Analysis of The Romantic Elements In Sleepy Hollow

The Themes “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” One of Washington Irving’s short and most famous stories ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ has become a ghoulish characteristic yet an individual might still be unaccustomed with its idiocy (Hoffman, 425). Based on the real legend of Ichabod Crane, the

Ichabod Crane’s adventure related in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow demonstrates where someone’s unchecked and undesirable personality traits can lead him. Washington Irving wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in 1820. The story describes how Ichabod Crane persistently frightened himself by supposing he saw and heard supernatural beings.

Comparing Sleepy Hollow and The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow Over time, a change has occurred from the typical horror story to a violent and bloody legend. The original short story " The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow" is an example of a simple, yet mysterious fable in which Ichabod Crane acts as the protagonist. Ichabod becomes the victim of the feared headless horseman after believing the superstitious tales of this spirit preying in the night. The film that is supposedly based upon the tale provides a deceiving, yet compelling title of Sleepy Hollow, as one might assume that the film is a reenactment of the short story. The film and original tale differ in that the film has blood, gore and controversy while the story depicts a

Elements of Suspense in Irving’s Masterpiece: “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” “In the dark shadow of the grove… [Ichabod] beheld something huge, misshapen, black and towering...up in the gloom...some gigantic monster” and “summoning up, [from his trembling body] a show of courage...he demanded in stammering accents- ‘Who are you?’”. In the short story, the “Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, Washington Irving, tells the adventures of a schoolteacher, Ichabod Crane, in the haunted town of Sleepy Hollow. There, he pursues the local beauty, Katrina van Tassel, competing with the town’s rowdy prankster, Brom Bones. As the plot intensifies, Ichabod’s superstition eventually leads to his downfall when he is chased by the legendary ghost of the Headless Horseman in a terrifying and vivid scene after a party at Katrina’s house. The next day, Ichabod has disappeared, his fate unknown. Throughout the story, Irving creates suspense with the use of imagery to build up a frightening scene in the reader’s mind and ambiguity to make them anxious as they feel a sense of mysteriousness as to what really happened.

The film Sleepy Hollow directed by Tim Burton, centres around a detective who is sent from the city to a small country town to investigate a series of bizarre murders. While he is in town he has to deal with love, past issues and also discover why the horseman has returned from the dead to kill townspeople. The story is based around the battle of good and evil with Ichabod Crane being good as he believes in finding the truth in everything and the Horseman being evil personified as he will not stop killing. Burton displays the constant battle between good and evil throughout the film through the characterization of Ichabod Crane and the Hessian. Burton also uses settings to show what each thing represents like the forest is the gateway to hell

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, written by Washington Irving, fits nicely into the Romanticism period due to its eloquent descriptions and detail to the nature around the village, the attention and focus on the main character and the addition of ghost stories and superstitions. These pieces come together to build a story of conflict and adventure. To further describe how all of the pieces fit together, we must first begin with the author. Washington Irving, born in 1783, was a well-traveled and well-educated young man. He dabbled in the areas of law, family business and even a diplomat for Spain but found the most success in his writing. Irving was considered the first author to write American Short Stories (Irving Biography). The two he is most well-known for is Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was written in 1819, contains elements from light romanticism and humor (Dincer 219). The piece is about a young man by the name of Ichabod Crane whom tries to win the heart of a young lady by the name of Katrina Van Tassel. This story takes place in a small rural

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is short story of speculative fiction written by Washington Irving, published in 1820. It follows the journey of Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones in their attempt to win over Katrina Van Tassel. Many adaptions have been made of Irving’s original story with one of the

Washington Irving’s, the author of the story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, uses imagery throughout the story to interpret the setting and mood of the story. At the beginning of the story, Erving uses suspenseful imagery to describe the location of the valley that he lives in as one of the quietest places on earth . He ackno in the story “Not far from this village, perhaps about two miles down the road, there is a little valley or lap of land among the hills, which is one of the quietest places in the world.” The main character Ichabod Crane is a school teacher, Erving the author uses imagery in such a way to give the readers the full effect of what his classroom looks like. “His schoolhouse was a low building of one large room, rudely constructed of logs; the windows partly glazed, and partly patched with leaves of old copybooks,” he says this in such a way that the reader can imagine the school room as if they were there and it adds suspense to the rest of the story. Washington Irving set the mood of thrilling suspense and the spooky setting of a quiet town by using imagery throughout his story of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”.

Ever since the invention of language, humans have been obsessed and intrigued with the aspect of storytelling. Each story, whether written or spoken, holds an important theme within its creative words and exciting plot. While each story is special and unique, over the course of history, different periods of literature have formed where authors tend to focus on similar themes and messages. One of which was the American Romantic era, where authors used their stories to challenge the boundaries of society, and delve deeper into what makes people inherently human, both the flaws and perfections. Some of America’s greatest works of literature were born in this period, like those of Poe, and Hawthorne. A very common literary theme during the romantic period was that of good versus evil, in both individual characters and society as a whole; this theme is especially evident in works such as The Tell Tale Heart, The Raven, and Young Goodman Brown.

(Page 1) “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” has different tones throughout the story. At the beginning the tone is somnolent yet peaceful, then the tone gets spooky slightly sarcastic, humorous, mocking and surreal.

The original story by Washington Irving starts out in a small town of Sleepy Hollow. Irving paints an image of bountiful crops, beautiful scenery, and

Female behavior in Sleepy Hollow is a result of its feminine setting. Irving's tale preserves the maintenance of the feminine and the landscape is described as having maternal characteristics. For example, Sleepy Hollow lies "in the bosom" of a cove lining the Hudson (Irving 948), and the valley is "embosomed in the great state of New York" (Irving 950). Clearly the repose and security of Sleepy Hollow rest in the maternal landscape - an assumption so pervasive that even our male narrator attests to it. For as he observes, the act of naming falls to women in this Dutch village. For example, "The good house-wives of the adjacent country, from the inveterate propensity of their husbands to linger about the village tavern on market days, " have named the nearby "rural port" "Tarry Town" (Irving 948). The name and power of naming thus operates as a gently sarcastic means of reproaching unruly husbands and of preserving female dominance over the Hollow.

“The dominant spirit, however, that haunts this enchanted region, and seems to be commander-in-chief of all the powers of the air, is the apparition of a figure on horseback without a head.” Although the movie Sleepy Hollow is based upon the book The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, there are also distinctions which allow each to tell their own tale. Washington Irving’s short story inspired Tim Burton’s film but did not limit it. The foundations of the two are much the same but their story lines unfold diversely. Some of the similarities include the setting, characters, and plot points. Two of the many contradicting ideas are the character of Ichabod Crane and the conclusions. The similarities and differences of both accounts can be stated plainly

Ichabod Crane is portrayed as an interesting, complex character in the story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Crane is an excellent example of how not everyone is exactly how they seem. His slippery, dark personality can not easily be identified on paper in the story, but Irving made sure the message was deeper than it is on paper. Many readers understand the big plot and the exciting timeline of this story, but what is communicated underneath is what is often looked over. Irving, by writing a comical phenomenon, solidified himself as being one of the best writers of his era, but what really stood out was what he used the character of Ichabod Crane to communicate about society.

Dear 11th Grade Student, You may of heard of a time called the American Romanticism Period, but i’m sure you don't know the whole story. The Romantic period was a time in history that symbolised Romance and different Characteristics you might of felt in the stories. Some of the Characteristics might be Focus on an Individual, Supernatural, Intuition over Fact, Imagination over Reason, Emphasis on Emotion, Love of Childhood, Awareness of Past, Belief in Democracy, and Love of Nature. There were many books in this period that had these kinds of characteristics. Some of the Books might of been “The Devil and Tom Walker” , “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” , and “Old Ironside”. In this letter I will tell you all you need to know about these stories and the Romantic Period.