a disembodied head can truly be beheaded. 

Notably, the cat's disappearance culminates in only its grin remaining, prompting Alice to reflect that she has witnessed a cat without a grin but never a grin without a cat.

In this scene Alice is walking in the forest of  Wonderland after visiting the Duchess and saving the little pig from the pots and pans of the cook. Then she sees the Cheshire Cat and has a chat with it.

Cheshire Cat declares that "Everyone in Wonderland is Mad" while Alice asks for directions. 

The conversation ends abruptly when the Cat vanishes, but he wants to ask Alice about the pig and suddenly appears again. This happens a couple of times and Alice is getting dizzy from the Cat's vanishing acts. Alice asks the Cheshire Cat not to do it so suddenly.

Therefore, next time the Cat disappears very slowly beginning with the end of the tail and ending with the grin. The grin being the last thing to vanish, it stays in the air by itself for some time, and Alice is pretty amazed by this:

"Well, I've often seen a cat without a grin; but a grin without the cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!"

 [Cheshire Cat illustration by John Tenniel: Wikimedia Commons]

Threatening quote from the Queen of Hearts

This week's Alice in Wonderland quote comes from the ever fearsome Queen of Hearts.

Alice is talking with the Duchess who is released from the prison in the middle of the Queen's croquet game. But when the Queen of Hearts sees the Duchess she stomps on the ground and shouts:

"Now, I give you fair warning, either you or your head must be off, and that in about half no time! Take your choice!"

-the Queen of Hearts

The Duchess doesn't think for a moment but vanishes in a second. She is too scared of the Red Queen and does not want to be taken back to the prison. The Queen then leads speechless Alice back to the croquet-ground.

Alice in Wonderland Quote by the Duchess

This week's Alice in Wonderland quote comes from the Duchess.

After the disappearance of the Cheshire Cat Alice is walking with the Duchess who is for once in a pleasant temper. She tucks her arm into Alice's and rests her chin on Alice's shoulder, which Alice doesn't like much because her chin is uncomfortably sharp.

The Duchess talks and gives morals to everything from love to thinking without speaking. This is a moral to something that only the Duchess can understand:

"Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves."

The Duchess is one of the lesser known characters in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Carroll does not describe her physically in much detail, although as stated in Chapter 9:

"Alice did not much like keeping so close to her: first, because the Duchess was very ugly; and secondly, because she was exactly the right height to rest her chin upon Alice’s shoulder, and it was an uncomfortably sharp chin."

Her hideous appearance and short stature is strongly established in the popular imagination thanks to John Tenniel's illustrations (see below) and from that context it is clear that Alice finds her quite unattractive.

The Duchess is an antagonist of the Queen of Hearts. In her first appearance, the she seems nearly as unpleasant as the Queen herself, but later on treats Alice with friendliness and respect.

The Duchess lives in Wonderland in a small house just outside the Caterpillar's forest She lives with a baby, and a cat called "Cheshire". Yes, she is the owner of the mysterious Cheshire Cat!

She employs a footman, whom Alice thinks resembles a frog, and a cook, who is addicted to pepper and who throws crockery and kitchen utensils over her shoulder with no concern for those who might be hit. The footman enjoys staring at the sky for days on end, oblivious to most people in or out of the house.

The Duchess' character is strongly volatile; at times she even seems to have a double personality. When she first meets Alice in her kitchen, she shows herself to be nervously aggressive.

Alice talks to the Daisies

This Alice in Wonderland quote comes from a scene where Alice talks to the Daisies.

In this adventure Alice walks into a garden with large flower beds bordered by daisies and a willow-tree growing in the middle. Alice wishes that the flowers could talk and becomes speechless when the Tiger-Lily actually answers her! (Fun fact: The flowers Alice meets include a tiger-lily, a rose, a daisy, a violet, and larkspur.)

Tiger Lily explains that all flowers can talk, but because most garden beds are so soft the flowers in them are always sleeping. This garden has a very hard ground and so the flowers are awake and can talk when they are addressed first.

Suddenly, all the daisies start talking and shouting at the same time and Alice shuts them up by whispering these scary words:

"If you don't hold your tongues, I'll pick you!"