In his stories the women were not portrayed as nice. Women were usually nagging and would fight with their husbands. Some critics felt that Irving took an anti-feminism approach to his writing. However some critic feel that The Legend of Sleepy Hollow shows importance of marriage. Some critics also argue the quality of his work. Some pieces of his work are considered remarkable. While other pieces of his work are considered not to be that good.
Irving’s health was also not very good and he had tuberculosis. So his brothers decided to send him overseas to Rome to recover. Irving was engaged to Matilda Hoffman. Matilda Hoffman passed away suddenly and Irving took her death pretty hard. Irving did go out with two women over two years but remained a bachelor his entire life.
In RIP Van Winkle, Dam Van Winkle is abusive, nagging, and sarcastic. In Rip Van Winkle, Washington Irving states that “but what courage can with stand the ever-during and all besetting terrors of a woman’s tongue.” He seems to imply that he did not like women who gave their opinions and spoke their mind. It seems that Rip is going into the woods to escape his wife.
In the Devil and Tom Walker Tom’s wife has a temper, loud mouth and she was strong . His face sometimes showed signs that their fighting may have been more than words. She would hide things from Tom. They did not have a very good marriage. Again Irving portrayed the wife as loud and nagging.
In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving portrayed women differently. Katrina Van Tassel is very beautiful, sexy and a flirt. Katrina knew what the power of her beauty could do. Although Katrina isn’t a nag like Dam Van Winkle, she was bad in a different way. Katrina seemed to know what and who she wanted and was willing to use her beauty and sexuality to get what she wants.
In my opinion, Irving did not like women very much. He seemed to think that most women were nagging and abusive or they would use their beauty to get what they want. He seemed to think that most men wanted to get back or get even with women. I don’t think that his portrayal of Dame Van Winkle was fair. He portrayed her as being mean and unfair to Rip.
The story “Rip Van Winkle” is about a character named Rip Van Winkle, a man who wanted nothing more out of life then to be able to do as he pleased and drink without responsibilities. One day he takes a trip into the Katskill mountains, which causes him to miss twenty years of his life. Rip wakes up after his sleep in the mountains and realizes that everything is different. He is faced with the life changing realization that he can no longer live he carefree life and must take some form of responsibility because the new villagers are hostile towards him due to his nature. In the end, Rip’s son stops the villagers from doing anything to Rip and this allows him to continue to live his carefree and chosen lifestyle.
First off in the story of Rip Van Winkle, a man sick of his wife wanders off into the woods only to disappear for twenty years.
Irving's main character, Icabod Crane, causes a stir and disrupts the female order in the Hollow when he arrives from Connecticut. Crane is not only a representative of bustling, practical New England who threatens rural America with his many talents and fortune of knowledge; he is also an intrusive male who threatens the stability of a decidedly female place. By taking a closer look at the stories that circulate though Sleepy Hollow, one can see that Crane's expulsion follows directly from women's cultivation of local folklore. Female-centered Sleepy Hollow, by means of tales revolving around the emasculated, headless "dominant spirit" of region, figuratively neuters threatening masculine invaders like Crane to restore order and ensure the continuance of the old Dutch domesticity and their old wives' tales.
Katrina Van Tassel is used as vehicle to demonstrate the stereotype of a flirty, seductive and deceiving woman. Katrina plays with Ichabod’s affections in attempt to cause Brom Bones to become jealous. Katrina was never truly interested in Ichabod, but rather only Brom. Irving went as far as to say, “… he [Ichabod Crane] would have passed a pleasant life of it, … if his path had not been crossed by a being that causes more perplexity to
At the beginning, Tom is very self-centered and preoccupied with his work. He finds what he wants to do more important than what his wife wants to do that night. Once faced with the reality of death, he realizes how important his wife is to him. This forces him to be strong and stay alive, for her sake. The only reason he made it back into his house was because of how much he cared for her. Tom then decides to go find her at the movies, which shows that he has become less self-centered and more aware of his wife’s feelings.
In the short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving, the word went around stating that Katrina Van Tassel is in search a of a husband. I Ichabod Crane do believe that I would make a superb husband for Katrina! Katrina Van Tassel deserves to be treated like royalty, and I believe that as her husband, I would be able to follow through with that requirement. I think that I would make the perfect husband for Katrina, because I am a disciplined and a conscientious man. For example, “[I] was a conscientious man. [I] always kept in mind the golden rule, spare the rod and spoil the child.” As a school master it is important to follow through with your obligations, and following through with orders is key to having a good and healthy
Washington Irving’s written work, The legend of Sleepy Hollow is amazing and I recommend to anyone and everyone. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow contains an eerie tale of a headless horseman, a piece of romance who had two men by the names of Ichabod Crane and Brom Van Brunt going head to head with one another for a woman’s love, and a piece of history is also incorporated because it is somewhat related to what Washington Irving went through as a child being brought up through the times of the American Revolution (Rust
In the story “The Devil and Tom Walker”, the author displays greed by explaining the relationship between Tom Walker and his wife. This passage says “whatever the woman could lay hands on, she hid away.” They both were very parsimonious and did not like to share their values with one another, nor did they keep it near the other. Tom Walker "was not a man to stick at trifles when money was in view." As the story continues, Tom Walker was given the chance to make a deal with the devil, but he turned it down because he’s acquisitive that he does not want to share the wealth with his own wife. As someone who likes to loan money, he claims that he likes to help the people whom he is close to in need, but the truth is that "In proportion to the distress
In the story, Irving used characterization to create the backstory, characters, and character’s personalities. Irving used direct characterization, so he could describe each character in the beginning of the story. The main character is Ichabod Crane was pictured as a school teacher, love interest of Katherina Van Tassel, and newcomer of Sleepy Hollow. Few people did not like the fact Crane wanted Van Tassel’s hand in marriage because of his position in society. In the story, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Crane was described as a simple person with no beautiful features and not the type of man that a woman like Katherina
Washington Irving has been accused of misogyny. He may appear to show this trait in his stories, he shows the women in his story to be mean, ferocious and hateful. In the stories Rip Van Winkle and The Devil and Tom Walker, he shows this, especially in these stories with the exception of Sleepy Hollow. In his stories Washington Irving appears to be a misogynist by suppressing the male character. On the other hand, it is hard to determine whether he is a hater of women, because no irrefutable evidence can be given to prove this fact. Showing mutability from his other stories to Sleepy Hollow.
For a large part of his life, Stoker knew the world famous actor Henry Irving. Irving is said to have even inspired the Dracula character. Brigitte Boudreau states that “Many have described the friendship as one where Irving – like the notorious Count-depleted Stoker both physically and emotionally, from the moment they met until Irving’s last breath.” (Boudreau, 44).This is interesting for Stoker may have even been a closeted homosexual who was in love with Irving even though he had a wife named Florence Stoker at the time. In fact he was so devoted to him that he wrote an entire “idolatrous biography” about Irving. However, he was more likely to have been a “homosocial” man which means that he mostly associated himself with other men instead
Most Americans probably believe our times are different from Washington Irving’s era. After all, almost 200 years have passed, and the differences in technology and civil liberties alone are huge. However, these dissimilarities seem merely surface ones. When reading “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” I find that the world Irving creates in each story is very familiar to the one in which I grew up. The players may have changed, and institutions have mostly replaced roles traditionally taken on by people, but the overall pieces still fit the rural lifestyle of contemporary America.
The author continuously characterizes Tom in a way that makes the readers deride him and not want to follow the example of his like. For example, after Tom's wife takes all their valuables and tries to strike a bargain with the devil as Tom won't do it himself, Tom goes looking for her. The reader sees that he doesn't really care about her as much as he cares about the valuables: "He leaped with joy; for he recognized his wife's apron, and supposed it to contain the household valuables"(263). That shows that he is really greedy and ruthless; no one wants to follow someone portrayed like that. Furthermore, Tom had evidence that his wife was fighting with the devil when she tried to strike that bargain. The passage that provides his reaction has a satirical tone: "He shrugged his shoulders, and he looked at the signs of a fierce clapper clawing."Egad," said he to himself, "Old scratch must have had a tough time if it!" Tom consoled himself for the loss of his property, with the loss of his wife"(264). Contrasting words like fierce and prowess, which are serious words, with words like clapper clawing, egad and old scratch, Irving highlights...
In conclusion, while Rip Van Winkle is just a character in a short story, he is also a representative for the American colonies in both pre- and post-Revolutionary War times; whereas his spouse, Dame Van Winkle is not just a mean old wife, but also a representative of Great Britain in both pre- and post-war times. Through their relationship, Washington Irving paints a symbolic picture of the transition from dependent colonies into an independent nation for America, and the downfall of British rule on North American ground.
“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” represents Irving’s second comic masterpiece, a ghostly tale about things that go bump in the night. The tale opens with a description of the Hudson Valley region of Sleepy Hollow.The main character Ichabod crane is a narcissist because all he cares about is himself and getting rich. His character reminds the reader of someone who manipulates people and tries to make the pity them for money and stuff that he wants. He adds that type of snarky kind of