Gender Issues in Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Major Critical Essay In her essay, “Gender”, Myra Jehlin asserts that, assuming gender is a social construct as opposed to biological truth, “the character conventionally assigned men and women in novels reflects history and culture rather than nature” (264). When applied to the characters of Washington Irving’s 1819 short story “Rip Van Winkle”, Rip and Dame Van Winkle are transformed from an expression of the roles men and women naturally fall into, to a reflection of the values and expectations of marriage espoused by the male-dominated society of 19th century America. Jehlen further argues that no works can be considered “timeless nor transcendent” in their message, because the context of a work effects that work in its own indelible way,

Washington Irving, is the author of the tale “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” that was written in the nineteenth century (Baym 25). Irving was born in New York City on April 3rd, 1783 and was the last of eleven children. At home, Irving read a wide range of English literature and delighted in many other writers, including Shakespeare, Oliver Goldsmith, and Laurence Sterne. In 1830 Irving bought and began refurbishing a house along the Hudson River near Tarrytown (Baym 25). The beginning of Irving’s tale opens up with the description of the charming Hudson Valley region of Sleepy Hollow near Tarrytown. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” represents a popular tale in Irving’s book, The Sketch Book (Baym 25). It’s ghostly tale that talks about a mysterious Headless Horseman that is said to be a Hessian trooper who lost his head by a cannon ball during battle. It is said that every night the Headless Horseman roams the countryside in search of his head. There is an unlikely hero in this tale named Ichabod Crane, but to the people of Sleepy Hollow the real hero is Brom Bones.

This short story has the characters’ behaviors reflecting the way the setting is described. “In this by-place of nature there abode, in a remote period of American history, that is to say, some thirty years since, a worthy weight of the name of Ichabod Crane, who sojourned, or, as he expressed it, “tarried,” in

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” was a speculative fiction story written by Washington Irving. It takes place in the Post-Revolutionary War America. America at this time was

These gender roles assigned to the male and female beings of the society found their way into the world of literature and there was the creation of books which either adhered to the stereotypical gender roles or went against it. In this paper I would like to talk about the gender roles in the coming of age novels Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Both these books were written in the time which is considered as the Victorian age in British literature.

The narration in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow functions as a way to give authority to the women of Tarry Town. This power of feminine is elicit by Washington Irving who gives respect and superiority to women indirectly, but yet evidently through third person narration. Furthermore through Katrina he parallels the power of Tarry Town’s women by illustrating their agency to beget the downfall of Ichabod.

The style of Washington Irving’s story varies from enchanted and mysterious, to downright jovial. His rich language describes Sleepy Hollow and Ichabod Crane’s time spent there with lavish detail of the scenery and even the food.Ironically, the end and explanation of the Headless Horseman is different in the two sources. In the story, with Crane hungry for the supernatural, Irving implies with his ending that Brom Bones was the Horseman and that what happened could have a reality-based explanation. In the movie, where Johnny Depp’s Ichabod Crane adamantly rejects any supernatural ideas, Tim Burton creates an entire back-story of witchcraft to explain the Headless Hessian. In one similarity, both contrasted their main character’s belief with

In his short story, Irving, the author, demonstrates the “Selfish acts in Romance” throughout an intimate relationship by stating, “Ichabod Crane had a soft and foolish heart…; and it is not to be wondered at, that so tempting a morsel soon found favor in his eyes; more especially after he had visited her in her paternal mansion” (Irving 21). He goes on to demonstrate Ichabod’s greediness and confusion in his relationship. In “The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow”, Washington Irving’s short story of Ichabod Crane’s pursuit to win over Katrina Van Tassel’s heart and money which symbolizes Irving’s theory of selfishness throughout society. Ichabod is already counting how he thinks that one day he will get everything he wants. And that he is ready to turn his back on

It is not extreme but it is used to develop the story and to help the reader understand the ending. The town is primarily dominated by women. They have strict ways of doing things and Crane does not conform to those rules. There seems to be an air of happiness around the disappearance of Crane because of how he does not conform to the standards. His disappearance also place Bones back into the order that Sleepy Hollow is in because he no longer had competition and could marry Katarina; he would become a content old man that did not disturb the town any longer. His disappearance put the town of Sleepy Hollow back into the natural order and control that it was in. Irving wrote Crane to have a feminine side that contained the qualities that were seemingly poor qualities. The way Crane treats the feminine qualities as a bad thing and that contributes to the sense of relief that fills the town after he disappears (Plummer and Nelson,

Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow recounts the unfortunate events of the rise of a ghoulish horseman from the grave reeking havoc on the small town of Sleepy Hollow. Icahbod Crane must find the so-called “ghost” in order to prove his investigational methods worry to the city of New York. Though this tale does not come from any certain historical truth but Burton’s rendition of the story comes from many years ago. Though he does make several artistic decisions that may differ somewhat from the original account, the film is historical because of lasting legend. The headless horseman and Icahbod Crane have made numerous appearances in books, television shows, and other movies over the years, and will continue to have a lasting impact on many forms of entertainment in the years to come.

Washington Irving’s portrayal of Dame Van Winkle is not fair because he never described her, she had a very lazy husband, and her husband was willing to help other people but her. First, he is not fair to Dame Van Winkle Because he never really described her. He never described what she was like. He never described what she did to make there home better without Rip there.. Second, she had a very lazy husband that never did anything to help her around the house or on the farm. Rip Van Winkle was always trying to get out of helping her so that made her angry. She would always go to town to try to find him but he would slip away into the woods. Lastly, the author said Rip Van Winkle is always willing to help other people but he dreaded going

In all three texts, Don’t Ask Jack, Rebecca and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the atmosphere is somewhat the same but has some things that are different. In the short story Don’t Ask Jack written by Neil Gaiman there is high sense of creepiness and darkness while the children play in the “attic nursery on grey days when the wind howled, rain rattled the slates and pattered down the eaves” (Pg.1-2). Gaiman used the sense of creepiness extremely well through-out his whole story and set the scene. Where as in the story of Rebecca written by Daphne du Maurier there is some sort of mystery in the back ground or the section is building up to something of some sort. This is relatable to Gaiman’s Don’t Ask Jack as Daphne du Maurier states “and only little flickering patches of warm light would in” (Pg. 1). The author of Rebecca has set some of the story so that the characters are driving through a dark forest like tunnel “Suddenly I saw a clearing in the dark drive ahead, a patch of sky” (Pg.1). Washington Irving. The author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, has created a sense of mystery and strangeness within the story. Some people in the story believe the ghost stories about the Headless Horseman where as others do not. While all three texts show a

Irving gives Dame Van Winkle an authoritative role and lets the lead male character to take on a subservient position. In the early 1800s, male supremacy was more commonly practiced and generally accepted. Despite the taboo, Irving presents Dame Van Winkle as a figure of authority and describes her presence can cause scare to the men at the village inn. On one hand, we have a villainous Dame Van Winkle who possess power. On the other hand, Irving introduces Judith Gardenier, Rip's daughter, as a nurturing mother and a dutiful daughter who would take care her father. It is obvious that Irving is against the feminist idea and believes it is more favorable for a woman to inhere a motherly role.

Ichabod Crane is the rather unlikable main character of Washington Irving’s short story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Throughout the story, Crane is showed to have an unusually large amount of undesirable characteristics which serve to make him difficult to identify with; no one wants to relate themselves to a villain. Along with quite a few other negative attributes, Crane reveals himself to be superstitious, greedy, cowardly, self-important, misogynistic and, contriving. Cranes behavior towards others is superficially charming but under the surface is a man out only for himself.

In Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, women characters hold minor, but significant roles. Female appearances, although few, are powerful and impressionable. Their roles, although conflicting and serving different purposes, influence Marlow’s journey significantly.