Borderline Personality Disorders In Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland

The Whimsical World of Wonderland

Wonderland has created a world that operates by rules, and principles so different from ours that what seems normal, and logical for the rest of the characters cause Alice to appear drastically different as well as confused. Introducing Alice, who has been diagnosed with the Alice in Wonderland syndrome/ paranoid schizophrenia, the white rabbit who has a general anxiety disorder, the mad hatter diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and the Queen of hearts with borderline personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder.

Alice Adventures in Wonderland is about a little girl who brings non-sense, strong will, and confusing in a new world. How it all started was by the author Lewis Carroll. Alice Adventures

in Wonderland is a Children’s story, Fantasy, Literacy, Nonsense, and Adventure. Wonderland is a dream world that Alice comes up when she descends down a rabbit hole. The novel was composed in 1865 by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. Lewis was born January 27, 1832 in Cheshire, England. Carroll attended Oxford University and was awarded a first class maths degree, and became a professor. His ingenuity with numbers led him to the wordplay and riddles that he became known for in his fiction. Often feeling more comfortable with children than adults, he used his faculties for teaching and entertaining to make friends with children, such as Alice Liddell, who served as inspiration for the protagonist of Alice in Wonderland. He gave up teaching in 1881 to concentrate on writing. By this point, the Alice stories had begun to reach a dependable spate of popularity. He wrote many more stories with the same exciting use of language and with other child protagonists before passing away at the age of sixty-six.
Alice is a 7 year old little girl who is a daydreamer that falls through a rabbit hole chasing after a white rabbit wearing a waistcoat and holding a pocket watch. As evident in the film's climax, Alice in Wonderland he is telling "oh my furry whiskers I’m late, I'm late, I'm late" (Alice in Wonderland 2010). I diagnose Alice with dysmetropsia also known as “Alice in Wonderland syndrome” as well as having paranoid schizophrenia. This mental disorder dysmetropsia can be brought on by hallucinations whereas sometimes causes confusion due to an experience of change in body image, or build and size of images disorienting neurological condition that takes human perception. It is often related to sick headaches, brain tumors, and the use of psychoactive drugs. Paranoid schizophrenia is a subtype of schizophrenia in which the patient has delusions (false beliefs). Some signs can be auditory hallucinations, psychotic beliefs, anxiety, anger, and climb-down. As Alice falls “Down the Rabbit Hole” (Carroll), she detects a key along the table to unlock one of the doors the key went to the smallest door but Alice was also heavy. She gets a bottle marked “drink me”, which makes her shrink in size to where now she can get through the threshold. She then comes upon a “caterpillar who took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice” (Carroll), who which she takes advice from. She sees a floating Cheshire cat, talking caterpillars, an out of control rabbit, a queen who is persistently trying to cut off her head, she proceeds to fight monsters and dragons. Alice has lost it, she is in a world that no one else can see but her. She suffers from these two disorders because she is definitely experiencing hallucinations, causing delusions of false beliefs with many of the changes to her body that bears upon her human perception in a globe that actually doesn’t even exists
The white rabbit appears in the beginning running close in Alice’s eyesight saying his popular line “I'm late! I'm late! For a really important date!" "Oh dear, oh dear!" I shall be too late! (Carroll) I diagnose him with the General anxiety disorder. GAD is known for excessive, exaggerated anxiety and worry about daily life events with no obvious causes for concern. People with symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder tend to always anticipate disaster and can't give up worrying. In people with GAD, the trouble is often unrealistic or out of proportion to the place. Daily life becomes a ceaseless state of worry, concern, and apprehension. Eventually, the anxiety so dominates the person's thinking that it interferes with everyday functioning. Some symptoms can be trembling, excessive, ongoing worry and tension, an unrealistic view of problems, restlessness or a feeling of being "edgy", and difficulty focusing. The white rabbit first comes off as relaxed with no fear in the world, until he looks depressed at his watch and feels that he is dying to be late for something. He constantly appears to be extremely jittery, and is in a hurry all the time he acts that if he does not rush then something bad will occur. “The rabbit notices Alice, but tells her he has no time for chatting because he's late”. (Carroll) He never takes time out to just stop for a quick second and just relax, he is always on edge. “Alice watched the White Rabbit as he fumbled over the list, feeling very curious to see what the next witness would be like, `--for they haven't got much evidence YET,' she said to herself. Imagine her surprise, when the White Rabbit read out, at the top of his shrill little voice, the name `Alice!' (Carroll) Throughout the whole movie the rabbit is non-stop with movement, to making sure he is on time, and never late for anything and if he thinks he is he starts to panic.
The Mad Hatter always dresses in live colors he is best friends with the March Hare. He can be very charismatic, however, he has too many mood swings, and one minute he is happy afterwards he's mad. He also changes back and forth from topics and forgets what he is singing about. Also, he had some mercury poisoning. I diagnose him with bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks. It can constantly give you extremes highs and lows depending on the person’s mood. People often with bipolar can be exceedingly be extravagant when they have highs. Throwing parties and becoming the center of attention kind of like the mad hatter. “Also mercury poisoning that can effect damage to the psyche, and symptoms typically include sensory impairment (visual sense, learning, language), disturbed sensation and a lack of coordination” (MedicineNet.com). The hatter has highs and lows, for his highs he throws tea parties and sings loud, as well as changing his voice all in the same conversation. And his lows can be unmoral where he runs into a gloomy space and wears out in fury. “Alice visits as the Mad Hatter is in the middle of a very odd tea party with the March Hare and the Dormouse. They are singing A Very Merry Unbirthday but are interrupted when Alice starts to applaud. At first, they are upset because Alice came without an invitation, but become pleased when Alice compliments their singing and they welcome her to join” (Carroll). And just like in the Alice in Wonderland movie when he is speaking to Alice in the Queens castle while making her hats he is glad and smiling. And so in that same split second he begins to become insane and tear up the room out of nowhere.
The Queen of Hearts is known for her gigantic head as easily as being psychotic.

She is the most mentally ill person in wonderland with her famous line “Off with the head” (Carroll). She holds a very psychotic personality as she wishes everybody to bend down to whatever she reads. I diagnose her with borderline personality disorder, and narcissistic personality disorder. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a serious mental illness marked by unstable moods, behavior, and relationships (National Institute of Mental Health). Signs are extreme reactions to things, inappropriate, intense anger or problems controlling anger. Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance, a deep need for admiration and a lack of empathy for others. But behind this mask of ultra-confidence lies a fragile self-esteem that's vulnerable to the slightest criticism (Mayo Clinic). Symptoms can be, requiring constant admiration, having a sense of entitlement, expecting special favors and unquestioning compliance with your expectations, taking advantage of others to get what you want. The Queen of Hearts shows all these signals when she is actuated. If anyone disobeys her, or someone she may dislike. She is quick to behead someone if things don’t go her way, nor have what she wants. She can be impatient and extremely irrationally sensitive. She even overpowers her husband, the King of Hearts, and he seems to be the sole person in Wonderland to have any impression on her actions and opinions, to the stage where he can give up (or at least, delay) a beheading, as seen a few times throughout the movie. My name is Alice, so please your Majesty,' said Alice very politely; but she added, to herself, why, they're just a pack of cards, after all. I needn't be afraid of them!' and who are THESE?' said the Queen, pointing to the three gardeners who were lying round the rose tree; for, you see, as they were lying on their faces,

and the pattern on their backs was the same as the rest of the pack, she could not tell whether they were gardeners, or soldiers, or courtiers, or three of her own children. How should I know?' said Alice, surprised at her own courage. It's no business of MINE.' The Queen turned crimson with fury, and, after glaring at her for a moment like a wild beast, screamed off with her head! Off--' (The Queen’s Croquet Ground).
Wonderland is a world created of unstable characters who logically are not normal but different in their own ways. Lewis Carroll created this world that operates by rules that made it foreign from our world which seems to be normal and logical. As Alice falls into this dream she adapts to a new world of unordinary creatures she makes you conceive of how sane can these characters be.