The Queen never left off quarrelling with the other players, and shouting 'Off with his head!' or, 'Off with her head!' 

Arthur Rackham’s illustration presents the Queen of Hearts in a whimsical yet authoritative pose, her robes heavy with ermine, evoking centuries of royal portraiture and its associated power. Note how the hedgehog at her feet becomes a ball in a bizarre game, a symbol of nature co-opted into the Queen’s absurd domain. This recalls ancient myths where animals carry symbolic weight, yet here, the hedgehog's primal instincts are subverted by the Queen's arbitrary rules. Consider, too, how playing cards, emblems of chance and fortune, transform into the agents of royal command. The stark contrast between the natural world and the Queen's artificial order creates a tension, reflecting humanity’s ongoing struggle to reconcile instinct with imposed structure. The cry, "Off with his head!" resonates not just as a decree of royal power, but as a chilling manifestation of suppressed desires, of a psyche where impulse overrules reason, a motif that resurfaces throughout art history, reminding us of the cyclical nature of control and chaos.