The King of Hearts

Information about The King of Hearts

This article is about the character in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. For other uses, see King of Hearts.


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John Tenniel's illustration of the King and Queen of Hearts at the trial of the Knave of Hearts.
The King of Hearts is a character from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. He seems to, when compared to the Queen, be the sensible or moderate part of the Wonderland government. As an example, when the Queen of Hearts (who enjoys ordering beheadings) attempts to have Alice executed --basically charging her with being unable to answer why she is bowing to her (actually, lying entirely on the ground)-- the King of Hearts reminds her that she is only a child.

The King also quietly pardons many of the subjects the Queen has ordered be beheaded when the Queen is not looking. This guarantees few people are actually beheaded. Nevertheless, when the Queen plays a game of croquet in the story, the only players who remain at the end are himself, the Queen, and Alice.

Disney version

The Disney movie portrays the King of Hearts as dwarfish with an extremely tall crown, and much more highly subdued to the Queen.

White Rabbit-Her Imperial Highness; Her Grace; Her Excellency; Her Royal Majesty; The Queen of Hearts! (crowd cheers)

King of hearts- (taps White Rabbit's shoulder)

White Rabbit- ...and the king (single person in crowd-"Hooray!")

He also seems to be less bright. For instance, when he first sees Alice, he thinks she is another card. He also squeaks happily behind the subject being ordered beheaded, once the Queen gives the order, taunting the guards that are carrying away the subject to be beheaded, as if he'd given the order himself.

He appears briefly when the Cheshire Cat entangles the Queens croquet mallet (actually a live flamingo) in her dress, causing her to fall over exposing her underwear. The King cries, "Save the Queen!" which makes everyone, except Alice, form four protective walls around her. This causes the Queen to blame Alice for the embarrassing situation. Just before she orders her head off, the King of Hearts asks if they could have a trial beforehand. This irritates the Queen, to which the King adds that it will only be "a little trial." The Queen accepts, and when the trial begins she offers an interesting approach towards justice: sentence before verdict.

The King again stops her, saying they should call witnesses first. The witnesses called are the Mad Hatter, March Hare, and Dormouse. The Cheshire Cat also reappears and upsets the Dormouse. The mouse runs all over, and in attempt to crush the mouse the King of Hearts manages to hit the Queen with the gavel. The Queen, of course, blames Alice for it, and is going to have her beheaded. But Alice eats mushrooms she had earlier procured, which make her grow bigger. So although the King announces rule #42, which says that anyone more than a mile high must leave the court immediately, Alice feels free to call the Queen a "fat, pompous, bad tempered old tyrant". Unfortunately, she subsequently shrinks down to her normal size. The Queen actually manages to give the order without interruption this time, and as Alice flees, the King uses his oversized crown as a megaphone to tell the guards to "do as her Majesty says".

Lewis Carroll's Alice
Books: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There Alice in Wonderland: Alice The White Rabbit The Mouse The Dodo The Lory Eaglet Bill the Lizard The Caterpillar The Duchess The Cheshire Cat The Mad Hatter The March Hare The Dormouse The Queen of Hearts The King of Hearts The Knave of Hearts The Gryphon The Mock Turtle Through the Looking Glass: Alice The Red Queen The White Queen The Red King The White King The White Knight Tweedledum and Tweedledee The Sheep Humpty Dumpty Hatta Haigha The Lion and the Unicorn Film adaptations: 1903 film 1933 film 1951 film 1966 film 1972 film 1976 film 1981 film 1985 film 1988 film 1999 film Poems: "How Doth the Little Crocodile" "The Mouse's Tale" "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat" "" "'Tis the Voice of the Lobster" "Jabberwocky" "The Walrus and the Carpenter" Related topics: Alice Liddell Alice's Shop "The Hunting of the Snark" John Tenniel The Annotated Alice Works influenced by Alice in Wonderland
King of Hearts may refer to:
  • The playing card also known as the Suicide King
In film:
  • King of Hearts (1927 film), a silent film directed by Joseph Levigard
  • King of Hearts (1931 film), also known as Shah-E-Jigar

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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Title page of the original edition (1865)
Author Charles "Lewis Carroll" Dodgson
Illustrator John Tenniel
Country England
Language English
Genre(s) Children's fiction
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Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (IPA: /ˈdɒdsən/) (January 27 1832 – January 14 1898), better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll (/ˈkærəl/
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Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat appearing in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. It appears and disappears at will, engaging Alice in amusing but sometimes vexing conversation. The cat sometimes points out philosophical points that annoy Alice.
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The Mad Hatter is a fictional character initially encountered at a tea party in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The chapter in which he first appears, "A Mad Tea-Party", is often erroneously called "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party" but in fact it takes place
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March Hare, often called the Mad March Hare, is a character from the tea party scene in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He also makes an appearance as the White King's messenger, Haigha (which Carroll tells us is pronounced to rhyme with "mayor") in
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Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (IPA: /ˈdɒdsən/) (January 27 1832 – January 14 1898), better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll (/ˈkærəl/
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Title page of the original edition (1865)
Author Charles "Lewis Carroll" Dodgson
Illustrator John Tenniel
Country England
Language English
Genre(s) Children's fiction
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Through the Looking-Glass

Book cover of Through the Looking-Glass
Author Lewis Carroll
Illustrator John Tenniel
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Genre(s) Children's fiction
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White Rabbit may refer to:
  • Several breeds of domestic rabbit which are partially or completely white.
  • The codename of F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas, one of the main undercover British agents in Occupied France during World War II.

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The Mouse is a fictional character in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. He appears in Chapter II "The Pool of Tears" [1] and Chapter III "A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale" [2] .
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Dodo is a fictional character appearing in Chapters 2 and 3 of the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). It is a reference to Dodgson himself who had a stutter and very frequently pronounced his name "Do-do-dodgson".
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The Lory is a character appearing in Chapter 2 and 3 of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, a reference to Lorina Charlotte Liddell, Alice's older sister. Lorina also appears, unnamed, as herself at the beginning of the book.
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The Eaglet is a character appearing in Chapter 2 and 3 of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, a reference to Edith Liddell, Alice's sister.

In this passage Lewis Carroll incorporated references to everyone present on the original boating expedition of
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Bill the Lizard is a fictional character appearing in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Introduced in chapter four, Bill is perceived by Alice to be someone who does all of the hard work for The White Rabbit and the denizens of the community.
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The Caterpillar is a fictional character appearing in Lewis Carroll's book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Introduced in Chapter IV ("Rabbit Sends in a Little Bill") and the main centre of interest of Chapter V ("Advice from a Caterpillar"), the Caterpillar is a
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The Duchess is a character in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865. Carroll does not describe her physically in much detail, although her hideous appearance is strongly established in the popular imagination thanks to John Tenniel's
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Cheshire Cat is a fictional cat appearing in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. It appears and disappears at will, engaging Alice in amusing but sometimes vexing conversation. The cat sometimes points out philosophical points that annoy Alice.
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The Mad Hatter is a fictional character initially encountered at a tea party in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The chapter in which he first appears, "A Mad Tea-Party", is often erroneously called "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party" but in fact it takes place
..... Click the link for more information.
March Hare, often called the Mad March Hare, is a character from the tea party scene in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He also makes an appearance as the White King's messenger, Haigha (which Carroll tells us is pronounced to rhyme with "mayor") in
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Dormouse is a character in "A Mad Tea Party", often popularly known as "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party", Chapter VII [1] from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. He sat between the March Hare and the Mad Hatter.
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The Queen of Hearts is a character from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by the mathematician Lewis Carroll. She is a foul-tempered monarch, that Carroll himself pictured as "a blind fury", and who is quick to decree death sentences at the slightest offense.
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The King of Hearts is a character from the book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. He seems to, when compared to the Queen, be the sensible or moderate part of the Wonderland government.
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The Mock Turtle is a fictional character devised by Lewis Carroll from his popular book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Its name is a pun on a dish that was popular in the Victorian period, mock turtle soup.
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Tweedledee and Tweedledum are fictional characters in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There and in a nursery rhyme by an anonymous author.
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The Mad Hatter is a fictional character initially encountered at a tea party in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The chapter in which he first appears, "A Mad Tea-Party", is often erroneously called "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party" but in fact it takes place
..... Click the link for more information.
March Hare, often called the Mad March Hare, is a character from the tea party scene in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He also makes an appearance as the White King's messenger, Haigha (which Carroll tells us is pronounced to rhyme with "mayor") in
..... Click the link for more information.
The Lion and the Unicorn are time-honoured symbols of the United Kingdom. They are properly speaking heraldic supporters, appearing in the full Royal Coat of arms of the United Kingdom. The lion stands for England and the unicorn for Scotland.
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Alice in Wonderland is a 1903 silent film directed by Cecil Hepworth and starring May Clark in this more twisted version of Wonderland.
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