Hello, Dr. Reames. Do you think Alexander was ticklish? Moreover, for some reason I think Alexander had a funny yet endearing laugh. Like the type of person whose laugh is funnier than the actual joke. What are your thoughts on that?
Alexander's Sense of Humor
We once kicked around this question in a (grad) class with Gene Borza, actually. Not the ticklish bit, but his sense of humor.
The class consensus seemed to be that Philip had the better sense of humor, but could be rather mean at times. That is, he was the one who'd twist something you said into something you didn't mean, but it was funny.
In contrast, we decided Alexander's sense of humor was more...pure? I could see him getting a kick out of the classic "dad jokes." BUT if he really didn't like you...watch out.
Alexander seems to have had a memory like an elephant for a slight. As evidence, recall the boatload (literally) of incense he sent back to Leonidas, his childhood tutor. All because the man had criticized a young Alexander for throwing a handful of incense on the fire when praying. He'd scolded Alexander, "You can be so profligate when you've conquered the lands that produces that incense." With the boatload of incense sent probably a decade later (which, incidentally, would have made Leonidas fabulously wealthy), came a one-liner: "Now you needn't be so stingy with the gods." This may never have happened, btw. It has all the hallmarks of a "moral lesson" suitable for sermonizing, and is found in Plutarch.
Anyway, as you can see, our opinions were just that: opinions, based on possibly bad evidence. Ha. We all just pooled what anecdotes we knew and a little human psychology. We thought Philip's humor would be darker partly as a survival tactic. He (probably) had a rough childhood, sometimes being uncertain for his own safety, in a way Alexander likely didn't experience. But be aware this is HIGHLY speculative! Sometimes kids who had a rough childhood in some way turn out to be kinder in their senses of humor. I've seen it go both ways with people. (My father was a good example of somebody who had a tough childhood in extreme rural poverty who absolutely could not stand humor that came at the expense of someone else. In contrast another family member who shall remain nameless was and is positively mean in her sense of humor.)
As for whether he was ticklish, between 60-80% of people are, so I'd say there's a high chance. I think I made him ticklish in Dancing with the Lion (and Hephaistion isn't); but that was more to contrast the temperaments of the two boys than based on anything. Also, I did use the above analysis of Philip's vs. Alexander's senses of humor for the novel, as well.
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