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ALICE IN WONDERLAND WIKI
THE DUCHESS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Illustration by Sir John Tenniel.
The Duchess is a fictional character from the novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. The Duchess was angry at Alice in Chapter 6.
Description
The Duchess lives in Wonderland in a small palace just outside the Caterpillar's forest. She employs a footman (who Alice thinks resembles a frog) and a Cook, and keeps a strange grinning housecat as a pet. When she first meets Alice in Chapter Six, the Duchess is sitting angrily in her kitchen with a baby on her lap. The Cook is stirring up thick clouds of pepper while preparing a meal, and the Duchess explains how she must constantly beat her child to keep it from sneezing. Taking pity on the baby, Alice spirits him away, only to find that he has transformed into a pig. She lets it go, admitting that while it wasn't a very attractive baby; it makes for a handsome pig.
When Alice meets the Duchess for the second time at the Queen's croquet party, the Duchess is much more genial. They chat and she repeatedly places her chin firmly on Alice's shoulder, which Alice finds uncomfortable as the Duchess has a very sharp, pointy chin. Even so, Alice begins to suspect that the Duchess might actually have a pleasant personality after all, and that her earlier severity was brought on by the pepper.