More handpicked essays just for you.
The legend of sleepy hollow fable
The legend of sleepy hollow fable
The legend of sleepy hollow critical essay
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The legend of sleepy hollow fable
The short story, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving had good devloping of the characters but the story did not revolve around Sleepy Hollow itself and the Horseman could have more background. The author develops characters greatly through intense vocabulary. Along with long descriptions of the characters, the author uses words such as “lank”, “waywardness”, and “repose”. The author accurately shows the feelings of othe characters thoughout the story as they are interacting with each other though dialogue and actions, such as Brom pranking Ichabod because he didn’t like that Katrina was getting closer to Ichabod. Though the characters were developed well, all of the background was focused on them and not Sleepy Hollow itself.
When we compare Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow to the 1980 television movie The Legend of Sleepy Hollow starring Meg Foster, Dick Butkus, and Jeff Goldblum, we find that while there are several similarities between the two, there are also some key differences. When we look at various characters as well as the storyline, we see those similarities and differences.
The end of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was really the deepest part of the book. This part of the book shows Ichabods greed and how he changes from humble to greediness. I believe that this transition starts to happen at the beginning of the end where Ichabod sees all the land that the Van Tassels own and that he wants it for himself.
A philosopher named Paul Brunton said, “We should control our appetite, otherwise we will lose ourselves in the confusion of the world.” Washington Irving’s short story, “The legends of sleepy hollow” spins a tale about Ichabod Crane's experiences as a city teacher, while living in a magical place known as Sleepy Hollow. Appetite defines Ichabod Crane in the three following ways: food, wealth, and superstitions.
Many evenings during the winter, Ichabod spent with the old Dutch wives. They would tell ghost stories as well as other super natural beings and demons while sitting by the fire. There was a certain story that was never left out, the legendary Headless Horseman, or sometimes known as the Hessian of the Hollow. The story went on that there was a soldier who with a cannon ball had gotten his head shot off and since roamed through Sleepy Hollow looking for his lost head while on his horse. The Headless Horseman has a jack-o-lantern that sits in replacement of his head. In addition, a love story is part of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” however many find it to be more of a pure lust or greed story. There was girl named Katrina Van Tassel who was
Influential people will change a town. This is exactly what happened to the town of Sleepy Hollow. It will never be the same after Ichabod Crane enters. He leaves a lasting impression on the town and the reader. Ichabod grows in multiple different ways as “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” progresses. Ichabod's is greed, self-centered personality, and anti-hero disposition is shown throughout the entire story. In his story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Washington Irving develops the main character, Ichabod through actions, setting, and other characters.
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 prosperous landowners. Ichabod Crane was a local pedagogue, who taught at the local schoolhouse. He was known for his strict ways and yet he was very popular amongst the families of his students- especially the ones who had ?pretty sisters.? Ichabod enjoyed spending fall evenings with the old widows as they sat by a fire and told stories of ghosts and demons and other supernatural beings. One story that was always told was one of the legendary Headless Horsemen. The tale tells of a soldier who had his head shot off with a cannon ball. His ghost now roamed Sleepy Hollow on his horse, looking for his lost head. In place of his head, sits a jack-o-lantern, which had a fiery glow.
in creating his vision of the town of Sleepy Hollow and the headless horseman, Katrina,
Irving does this to help readers realize how caught up the society of Sleepy Hollow is with their past. Irving frequently brings up the Revolutionary war and how the headless horseman was a Hessian soldier from the war. When he writes, “The dominant spirit that haunts this enchanted region is the apparition of a figure on horseback without a head. It is said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper, whose head had been carried away by a cannonball in some nameless battle during the Revolutionary War… The specter is known, at all the country firesides, by the name of the Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow” (Irving 2). This is an allusion to the Revolutionary war because the headless horseman was a hessian soldier. This explains the theme of supernatural because the Headless Horseman haunts their town and the main character, Ichabod Crane, comes across the ghost of him. Another major allusion in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” is Ichabod's belief in witches. The author supports this when saying, “He was, moreover, esteemed by the women as a man of great erudition, for he had read several books quite through, and was a perfect master of Cotton Mather's 'History of New England Witchcraft” (Irving 4). Ichabod also believes in the supernatural past. His belief in witches supports the theme of supernatural within the book. Referring to the past using allusion develops different themes within the
In examining Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” alongside Tim Burton’s film adaption of the story, titled “Sleepy Hollow,” a number of fascinating similarities and differences emerge. Though elements of the characters and settings of Burton’s film borrow heavily from Irving’s text, the overall structuring of the film is significantly different, and representations of various elements are crucially re-imagined. Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow” was released on November 19, 1999, a few months before the new millennium. Set in 1799, Burton’s film modifies the 1790 date that Irving’s text is set in, showing an acute concern with living out anxieties surrounding millennial change in the ‘safe’ formats of film and of established folk legend. Irving’s tale, written in 1820, also works with antiquity, but in a different manner: it lives out colonial cultural anxieties of Irving’s present, as he seems to be concerned with constructing archetypes of folk and with placing folk culture in the new American literary landscape. Examining the two versions of the tale, then, provides a fascinating peek into the transformation of concerns and values in America from Irving’s nineteenth century landscape to Burton’s twentieth (on the verge of twenty-first) century.
The Novel and Film of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, originally a book written by Washington Irving, is exactly what the title implies, a legend. This legend includes a town that is haunted by a headless horseman and a single man's journey. Many years later, this legend was produced as a movie directed by Tim Burton. Burton stole the title of this legend and added thrill to this now classic storyline.
Benoit, Raymond. Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The Explicator. Washington: Heldref Publications, 1996. "
Irving Washington. "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 5th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998.
to him. He wrote stories and sketches that took place in both the New World
In the two passages, “A Short Narrative of My Life” by Samson Occom and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” written by Washington Irving, the main characters are both intrigued by controversial situations in their community: however, their consequences and reputations are greatly differentiated.
Although throughout time, it is proven that the imagination in our society has declined eminently. Irving --one of the most famous Romanticism writers-- set a precedent and defined imagination in Romanticism. For example, in Rip Van Winkle, one of Irving’s most well-known works, he uses a man as his main character who has been asleep for twenty years who wakes up and society is completely different. Throughout the short story, uses many instances where his originality shows through, such as, when Rip meets the ghost of himself in the forest, the imprecation of the alcohol that allows him to sleep for twenty years without dying, and many additional examples. This was one of the first famous accounts of insane creativity being put into words and published for the world to read. Irving here set the exemplar for inventive stories and ideas throughout history. Although, modernly our creativity has declined due to kids not reading as much as they should (Wolpert.) Studies show that the diminishing of the students reading as much as they should clearly coordinates with loss of imaginative thoughts. Back then, reading was a first nature idea and most everyone enjoyed it and that is one reason Irving was so popular because he was a writer and introduced a new way of thinking. His story