Rip Van Winkle: A Revolutionary Piece in Fairy Tale Clothing Essay example

In Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle,” an allegorical reading can be seen. The genius of Irving shines through, in not only his representation in the story, but also in his ability to represent both sides of the hot political issues of the day. Because it was written during the revolutionary times, Irving had to cater to a mixed audience of Colonists and Tories. The reader’s political interest, whether British or Colonial, is mutually represented allegorically in “Rip Van Winkle,” depending on who is reading it. Irving uses Rip, Dame, and his setting to relate these allegorical images on both sides. Irving would achieve success in both England and America, in large part because his political satires had individual allegorical meanings.

Rip Van Winkle, a story written by Washington Irving in the early 1800s, demonstrates the emergence and development of American Mythology. Packed full of mythological elements, Irving’s tale depicts a man who encounters mysterious and fantastical characters in equally intriguing settings. Rip Van Winkle displays three major factors that contribute to mythology: mysterious, historical setting, remarkable and strange characters, and heroic, magical events and their consequences.

She has a lot of contempt for Rip due to his unwillingness to work and carefree lifestyle. Her abusive control over Rip represents King George and the British rule of the colonies. Even though the colonies were mistreated by the King they still stayed faithful and attached to the crown same as Rip stayed by his critical wife. Here the irony lies in Rip’s absence of feeling towards his wife Dame Van Winkle. Even though he was lectured and bossed around by her he still felt content.

            If there's one passage in this story that would summarize the entire story it would be this one. Every theme throughout Rip Van Winkle is touched on somewhere in here and the constant theme of "who Rip is" is the underlying question of both this story and this passage. In the beginning of the story I think we all took a liking to such a friendly character who cares so much about pleasing everyone. However, towards the end of the story Rip seems to examine his life and realizes that he doesn't like everything about himself, and that quite possibly some changes are in order.

Rip Van Winkle’s positive traits also symbolically represent the ideal of what “New Americans” wanted to be; beloved, free-spirited, and kind. No one has no problem with Rip Van Winkle and his eagerness to do anything for anyone, except his wife. Irving states, “Morning, noon and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence” (2). Yes, Rip was extremely caring and helpful but he also came with his own bad traits. Rip was stubborn, very irresponsible, and he lacked ambition. All of these bad traits which happened to get on Dame Van Winkle’s nerves. Rip can never catch a break with Dame Van Winkle. Dame Van Winkle would get angry at him for anything and everything he did, it was a never ending tirade “sharp tongue is the only edge tool that grows keener by constant use” (2). Dame Van Winkle would nag Rip to death over his chores and duties so much that his only refuge would come from running away. Washington uses the character of Dame Van Winkle as a symbol for Royal England and its treatment of the Colonies. Rip Van Winkle's character portrays

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

Have you ever met someone who was kind, humorous, very likable yet extremely lazy? Well, let me introduce Rip Van Winkle. In my opinion Rip truly “beat to his own drum,” he was a man who much preferred fishing, hunting squirrels and pigeons, visiting his friends at the Inn, reading ghost stories, fly kites, and playing marbles with the children in town instead of working a labor job. Consequently, since Rip refused to help and he was tired of his nagging wife Dame he decided to stroll into the woods of the Catskill Mountains one day with his lazy dog named Wolf where he fell asleep for 20 years, leaving behind his wife to care for everything until she passes away. In conclusion, I think Rip was very lazy, but I really liked he was a kind, good

The next and main thing that he noticed was the town and country government changed during the time period that he was asleep. Nicholas Vedder’s inn was now gone since there was no one to take care of since Vedder had died. When Rip Van Winkle came into town for the first time, he saw that his old favorite place to gossip with friends was now gone and had been replaced with a modern inn. He was simply confused when he originally saw this change; not realizing yet those twenty years had gone by. The primary difference that he observed was that King George’s picture was not located on a sign that used to represent the country of England. But now the sign has a picture of someone that Rip Van Winkle did not recognize named George Washington. Rip Van Winkle did not know about the Revolutionary War or about the new government of the brand new country who won its freedom from England. His world that he thought he

Rip Van Winkle is described as a man who “was one of those happy mortals, of foolish, well-oiled dispositions, who take the world easy, eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got with least thought or trouble, and would rather starve on a penny than work for a pound” (46). He was a stubborn man

When Rip arrives to the town his only worry on his mind is the mouth lashing he will receive from the wife. Rip arrives in the town shocked when he finds the image of King George III replaced by George Washington. As Rip continues through the town he becomes confused, unable to understand the current election process that is occurring, when he is questioned by townspeople as to “which side he voted?” (7). The author states, “ ‘I am a poor quiet man, a native of the place, and a loyal subject of the king, God bless him!” (7). After hearing that Rip Van Winkle was a loyalist the townspeople feared the old ways and became extremely angry with Rip. One main issue of the story was one of identity, especially at this time in history. The citizens of America, twenty years after Rip Van Winkle finally awoke, found their identity.. Rip, who was having difficulty finding himself throughout the story, finally finds his identity when his daughter finds him and takes him home to live with her. Rip Van Winkle is told his wife has long been dead. With the overbearing authority Dame Van Winkle gone, Rip Van Winkle is able live the rest of days happy. Rip, much like America, could now enjoy the new freedom that he deserved. Not only that, but the irony in his named alone. ‘Rip’ being a play on words, rest in

Despite Irving's criticisms, he was a patriot and admirer of both the Revolution and his country, but he had serious questions about their democratic excesses. He was interested in the Revolution throughout his life and had collected many books on the subject. On its primary level, "Rip Van Winkle" is a public celebration of the American Revolution. The story opens with the prefigurative imagery of family breakups, specifically the Kaatskill (Catskill) Mountains that "are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family" (p. 769). In the story, Rip's colonial family is also dismembered as he escapes from his tyrannical wife, but he is finally rediscovered and reintegrated into his new American family at the end. The context of family

One thing we know about Rip Van Winkle is that this story is inspirited in a story belonging to a Dutch story, taking from the Dutch settlers of American colonies.

Rip Van Winkle is set in the past with an interesting setting. Being set in the late eighteenth century in the Catskill Mountains, Irving uses imagery to visualize vivid colors and pictures. Irving describes that the sunsets “will glow and light up like a crown of glory,” which provides a majestic image of the sun (p. 62). It Is also described that the mountains are magical. The mountains are said to change in hues and shape depending on the weather, season, and

Rip Van Winkle is the very embodiment of freedom, a very unsightly version of freedom but freedom nonetheless. Running through the story, it is learned that Rip Van Winkle is a lazy and unproductive member of society. He doesn’t do any beneficial work for his family, his terribly passive behavior rubbed off of on his son, and so forth. Even then, he’s still being terrorized by various kinds of tyrannical powers: the tyranny of marriage (his very uptight wife, Dame Van Winkle, nags on him a lot), the tyranny of social expectations (a man in his prime is expected to do something beneficial), and the tyranny of government (he is under direct rule of King George III). Thankfully, a magical nap solved all of these issues.

Her treatment of him earned Rip sympathy from others. His only weak point was his inability to work for profit. It was not that he lacked patience or perseverance; for, as Irving points out, “He would sit on a wet rock, with a rod as long and heavy as a Tartar’s lance, and fish all day without a murmur, even though he should not be encouraged by a single nibble.” Rip Van Winkle and his wife are exaggerated characters in the story, Rip with his