Confrontations with Absurdity and Disorder: A Comparative Analysis between Dante Alighieri’s Inferno and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Open Access
Author:
Snyder, Victoria
Area of Honors:
English
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Claire Mary Colebrook, Thesis Supervisor Claire Mary Colebrook, Thesis Honors Advisor Matt Tierney, Faculty Reader
Keywords:
logic philosophy political thought time didactics Dante Inferno Lewis Carroll Alice's Adventures in Wonderland absurdity disorder journey guide allegory identity religion pedagogy Wonderland
Abstract:
This thesis investigates themes such as religion, logic, philosophy, political thought, time, and modes of didactics in order to illuminate the similarities and differences between Dante Alighieri’s 14th century epic poem, Inferno and Lewis Carroll’s English children’s novel, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). The analysis of Dante and Alice’s transition from a world of order to one of disorder is what provokes these figures to not only engage in personal introspection, but also encourages them to deeply reflect on society around them. With major similarities such as the usage of a guide, implementation of allegory, and struggles with identity, several elements of these two texts prove to be analogous with one another despite having been written at very different time periods by authors of extraordinarily different backgrounds. The main discrepancies concern the implementation of religious reasoning, purpose for which Alice and Dante’s journeys began, and the personal motives that sparked the curiosity of these two protagonists to explore the unknown.
