Logic/Shakespeare in Alice and Wonderland

Logic/Shakespeare in Alice and Wonderland

Surpassing Shakespeare:

Mathematics and Logic vs. The Influence of Shakespeare in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Epigraph:

The ultimate use of Shakespeare is to let him teach you to think too well, to whatever truth you can sustain without perishing." - Harold Bloom

In Harold Bloom's Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, the author alludes to the Bard of Avon's ability not only to entertain his readers but to engage them in quizzical and logical puzzles of character that result in their redefinitions of truth and themselves. In fact, in Robert Atwan's review of Bloom's book he likens the bard's "multilayered architecture and dramatic intricacy" to a diagram of a complex hi-fi system. Though the quote and these attributes most definitely describe Shakespeare's plays, they also ring true of the complex logic displayed in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Though the greatest plays in the Englsh language and a children's story written by an eloquent mathematician who, according to Karoline Leach, may have been more man than myth, may not seem similar at first, both literary works present truth as a complex puzzle, a Rubik's Cube for the mind. A simple perusal of the Bible, Greek Mythology, and Bhagavad Gita suggest that the search for truth has been at the center of literature since its earliest conception. For example, Paul's letter to the Corinthians explains humans' search for truth as seeing "through a glass darkly" (1 Corinthians 13:12), and Sophocles' Oedipus tragedies are nothing more than an allegory for the danger involved in humans' search for truth. Shakespeare, therefore, cannot be credited with the theme of searching for truth, but he can be recognized for his contribution to the logic and mystery of that Rubik's Cube. But though Bloom and other scholars like Atwan have long considered Shakespeare to be the most modern authority on the literary theme of searching for truth, Carroll's use of mathematics and logic in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland allow the more modern author to throw his own Rubick's Cube into the running for the author that used literature to most accurately portray or consider humans' search for truth. Though Bloom is one of the most respected English literature scholars of the post modern era, his assumptions about Carrol and Shakespeare can and should be challenged.

Though preeminent and foremost in many things, I refuse to admit that Shakespeare is the modern father of humans' search for truth. Furthermore, refuse to accept Bloom's generalizations of Carroll's witty novel with respect to the playwright and poet. In the following article, I suggest that Bloom could be wrong, at least partially. Certainly Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is not devoid of Shakespeare's influence, but it does not seem to fall conveniently into place amongst Bloom's theories either. Through penning this article, I set out take Bloom to the wrack, combing through Alice's Adventures in Wonderland to find not only references to Shakespeare, but also much grander references to Carroll's own discipline of mathematics and logic.

Upon my initial research I found that Bloom recognized Carroll's literary genius, his "astonishing exuberance in both verse and prose," but surprisingly, did not excuse him from Shakespeare's influence (Bloom?). According to Bloom, "Lewis Carroll is Shakespearean to the degree that his writing has become a kind of Scripture for us (Bloom 2)."

Bloom also did not excuse him from "belatedness," accusing the humorist of revolutionary ideas that came too late, once Shakespeare's were already mainstream in the literary world. Bloom best intimates this by suggesting that "Carroll's parodies, sometimes brilliant though they are, do not transcend their echoes, do not reverse Carroll's own burden of literary belatedness (Bloom 2)."

Bloom's judgment of Carroll's originality and contribution to the undying literary theme of humans' search for meaning was, at least, unfair, as the parodies of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland comprise only a small element of the novel, and intentionally mimic their origins. Furthermore, not only are the parodies purposely belated, but also they exemplify a complex system of logic and mathematics that threaten to rival the great Bard himself. Still, I was pleasantly surprised and flattered to find that Bloom appreciated Carroll, and found his work worthy of comparison to Shakespeare. I held strong though, refusing to be pacified by this compliment, and began the search for something greater in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Introduction:

Upon reading Lewis Carroll's delightful novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the reader is at once struck and seduced by the peculiarity of the text. The language is riddled, the characters "mad," and the environment fantastical. Beyond this, it is possible to infer multiple antithetical meanings for almost every aspect presented in the novel. A mock turtle is an animal that resembles a turtle, but only was once a turtle; anything with a head can be beheaded, even if it has no body; and the most simple way to correct a white rose is simply to paint it red. The novel is not only "mad," but it is maddeningly hilarious in that the absurdities it points out turn out to make absolute sense. Why else would a lesson be called a lesson unless the number of hours one must take it lessen every day (Carroll?)? To those trained to seek out and interpret symbols and motifs especially, the novel is overwhelmingly ambiguous. Once the reader follows Alice down the rabbit hole however, there is no turning back to passive reading, he or she is forced to tussle through the same events and encounters as Alice, making what sense he or she can of the experience. Knowledge and confidence in Wonderland come only through experience, and chaos and madness avoided only by finding stability -- Wonderland.

Upon falling into Wonderland, it becomes quickly apparent that this is a land where language and words are significant, mathematics is rendered unrecognizable and where logical reasoning is a continuing struggle. Or is the logic contained in wonderland simply too fantastical, and in a sense too logical, for the casual reader to understand? As a mathematician, Carroll uses logic several times to prove an argument that seems impossible; Carroll uses an illogical syllogism to make a logical argument for the illogical. For instance, when considering whether or not a bodiless Cheshire cat can be beheaded, the King presents this syllogism:

Premise 1: All things with a head can be beheaded.

Premise 2: The Cheshire cat has a head.

Conclusion: The Cheshire cat can be headed.

Of course, any rational human being would understand that something must have both a head and a body to be beheaded, but Carroll here uses seamless logic to prove the absolute illogical, a feat that some may call the mark of a true genius. Thus, far beyond his parodies that mimic and mock Shakespeare, Carroll meets and even exceeds Shakespeare through his use of logic and mathematics. Though the Bard of Avon certainly used logic to wind together the complex strings of his plays, using the illogical to prove the logical is nothing "belated," in fact, it is originally and ingeniously Carroll. Thus, by proving Bloom's fallacy of Shakespearean influence on Carroll and exploring the influence of mathematics and logic on his writing, I contend that although Shakespeare may have influenced Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the principles of mathematical and logical reasoning are a grander source of influence on Carroll's novel, as they are the only concepts which seem to remain constant and true in Wonderland, and they are the only method by which chaos is harnessed and order is established.

Bloom's Argument of Shakespearean Influence:

Though it is impossible to argue that one can find no evidence of Shakespearean influence in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Harold Bloom's suggestion that Carroll's novel is simply a belated tale mimicking Shakespeare's logic and complexities is stretched. Because a syllogism worked well in explaining how Carroll's unique literary contribution allows him to explain the illogical using the logical, a second syllogism will suffice to prove the fallacy in Bloom's argument.

Premise 1: if a literary work is post Shakespearean and Western, then Shakespeare influenced it.

Premise 2: No other theories are capable of encompassing Shakespeare, and Shakespearean

Theory encompasses all other theories.

Conclusion: Shakespeare is the dominant source of influence in all Western works of literature that succeed him.

While Bloom's first premise, or his argument of Shakespearean influence seems feasible, his claim that the Shakespearean Theory dominates all other theories, or the second premise, is bold and argumentative; and the extreme conclusion that results is even more disagreeable and offensive. Essentially, the fallacy of Bloom's logic is overreaching. While it is correct to assume that Shakespeare is perhaps the largest source of influence on Western literature, one cannot argue that he has influenced every piece of literature that succeeded him without being somewhat ridiculous. Take, for instance, genres of modern literature that have sprung up anew in the modern or post modern era: the film inspired novel, Christian fiction, and the murder mystery. Among the novels of these genres one will most likely find some inspirations, allusions, and influences that point back to Shakespeare, but as just an example, these novels also contain many volumes that do not reference or refer to the Bard. Of course, the studious scholar might point out that nearly every document produced since the time of Shakespeare must have been influenced by the writer because of the sheer number of vocabulary words he created, but the focus of this essay is literary references and influences (the Language).

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, evidence of Shakespeare's influence is most noteworthy in Carroll's use of the themes of foolery, communication problems, and identity as it relates to power. Yet, if a grander source of influence outside Shakespeare could account for the text better than Shakespeare, Bloom's theory would be debased.

Of course, a larger sources of influence on Carroll's works has already been determined, the influence that came from within himself, his own vocation. I contend that although Shakespeare may have influenced Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the principles of mathematical and logical reasoning are a grander source of influence on Carroll's novel because they are the only concepts that seem to remain constant and true in Wonderland, and they are the only method by which chaos is harnessed and order is established. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has already been described as mad, and mad it is, full of mad hatters, babies that turn into pigs, and foods that make one grow at alarming rates. The world is disorderly and illogical. As previously explained, however, Carroll uses logic to make the illogical logical, and therefore establishing order. In fact, the very themes of the book are highlighted by this use of logic to tame illogical disorder. For instance, Alice spends quite a bit of time speaking with the hookah-smoking caterpillar about her size. She punctuates nearly all of her sentences with "you know." Clearly, as the caterpillar states, he does not know. Alice intimates that she feels it is horrible to be the small size that she is during the novel and the caterpillar quickly takes offence, pointing out that he is the size Alice seems so ready to discriminate against (Carroll?). Through the caterpillar's logical replies to what the author quickly sees are Alice's illogical assumptions (though they are the assumptions most would make if in a similar situation), the reader not only begins to understand the upside-down and topsy-turvy atmosphere of Wonderland, but he or she also becomes aware of one of Carroll's most prevalent themes -- the dynamic of assumptions and offence between strangers in strange lands.

Thus, Carroll's use of logic is ultimately a more influential source in his work than his considering of Shakespeare. By using logic not only to prove the illogical and make sense of the nonsensical world of Wonderland, but also to highlight his major themes, Carroll himself proves that this was of greater influence on his work than was Shakespeare. But because Carroll so expertly used Mathematics and logic to write the intriguing tales of Wonderland, using formal logic to disprove Bloom's argument that Shakespeare was the larger influence in Carroll's literary career is important. Formal logic allows two methods of attacking or debasing a conclusion. The first is by disproving one or more of the premises, and the second is by providing an alternative source for the conclusion (without breaking premises). In this examination, it is most effective to utilize the first method, which entails examining the premises of Bloom's argument for fallacies and weaknesses that may nullify his conclusion.

Testing Bloom's Premise: Shakespeare's Influence:

restatement of the syllogism to be disproved follows:

Premise 1: if a literary work is post Shakespearean and Western, then Shakespeare influenced it.

Premise 2: No other theories are capable of encompassing Shakespeare, and Shakespearean

Theory encompasses all other theories.

Conclusion: Shakespeare is the dominant source of influence in all Western works of literature that succeed him.

Lewis Carroll was born on January 27, 1832, in Daresbury, Cheshire, England and published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1872. As England is included in the Western Tradition and William Shakespeare lived from 1564 to 1616, we see that Lewis Carroll fits safely within the initial confines of premise one.

The second claim of premise one is that since Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a Post-Shakespearean work of the Western tradition, it is influenced by Shakespeare. Yet, in order to validate Bloom's first premise, it is essential to examine the text for evidence that reflects and confirms this claim.

One of the ways in which Shakespeare's influence is apparent in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is because the inhabitants of Wonderland are a cast of Shakespearean "fools," who create confusion, add humor through songs, jokes, and puns. Particularly, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is comparable to Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night, as they are both stories in which characters combine their foolishness and wits to attack those that attempt to avoid reality.

Additionally, Carroll's Wonderland is similar to Shakespeare's Illyria of Twelfth Night, a "country permeated with the spirit of the Feast of Fools, where identities are confused, 'uncivil rule' applauded...and no harm is done (Welsford page?)."

Beyond Twelfth Night however, the reader continues to observe ways in which Carroll's novel reflects broad Shakespearean influence. "Chaos," which is defined as "a state of complete disorder and confusion," by whom/what is a primary theme in Shakespeare's literary works that reemerges in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. For example, Shakespeare's a Midsummer Night's Dream is almost wholly based on the concept of chaos and fools. Foolish lover, and perhaps not simply fools in love, but also fools in general, are bewitched and run around chaotically between fairies and nymphs seeking out one another. A spiritual feud between paranormal spirits and miscommunications to their messengers leads to this chaos. This depiction of chaotic and foolish characters running through a wood seeking something that is lost even though they are not sure why they seek it is not much different then Alice wandering aimlessly through a Wonderland filled with chaotic creatures as she looks for something that she cannot quite identify. Maybe it's the rabbit, perhaps her cat Dinah, a way home, or the little garden door. Nevertheless, in both Shakespeare and Carroll stories what is sought is elusive truth in a world where chaos is king.

Like Shakespeare, Carroll creates chaos through communication errors that contribute to identity struggles by using many of the same linguistic techniques as Shakespeare, such as puns, syntax play and soliloquies. Examples of this include Alice's befuddled conversations with the caterpillar, duchess, and mock turtle, all of which say illogical words and phrases that turn out to be perfectly logical, depending on what angle one is reading them from.

A memorable pun is found in the novel's second chapter. In "the Pool of Tears," the mouse attempts to dry everyone who was caught in the pool of tears by reciting some history, which is the "driest" thing he knows (Carroll?). In this case, "dry," of course, means dull, and the Mouse's words fail to relieve the dampness of the creatures, who are left "as wet as ever" (Carroll?).

Later, when Alice meets the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, they confuse Alice by playing with the order of words (syntax), another popular device of Shakespeare:

Then you should say what you mean," the March Hare went on.

A do," Alice hastily replied; "at least -- at least I mean what I say that's the same thing, you know."

Not the same thing a bit!" said the Hatter. "You might just as well say that 'I see what I eat' is the same thing as 'I eat what I see'!"

You might just as well say," added the March Hare, "that 'I like what I get' is the same thing as 'I get what I like'! (Carroll?)

Communication struggles also appear in self-communication, which occurs most often in the form of soliloquy. This contributes to interiority, an element highly valued by Harold Bloom, as it is the primary method by which unique and praiseworthy characters are developed. Like Shakespeare's Hamlet, Alice's frequent conversations to herself are soliloquies, and it is through miscommunications, confusion, and chaos within herself that she becomes unsure of her own identity and more susceptible to madness and powerlessness in Wonderland. For example, Alice exclaims to herself:

Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, THAT'S the great puzzle! (Carroll).

In Wonderland, language is powerful and often interpreted literally as it is directly related to identity and power. Carroll uses many figures of speech in his text and, in fact, many of his characters are named after figures of speech. For example, the Mad Hatter comes from the phrase 'mad as a hatter.' In Carroll's time, hat makers regularly used mercury to treat their hats, and were affected mentally by its poisonous vapors. Another character who is named for a figure of speech is the Mock Turtle, who has the front limbs and shell of a turtle and the head and hind limbs of a calf, because "mock turtle soup" is made from veal.

In addition to making up new words, Shakespeare enjoyed creating new meanings from and for existing words, especially by substituting one part of speech for another (anthimeria) as in the line: "I'll unhair thy head" (Antony and Cleoptra, II, v).

Carroll essentially mimics Shakespeare's witty use of syntax by naming characters after phrases. He expands the reader's notions of existing figures of speech (which are originally descriptive in function) to function here as nouns (names). This is a significant move; it has the effect of causing the reader to assume character traits based on their pre-existing concepts and opinions of the phrase of derivation. This explains the defensiveness of the Mad Hatter and the March Hare as they themselves are literal interpretations of figures of speech. Thus, confusion and lackadaisical word comprehension and interpretation is a very relevant personal threat to their identities and existence.

Wonderland, as a place of chaos due to communication errors, identity issues, and personal power struggles, is then a literary creation which derives from Shakespeare. However, a deeper source of influence which pervades Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland threatens Shakespeare's chaos: mathematics and logic.

Mathematical Influence:

Many "logic and mathematical concepts are found at the core of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," (Gardner?), which ground the novel in reality. Indeed, upon examining Carroll's text, it becomes clear that mathematical concepts and logic account for Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland more effectively than Shakespeare because, as previously mentioned, Carroll uses mathematics and logic to stabilize the apparent nonsense and chaos of Wonderland, and indeed save Alice from madness.

One of the first mathematical concepts that appears undistorted in the text occurs in chapter one, "Down the Rabbit-Hole." Alice drinks from a bottle labeled "drink me" (not poison) that causes her to shrink to a height of only ten inches. Upon this experience, she considers the possible extent to which she may shrink:

for it might end, you know," said Alice to herself, "in my going out altogether, like a candle" (Carroll?).

Alice's statement reflects the mathematical concept of a limit (Gardner?), which is preserved, despite her tumble into Wonderland.

In chapter two, "The Pool of Tears," Alice openly demonstrates how mathematical concepts, when considered logically as opposed to literally, continue to produce predictable results:

Let me see: four times five is twelve, and four times six is thirteen, and four times seven is -- oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at that rate" (Carroll?).

Although Alice's calculations are incorrect, the answers are not nonsense; they are of a sequential nature and have been arrived at through a mathematical pattern governed by rules.

A sequence is a numeric pattern which is defined as "a set of ordered quantities in which there is always the same relation between each quantity and the one succeeding it" (by whom, Page). If we examine the numbers in these multiplication facts, we see that the first factor is always four; which represents a constant sequence. The second factors of each equation are exactly one greater than the equivalent term of the equation preceding it. The "products" also form an increasing sequence (12, 13,...). These patterns are mathematical by the behavior of the numbers.

Another instance of mathematics is presented in the courtroom when the King reads:

Rule Forty-Two. All persons more than a mile high to leave the court."

That's not a regular rule: you invented it just now," Alice declares, refusing to leave.

It's the oldest rule in the book." The King retorts.

Then it ought to be Number One," Alice declares (Carroll?).

At this, the King turns pale and hastily shuts the rulebook, a strong reaction which confirms his recognition and understanding of numeric sequencing and logical order. The King's acknowledgement of the relative relations of numeric values, knowledge that one comes first and that numbers are ordered from lowest to highest value, proves that "normal" mathematics and logic do still exist in Wonderland. The ultimate authority of the "Laws" of mathematics, even in Wonderland, becomes Alice's anchor to reality and enables her to use logical arguments effectively.

In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland there also exists another important type of mathematics: the visual. These visual or spatial patterns and relationships are noticeable most apparently with regard to size(s) and measurement. In Wonderland, measurement is used just as it is in the real world, with inches being the primary unit. When talking to the Caterpillar, Alice claims that "...three inches high is such a wretched height to be." The Caterpillar responds indignantly to Alice's complaint that "It is a very good height indeed" (Carroll?).