Editing Mad Hatter (section)

==Fictional character biography==
{{main|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland|Through the Looking-Glass}}
[[File:Alice par John Tenniel 27.png|thumb|left|upright 0.75|The [[March Hare]] and the Hatter put [[the Dormouse]]'s head in a teapot, by [[Sir John Tenniel]].]]

===''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''===
The Hatter character, alongside [[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland#Characters|all the other fictional beings]], first appears in [[Lewis Carroll]]'s 1865 novel ''[[Alice's Adventures in Wonderland]]''. In "Chapter Seven – A Mad [[Tea party|Tea-Party"]], while exploring Wonderland, [[Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Alice]] comes across the Hatter having tea with the [[March Hare]] and the [[The Dormouse|Dormouse]]. 

The Hatter tells Alice how he once always had Time on his side, but explains that now they have argued – they are always having tea because when he tried to sing for the foul-tempered [[Queen of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Queen of Hearts]], she [[capital punishment|sentenced him to death]] for "murdering the time", but he escapes [[decapitation]]. In retaliation, now [[Father Time|Time]] (referred to as "he" by the Hatter) won't do a thing for the Hatter, keeping him trapped at 6:00 pm (aka teatime).

When Alice arrives at the tea party, the Hatter is characterised by switching places on the table at any given time, making short, personal remarks, asking unanswerable riddles, and reciting nonsensical poetry, all of which eventually drives Alice away. The Hatter appears again in "Chapter Eleven – Who Stole the Tarts?", as a witness at the [[Knave of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|Knave of Hearts]]' trial, where the Queen appears to recognise him as the singer she sentenced to death, and the [[King of Hearts (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|King of Hearts]] also cautions him not to be nervous or he will have him "executed on the spot".

===''Through the Looking-Glass''===
The character also appears briefly in Carroll's 1871 ''[[Through the Looking-Glass]]'', the sequel to ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. Under the name of "Hatta," the Hatter was in trouble with the law once again. He was, however, not necessarily guilty, as the [[White Queen (Through the Looking-Glass)|White Queen]] explained that subjects were often punished before they commit a crime, rather than after, and sometimes they did not even commit one at all. He was also mentioned as one of the White King's messengers along with March Hare, who went under the name of "Haigha." [[John Tenniel|Sir John Tenniel]]'s illustration depicts Hatta as sipping from a teacup as he did in the original novel. Alice does not comment on whether Hatta is the Hatter of her earlier dream.