How is the White Queen described in Alice in Wonderland?

Answer 1

In his article Alice on the Stage, Lewis Carroll says "the White Queen seemed, to my dreaming fancy, gentle, stupid, fat and pale; helpless as an infant; and with a slow, maundering, bewildered air about her just suggesting imbecility, but never quite passing into it; that would be, I think, fatal to any comic effect she might otherwise produce."

Answer 2

We first see the White Queen in Chapter One of Through the Looking-Glass. Alice has just climbed through the mirror when she notices that the Chess pieces there are walking about:

...and there are the White King and the White Queen sitting on the edge of the shovel...

After startling her rather, whilst trying to be helpful, Alice next encounters the White Queen in Chapter Five. Alice has caught the Queen's shawl, which has blown off when,

...the White Queen came running wildly through the wood, with both arms stretched out wide, as if she were flying...

Alice tries to help her put her shawl back on and observes that,

It would have been all the better...if she had got someone else to dress her, she [is] so dreadfully untidy. Every single thing's crooked...and she's all over pins!

The Queen's hair is clearly also untidy, as she and Alice have the following exchange,

...'dear me, what a state your hair is in!'

'The brush got entangled in it!' the Queen said with a sigh. 'And I lost the comb yesterday.'

Alice carefully released the brush, and did her best to get the hair into order.

The Queen's shawl then blows off again, and after chasing after it, she turns into a sheep.

In 'Alice on the Stage' Lewis Carroll describes the White Queen in this way:

Lastly, the White Queen seemed, to my dreaming fancy, gentle, stupid, fat and pale; helpless as an infant; and with a slow, maundering, bewildered air about her just suggesting imbecility, but never quite passing into it; that would be, I think, fatal to any comic effect she might otherwise produce.

Follow the link below to see one of Tenniel's illustrations of the White Queen

Answer 3

The White Queen in "Alice in Wonderland" is portrayed as a gentle, kind-hearted character who is somewhat absent-minded and peculiar. She is described as "amiable but distressingly vague," often talking in riddles and appearing to inhabit a dream-like state.