Irvings Feminist Approach
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Taylor Bryant
English 11 HH
September 26, 2006
Irving’s Feminist Approach in Literature
Washington Irving, a Romanticist short story writer was best known for his high
comedy, and irony. Irving used various symbols to portray hidden meanings, that every page of
a story should be relevant to what he is trying to convey overall. Irving believed that a short
story was a “frame on which to stretch materials.” Meaning that he was more concerned with
literary devices rather than the story as a whole. In the two stories Rip Van Winkle, and The
Spectre Bridegroom, Irving gives the readers a view of how women were portrayed during the
late 1700'and early 1800's. He gives women an idea of how women should act, as well as how
they shouldn’t. He uses various hidden symbols to portray women negatively and positively, in
both stories. He categorizes women the way that they were “supposed” to act during his time.
In Rip Van Winkle the one woman in the story, Dame Van Winkle is portrayed as being
termagant, and a nuisance in Rip Van Winkle’s life. The main factor as to why Dame Van
Winkle is such a hassle is because she doesn’t abide to her husbands rules, she’s not what other
men would consider the “typical housewife.” The husbands “role” in the house during
this time period was to provide for the family, and Rip was clearly not fulfilling his
responsibility. Furthermore, Rip is described as a man “who was ready to attend to anybody’s
business but his own” (20). Dame Van Winkle, being in the position that she is, is forced to
constantly argue with Rip until he owns up to his obligation as a husband. Showing the lack of
respect for woman during this time, “Dame” Van Winkle is not given a proper name, she is
simply referred to as Rip Van Winkle’s wife. Irving, at one point states “If left to himself, he
would have whistled life away in perfect contentment; but his wife kept continually dinning his
ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on his family” (20). This
in a sense is foreshadowing the idea that Rip slept through 20 years of his life, also blamed on
the verbal abuse from Dame. When Rip finds out of the news of his wife “there was a drop of
comfort, at least, in his intelligence” (30). He is relieved and in a sense “free” from his
termagant wife. “When life hangs heavy on their hands, that they might have a quieting draught
out of Rip Van Winkle’s flagon” (32).
In a way, Irving uses the characters by having them represent America’s struggle in the
Revolutionary war. Rip Van Winkle represented America, the struggle he was encountering
with Dame Van Winkle is similar to the battle America had against England, which is
represented by Dame Van Winkle. When Rip awakens from his 20 year rest, he now has a
purpose, and can be “liberated” from Dame Van Winkle. Throughout the story Irving portrays
Dame Van Winkle as the villain, and Rip Van Winkle as a “victim.”
In the Spectre Bridegroom: A Travelers Tale, Irving portrays women, in a similar
approach, in the fact that they didn’t have a say in what went