I had lunch with a number of friends last week and two of the friends came in together. One of the ladies said, “and here comes Tweedledee and Tweedledum.” I hadn’t heard that for a long time. I remember hearing it a lot more when I was younger — especially when I was a kid.
Anyhow, I figured that would be as good a topic as any to mull over today.
Most people know that Tweediedum and Tweediedee are characters from “Through the Looking Glass” by Lewis Carroll. The books that I remember reading as a kid portrayed them as round, childlike twins that are nearly indistinguishable in both their appearance and their personality.
But some of my extensive research discovered that those names were used more than a century before Carroll wrote the book.
Tweediedum and Tweediedee first appeared in a satirical poem by an English poet by the name of John Byrom in 1725. He used the names to mock a trivial disagreement between two composers — George Frideric Handel and Giovanni Bononcini. It reads:
Some say, compar’d to Bononcini,
That Mynheer Handel’s sound divine;
Some say that Bononcini,
Compared to Handel’s is a ninny;
Others aver, that there are few
So much disturb’d by tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee.
Lewis Carroll introduced Tweedledum and Tweedledee as living characters. Alice encountered them in the forest where they recited their famous nursery rhyme:
Tweedledum and Tweedledee
Agreed to have a battle
For Tweedledum said Tweedledee
Had spoiled his nice new rattle.
According to the rhyme, the twins argue over a broken rattle, prepare for a fight, but are ultimately distracted by a passing crow. Carroll portrayed them as humorous, stubborn, and childishly absurd, enhancing their symbolic role as figures of meaningless conflict. The phrase over time came to mean two people who are practically identical — often with insignificant differences.
Sometimes, Tweedledum and Twidledee symbolize deeper themes beyond their surface-level comedic images.
In politics, the phrase “Tweedledum and Tweedledee” is often used to criticized two opposing parties that seem different but share similar flaws or ideologies.
The iconic quarrel over a broken rattle shows how trivial man arguments are…
That symbolizes how external events often overshadows petty disputes, making the conflict seem ridiculous in hindsight.
And Tweedledum and Tweedledee have appeared in some modern adaptations — some with creative twists that emphasize the comedic and symbolic nature of the two.
They appeared in Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland.” Disney’s version made them more childlike and playful — more focused on their comic aspect rather than conflict.
On TV, BBC’s “Alice Through the Looking Glass” took a more traditional portrayal, staying true to the original dialogue and nursery rhyme context.
There’s even a criminal duo named Tweedledum and Tweedledee in DC Comics (Batman Universe.) They’re cousins rather than twins, but they engage in petty crime.
I think they even appear in some video games, but I’m not sure which ones.
Anyhow, they’re pretty cool characters — they can be, or symbolize, just about anything.
Just use your imagination….
Contrariwise,
if it was so,
it might be;
and if it were so,
it would be;but as it isn’t,
it ain’t.
— 30 —