"But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked.
‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the Cat: ‘we’re all mad here. I‘m mad. You‘re mad." This quote captures like nothing else the essence of Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s book Alice in Wonderland. The story of a young girl getting bored during a hot summer day and slipping into a dreamland full of odd creatures has enchanted generations of children myself included. Alice is not a typical children’s book though, as it is quite multilayered, thanks to Carroll’s clever play with language. Carroll, common name Charles Lutwige Dodgson, was quite fond of using several stylistic devices like punning, to delight the young readership his stories were for. But I also noticed that he used ambiguity in quite a few instances. Many characters are very fond of ambiguity most prominently The Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, the Mock Turtle, Gryphon and the Red King. Carroll mostly uses ambiguity to create confusion through misunderstandings, mostly on Alice’s dispense, which in return tends to create a certain humor for the reader.
In this seminar paper I will discuss Carroll’s use of ambiguity in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by analyzing several instances of it that appear throughout the novel. I will start out by defining ambiguity and in what ways ambiguity has been researched by other linguists and what results their studies produced. I am also going to explore the origins of Alice in Wonderland. How did Carroll come up with it? What kind of story is it? On the stylistic level I will examine what Carroll’s general stance on ambiguity was and how he used it to create both confusion and comedy? I will take a closer look at the different forms of ambiguity he employs and how characters react to the usage of it.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Literary background to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Ambiguity
3. Background Studies on Ambiguity
4. Background Studies of Ambiguity in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
5. Analysis of the Ambiguity in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
5.1 The Caucus Race and a long Tale
5.2 The Queen’s Croquet-Ground
5.3 The Mock Turtles Story
6. Conclusion
Objectives and Topics
This academic paper examines the stylistic use of linguistic ambiguity in Lewis Carroll’s "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland" as a primary source of humor. The research explores how Carroll employs polysemy, homonymy, and puns to create misunderstandings that confuse the protagonist while simultaneously entertaining the reader through wordplay and nonsense.
- The linguistic definition and classification of ambiguity (phonetic, lexical, and syntactic).
- Carroll’s specific approach to language as a mathematician and logician.
- Analysis of character reactions to ambiguous communication in the novel.
- The role of puns and situational humor in "Wonderland".
- The impact of context and personal interpretation on effective communication.
Excerpt from the Book
5.1. The Caucus-Race and a long Tale
The first example of lexical ambiguity I want to analyze takes place early in the story of Alice, in the chapter called “The Caucus Race and a long Tale”. The titular heroine was swimming in a pool of her own tears when she met a mouse and several other animals. Back on land the Mouse wants to tell Alice and the other animals something promising: “I’ll soon make you dry enough!”(Carroll 2009: 25) It then proceeds to lecture them on William the Conqueror. The ambiguity here lays with the equivocal word dry. Normally in the context of being wet, as Alice and the animals were in this situation, drying, in the sense of being free from liquid or moisture, would involve something like towels to dry themselves. The Mouse however does not seem to be aware of the fact that the word can have several meanings. It seems to be, at least in some capacity, aware that the word also has the meaning of being free from liquid or moisture but does not seem to know how the process of that takes place. It uses the word dry in the wrong context, because it thinks that a dry, as in boring or dull, lesson has the same effect as a towel would have. The mouse does not understand the ambiguity of the words and thus chooses a meaning that is not fitting in this sentence and therefore Alice and the other animals misinterpret its utterance and actually believe it, though Alice notices at one point: “[I]t doesn’t seem to dry me at all.”(Carroll 2009:25). (cf. Sutherland 1970: 166) The humor in this situation is caused by this misunderstanding. Both Alice and the reader wonder why the mouse is talking about the William the Conqueror and how that is supposed to help them getting dry again. The ambiguity is also quite easy to understand and relatable to the main readership of the book: young children. They probably all had to endure a boring lesson at school and surely find the concept amusing how a mouse thinks that a dull lecture should have the same effect as a towel.
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: This chapter provides an overview of Lewis Carroll's play with language and establishes the paper's focus on how ambiguity serves as a source of humor.
2. Literary background to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Ambiguity: This section details the origin of the story and discusses Carroll’s intentional use of logic, nonsense, and wordplay to engage both children and adults.
3. Background Studies on Ambiguity: This chapter defines various linguistic categories of ambiguity, including phonetic, lexical, and syntactic forms, and discusses how they can be disambiguated.
4. Background Studies of Ambiguity in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: This section analyzes Carroll's specific philosophy regarding the relationship between words and meanings, highlighting his awareness of personal connotations in communication.
5. Analysis of the Ambiguity in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: This chapter applies theoretical concepts to specific episodes in the novel to demonstrate how character misunderstandings create humorous outcomes.
6. Conclusion: This section summarizes how the deliberate use of ambiguity functions as both a narrative device and a mechanism for humor throughout the book.
Keywords
Ambiguity, Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Humor, Puns, Lexical Ambiguity, Polysemy, Homonymy, Linguistic Nonsense, Wordplay, Semantics, Disambiguation, Stylistics, Carrollian Nonsense, Communication.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the primary focus of this paper?
The paper explores the stylistic use of linguistic ambiguity in Lewis Carroll’s "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland" and examines how this ambiguity acts as a foundational element of humor in the narrative.
What are the main linguistic topics covered?
The research covers phonetic, lexical, and syntactic ambiguity, specifically focusing on phenomena such as polysemy, homonymy, and the use of puns to create comedic misunderstandings.
What is the central research question?
The paper asks how Lewis Carroll uses ambiguity to create confusion and comedy, and how these stylistic choices reflect his stance on the nature of language.
Which scientific methods are employed?
The author uses a qualitative analysis approach, loosely following Robert Sutherland’s categorization of ambiguity, by selecting specific instances from the novel to illustrate the relationship between linguistic structure and humorous effects.
What does the main body of the paper cover?
The main body moves from theoretical linguistic background to the analysis of the text, specifically looking at the Caucus Race, the Queen’s Croquet-Ground, and the Mock Turtle’s story.
Which keywords characterize this work?
Key terms include Ambiguity, Puns, Wordplay, Semantics, Carrollian Nonsense, and Stylistics.
How does the author explain the misunderstanding in the "Caucus Race" chapter?
The author highlights the equivocal use of the word "dry," where the Mouse interprets it as "boring" (a lecture) while the animals require it in the sense of "removing moisture."
Why does the author consider "The Mock Turtle’s Story" the funniest chapter?
The author notes that this chapter contains the highest density of puns in the book, utilizing both homophonic and homographic wordplay to create constant, humorous nonsense.
How does Carroll’s background as a mathematician influence his writing?
The author suggests that Carroll’s training in mathematics and logic allowed him to view language as a system of symbols that could be manipulated and rearranged to create complex, humorous nonsense.
- Arbeit zitieren
- Charlotte Bahr (Autor:in), 2012, Ambiguity as a Source of Humor in Lewis Carroll’s "Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland", München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.hausarbeiten.de/document/232605
