Alice in Wonderland For the CSET

leaders, and had been of late much accustomed to usurpation and conquest. Edwin and Morcar, the earls of Mercia and Northumbria—”’

One of the greatest examples of satire in the story is when Alice faces the Court of Cards. The Court of Cards, like people of power in real life, rely on rank and costume for their status. Carroll turns rank and costume into a game, mocking it. Alice soon realizes that although the people of the Court are only a pack of cards that are rather ridiculous, their nature does not make them any less dangerous.

Another great example of satire is Chapter 9 where the Duchess’ tendency to find a moral in everything satirizes the simplistic moralizing children’s literature of Carroll’s time in Victorian schools; but now, Alice has grown enough to view the Duchess critically.

Yet another example of satire is Chapter 11 where the proceedings of the trial are obviously unjust, and Carroll is lightly satirizing the justice system. It is not a specific satire of justice as it existed in Victorian England; it can more accurately be read as a satire of some of the dangers involved in trials. The judge and the ever-present queen are cast as tyrannical and the jurors are simpletons who barely know their own names.