Editing White Rabbit (section)

==Personality==
[[File: Alice in Wonderland pg41 - Alice meets the White Rabbit - by Margaret Winifred Tarrant 1916.jpg|thumb|left|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!"<ref>{{cite book|last=Gardner|first=Martin|author-link=Martin Gardner|title=The Annotated Alice|publisher=[[Random House]]|year=1998|isbn=978-0-517-18920-7|page=37|title-link=The Annotated Alice}}</ref>

Overall, the White Rabbit seems to shift back and forth between pompous behaviour toward his underlings, such as his servants, and grovelling, obsequious behaviour toward his superiors, such as [[Duchess (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)|the Duchess]], and the King and Queen of Hearts, in direct contrast to Alice, who is reasonably polite to everyone she meets.

The White Rabbit's perennial unpunctuality is a nod to [[Oxford time]], the tradition at Oxford (and especially [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]], where Carroll taught) of having events begin five minutes past the scheduled hour.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.ricksteves.com/blog/oxford-always-five-minutes-late/|title = Oxford — Always Five Minutes Late| date=23 July 2015 }}</ref>