White Rabbit

This article is about the character in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. For other uses, see White Rabbit (disambiguation).
The White Rabbit
Alice character
First appearance Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Created by Lewis Carroll
Information
Species European rabbit
Gender Male
Occupation Page
Nationality Wonderland

The White Rabbit is a fictional character in Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" Alice follows him down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. Alice encounters him again when he mistakes her for his housemaid Mary Ann and she becomes trapped in his house after growing too large. The Rabbit shows up again in the last few chapters, as a herald-like servant of the King and Queen of Hearts.

Personality

Alice meeting the Rabbit

In his article "Alice on the Stage," Carroll wrote "And the White Rabbit, what of him? Was he framed on the "Alice" lines, or meant as a contrast? As a contrast, distinctly. For her 'youth,' 'audacity,' 'vigour,' and 'swift directness of purpose,' read 'elderly,' 'timid,' 'feeble,' and 'nervously shilly-shallying,' and you will get something of what I meant him to be. I think the White Rabbit should wear spectacles. I'm sure his voice should quaver, and his knees quiver, and his whole air suggest a total inability to say 'Boo' to a goose!"[1]

Overall, the White Rabbit seems to shift back and forth between pompous behavior toward his underlings, such as his servants, and grovelling, obsequious behavior toward his superiors, such as the Duchess and King and Queen of Hearts, in direct contrast to Alice, who is reasonably polite to everyone she meets.

Disney film

White Rabbit
Disney character
First appearance Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Created by Lewis Carroll
Voiced by Bill Thompson (original film)
Corey Burton (House of Mouse, Kingdom Hearts, and all other appearances)
Jeff Bennett (Kinect Disneyland Adventures)
Shigeru Ushiyama (Japanese, Kingdom Hearts series)
Information
Species Rabbit
Gender Male
Occupation Page
Nationality Wonderland

In Disney's animated version of the book, the Rabbit seems to have the most logic out of all the Wonderland characters. Thus, he is often the straight man for their zany antics; when he asks the Dodo for help on getting the "monster" (Alice) out of his house, Dodo's ultimate solution is to burn the house down, to which the White Rabbit is greatly opposed. At the Mad Tea Party, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare try to "fix" his watch, proclaiming it "exactly two days slow". Through various food they put in the watch (butter, tea, jam, and lemon), the two cause it to go mad, and the Hare smashes it with his mallet. The Rabbit was perhaps most famous for the little ditty he sang at the beginning, "I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! No time to say hello, goodbye! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!" The Rabbit was voiced by Bill Thompson.

Some believe the rabbit was late for the announcement of the Queen to the royal garden. The panic the rabbit showed was his fear of losing his head. Upon her arrival (where Alice has been helping to paint the roses red) the cards finish their song and the rabbit blows his trumpet (which he had been carrying for most of his lines) royally introducing the king and queen.

The White Rabbit made a few appearances on the Disney Channel original show, House of Mouse. His most notable appearance was in the episode "Clarabelle's Big Secret", when he confessed to Clarabelle Cow that "I'm not really late, and I don't really have a date. I'm a fraud!". He is seen being grabbed by the reservation clerk Daisy Duck in the show's intro. He was voiced by Corey Burton, who has voiced the Rabbit in all English speaking roles for the character since then. In Aladdin and the King of Thieves, the genie was transformed into him.

The White Rabbit also appears at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts as a meetable character.

In the PlayStation 2 action-RPG game, Kingdom Hearts and its Game Boy Advance follow-up, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, the White Rabbit leads Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy to the Queen's palace, worried about being late. His Japanese voice actor was Shigeru Ushiyama.

Tim Burton film

Nivens McTwisp, The White Rabbit
Alice character
First appearance Alice in Wonderland
Created by Lewis Carroll/Tim Burton
Portrayed by Michael Sheen
Information
Nickname(s) The White Rabbit
Species Rabbit
Gender Male
Occupation Page
Nationality Underland

The White Rabbit works for the Red Queen, but is also a secret member of the Underland Underground Resistance, and was sent by the Hatter to search for Alice. Actor Michael Sheen stated, "The White Rabbit is such an iconic character that I didn't feel like I should break the mould too much." In this film adaption, the White Rabbit is given the name Nivens McTwisp.[2]

McTwisp appears in the video game adaptation of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland as a playable character. He attacks using his watch, and can manipulate time.

Once Upon a Time

The White Rabbit appears in the Once Upon a Time spin-off called Once Upon a Time in Wonderland voiced by John Lithgow.

In this show, his first name is revealed to be Percy. He helps the Knave of Hearts to free Alice from Bethlem Royal Hospital in a Victorian Era-type world and bring her back to Wonderland. The Red Queen is also forcing the White Rabbit to be her ears in order to find out about Alice's plans.

In "Trust Me," the White Rabbit informs the Red Queen where Cyrus' bottle is buried. After the Red Queen obtains the bottle and has her discussion with Jafar, the White Rabbit spoke to the Red Queen if he has fulfilled his end of the deal. The Red Queen tells the White Rabbit that he will get what he desires when she has obtained what she desires.

In "Forget Me Not," the Forget-Me-Knot revealed to Alice and the Knave of Hearts about the White Rabbit's involvement in the Red Queen stealing Cyrus' bottle.

In "The Serpent," the Red Queen had plans to have the White Rabbit get the Knave of Hearts out of Wonderland as an alternative to him being executed for his crimes.

In "Heart of Stone," Jafar summons the White Rabbit to tell him about everyone that Alice has loved in exchange that Jafar helps the White Rabbit get out of debt with the Red Queen. After telling Jafar what he knows about Alice, Jafar slices off the White Rabbit's right foot and offers to undo this predicament in exchange for the info on who else Alice cares about. The White Rabbit tells Jafar that the other people that Alice cares about aren't in Wonderland. After reattaching the White Rabbit's foot, Jafar wants the White Rabbit to take him to where the other people that Alice cares about is located for the White Rabbit now works for him and not the Red Queen. Although the White Rabbit is resistant at first, he does so anyway to buy Cyrus time to escape from Jafar's lair.

In "Who's Alice?," the White Rabbit takes Jafar to Victorian England to obtain Alice's father. Disguised as a doctor named Dr. Sheffield, Jafar visits Bethlem Royal Hospital where he uses the White Rabbit to get Dr. Lydgate to tell him where he can find Alice's father Edwin. In "Bad Blood," Jafar shows the White Rabbit to Edwin where he has him transport Jafar and Edwin to Wonderland. Upon arrival in Wonderland, Jafar sends the White Rabbit on his way.

In "Home," a flashback revealed that Cyrus brought Alice to the White Rabbit's house where his wife (voiced by Whoopi Goldberg) helps to heal Alice following an ambush.

In the present, Alice and the Knave of Hearts visit the White Rabbit's house in order to get answers about why he is working for the Red Queen. The White Rabbit tells Cyrus that Alice is doing well and asks Cyrus about what happens if something goes wrong next time.

In the present day, Alice and the Knave of Hearts arrive at the White Rabbit's house where the White Rabbit wants Alice to do what she wants with him. Alice asks the White Rabbit for her help one last time. The White Rabbit admits that the Red Queen has his wife and family and did things on the Red Queen's behalf in exchange that they will be kept alive. Alice suggests that they must rescue the White Rabbit's family as the Knave of Hearts has an idea on where the Red Queen stashed the White Rabbit's family. The Knave of Hearts finds the White Rabbit's family in the wagon that used to be owned by the Red Queen. After the White Rabbit's family leaves, the White Rabbit agrees to take Alice and the Knave of Hearts to the Outlands. After Alice was injured sharing the pain from the Knave of Hearts protecting the Red Queen from Jafar's thunderstorm and recovers thanks to the Knave of Hearts' wish, White Rabbit tells Alice that the Knave used her wish to end her suffering.

In "Heart of the Matter," the White Rabbit is having a hard time trying to find people who can help fight Jafar and free Wonderland from his control. Alice and Cyrus arrive at the White Rabbit's house where he was unable to convince some former soldiers of the Red Queen to help free Wonderland from Jafar. Alice talks the White Rabbit into taking her and Cyrus to Storybrooke on Earth so that they can find the heart of the Knave of Hearts. The White Rabbit arrives in Storybrooke where he takes them to the apartment building where the Knave of Hearts has been living during his time in Storybrooke. After Alice and Cyrus find the Knave of Hearts' heart in a wall behind a pencil drawing of the Red Queen, the White Rabbit then takes Alice and Cyrus back to Wonderland in order to hide the Knave of Heart's heart. The White Rabbit is then ordered to leave by Alice when Jafar arrives to claim the Knave of Heart's heart.

In "Andy They Live," the White Rabbit and Mrs. Rabbit give refuge to Alice and Amara when it came to healing Cyrus. The White Rabbit hears from Amara that they are going to need everyone they can when it comes to fighting Jafar. Alice and the White Rabbit rally the soldiers that worked for the Red Queen in order to raid the palace. The White Rabbit has stated regrets that his family couldn't make armor his size. After Alice was captured by Jafar's revived soldiers, the White Rabbit infiltrates the palace in order to free Alice while the Knave of Hearts tricks the revived Red Queen into kissing him which undid the brainwashing spell that was done on her. The White Rabbit then gets Alice to the Well of Wonders where Alice tricks Jafar into taking the water that Amara was going to return to the Nyx. Following Jafar's imprisonment in a genie bottle and the official revival of the Red Queen with the water from the Well of Wonders (which was given to them by the Nyx), the White Rabbit takes Alice and Cyrus back to the Victorian Era-type world. The White Rabbit and Mrs. Rabbit were present at Alice and Cyrus' wedding which the White Rabbit presided over.

In the final scene sometime later, the White Rabbit is watching Alice's family from behind the tall grasses.

Švankmajer film

The 1988 Czech film Alice, noted for its disturbing interpretation of Carroll's story, shows a dark stop-motion version of the character. At the beginning of the film, the White Rabbit starts out as a stuffed rabbit that comes alive in Alice's bedroom and breaks out of his glass case; he leaks sawdust through a hole in his chest. During Alice's pursuit of the White Rabbit in Wonderland, he physically attacks her with paddles, a hacksaw, and a group of skeletal animals. The White Rabbit is also the Queen of Hearts' executioner, using scissors to behead the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and other characters. Upon awakening from her dream and finding the White Rabbit missing from his case, Alice finds his scissors and resolves to behead him herself.

Television and films

Video games

Literature

Music

Musical

Other Influences

A military trench-digging machine developed by the British Royal Navy at the beginning of World War II was originally known as White Rabbit No. 6, but the name was changed to Cultivator No. 6 to conceal its identity.

References

  1. Gardner, Martin (1998). The Annotated Alice. Random House. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-517-18920-7.
  2. Mainwaring, Rachel (October 26, 2008). "Actor Sheen in Wonderland". Western Mail. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved December 5, 2008.
  3. Владимир Высоцкий. "Белый кролик, Алиса и Додо". bards.ru (in Russian). Retrieved September 12, 2016.
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