Violence and mental illness: what Lewis Carroll had to say

Abstract

In 1873 Skeffington Lutwidge, a Lunacy Commission inspector of asylums in England, was killed by an asylum patient. Lutwidge was the uncle and close friend of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, also known as Lewis Carroll. One year later, Carroll began writing The Hunting of the Snark, a poem whose meaning has mystified Carroll enthusiasts. In fact, the poem is a description of the Lunacy Commission inspection team and reflects Carroll's personal understanding of, and reaction to, the killing of his uncle by an individual with a severe mental illness. Carroll's close relationship with his uncle also explains the prominence of psychotic thinking in Carroll's work, including the Mad Hatter's tea party.

Keywords: Homicide; Psychosis; Schizophrenia.