Brooks Antweil

E 375L – Victorian Literature

Project 2 Transcript: Charles Dodgson’s Ghost

For reference, my bot can be accessed at the following URL: https://webspace.utexas.edu/bantweil/E375L/P2A.htm

The project consists of certain questions that must be asked by the user as opposed to keywords provided by the user.  It is possible to ask the following questions of Dodgson:

1. What is your name?
2. When were you born?
3. Where are you from?
4. Who is Alice Liddell?
5. Who is Lewis Carroll?

The questions will be answered by the following statements respectively:

1. My name is Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.
2. I was born on the twenty-seventh of January, 1832. [1]
3. I was born in England.  In 1849 I went to Oxford and graduated from Christ Church College. [2]
4. Alice Liddell was a dear friend of mine when she was young.
5. I have never heard of him.

Those are the only question/response phrases in the project.  However, there are other words that can be clicked on which lead to other spoken phrases.

If one clicks on “Guided Tour of Christ Church” after following question #3, he/she is led to a screen on which the following buttons can be clicked (clockwise from top left):

1. Cathedral
2. Tom Tower
3. Library
4. Dining Hall

If one clicks on one of these buttons, he/she will hear the following respective descriptions: [3]

1. This is a plan of the Cathedral.  Click on any number to learn more about that location.
2. This is Tom Tower, the signature architectural structure of Christ Church.
3. This is the Christ Church Library where I used to have my office.
4. This is the Christ Church Dining Hall.  If it looks familiar, that is because it was used in Harry Potter.

If one clicks on the cathedral, he/she is shown an architectural plan of the cathedral.  One may then click on any of the six numbers (1-6) that appear to learn more about the cathedral’s points of interest.  One will hear Dodgson relay the following information:

1. This is the Jonah Window.  Only Jonah is made of glass.  The rest of the window is made of small painted glass panels.
2. The Frideswide window was built by Edward Burne-Jones while I was at Oxford.  It depicts the story of St. Frideswide.
3. The Shrine is the oldest monument at Oxford.  It once held the relics of St. Frideswide.
4. The Chancel Vault is a stone vault made up of intricate star-shaped patterns to create an image of heaven. 
5. The St. Catherine window, also created by Edward Burne-Jones while I was at Oxford, shows St. Catherine of Alexandria.  Her portrait is actually a picture of Edith Liddell.
6. This is the Beckett Window, which shows a panel of the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Beckett.

If one clicks on the rabbit hole button after asking “Who is Alice Liddell?” he/she will be taken to a frame which allows him/her to see pictures of Alice Liddell.  The pictures are labeled “Three Liddell Girls,” and “Alice Picture 1” through “Alice Picture 5.”  Dodgson tells the viewer the following things when each picture is clicked (the numbers correspond to the picture labels):

“Three Liddell Girls”:  This picture of the three Liddell girls was taken in 1858.  The names correspond to the girls.  At this time, Alice was six years old.

1. This is a photograph that I took of Alice posing as a beggar.  It was amazing that she sat still enough for it to expose for the full forty-five seconds required.
2. This is a photograph of Alice Liddell that I took when she was nine years old.
3. This is yet another picture of Alice that I kept in my personal photo album.
4. This is yet another picture that I took of Alice.  She is not looking at the camera, as you will see in many of my photographs.
5. This is a photograph of Alice taken in 1873 by Julia Cameron when Alice was twenty-one years old.

One can also click on “Other Dodgson Photographs” to be led to a frame including buttons for pictures of 1)Tennyson, 2)Ruskin, 3)Southey, and 4)Weld.  The following voice-overs correspond to each picture:

1. This is a picture of Tennyson who was another Victorian poet.  He became poet Laureate in 1850
2. John Ruskin was a poet who wrote during the Victorian era.  He was also an art critic who supported the pre-Raphaelites.
3. Reginald Southey was a photographer friend of mine at Oxford.
4. Agnes Grace Weld was the niece of Tennyson’s wife.  This photograph that I took of her is called “Little Red Riding Hood.”  Tennyson expressed special interest in this picture and it eventually led to me taking a portrait of him.