Carpenter, Through the Looking-Glass (fretwork figure)

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Exhibit

Carpenter, Through the Looking-Glass (fretwork figure)

BTMM map 058.gif
location:

Arch Two , Area 58
Wooden Cutout Figures (display)


Puppet Corner


A jointed wooden figure of "The Carpenter", from the poem "The Walrus and The Carpenter" which appears in "Through the Looking-Glass" (the sequel to Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland")

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The figure was created in Lord Robert's Workshops, and is jointed to have moving arms and legs.

About the character

Appearing in a poem recited by Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee alongside Walrus, the character lures some oysters away from the home with high promises and then devours them. The kind-hearted Alice attempts to see a happy some redeeming feature in either character but ultimately concludes, "Well! They were both very unpleasant characters — ".

Attempts to analyse the character of The Carpenter are ultimately defeated by the fact that when giving instructions to Teniel for illustrating the poem, Carroll gave him a list of characters to choose from with the same number of syllables, and just let him choose which one he would prefer to draw.