Essay on Rip Van Winkle

Michelle Guerrero

Miss Roark

10 October 2015

Rip Van Winkle

Washington Irving is known for being a great author. One of his greatest stories, “Rip Van Winkle,” is a mythology. A mythology is a collection of myths, especially one belonging to a particular religious or cultural tradition. “Rip Van Winkle” greatly impacts its reader through Irving’s use of settings in the past, remarkable and strange characters, and featuring incredible or mysterious events and their consequences.

The story “Rip Van Winkle” is set in a  place during the reign of George the Third. It is set in a small village by the Kaatskill Mountains.  “It is a little village of great antiquity, having been founded by some of the Dutch colonists…(62) The time was in the early times of the province. The story also provides an exciting place. “When the weather is fair and settled, they are clothed in blue and purple, and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky….in the last rays of the setting sun, will glow and light up like a crown of glory.”(61-62). The statement is supported by this line because it explains how the mountains look and how amazing the view is from the village. They settled during the time of George the Third. This was during the yoke of old England, where some myths originated. The setting characteristics largely impacted the story. It puts one’s mind into a mysterious place and time.

Rip Van Winkle contains magical entertaining impossiblities that keep that reader glued to each page. “He would never even refuse to assist a neighbor in the roughest toil, and was a fore-most man at all country frolics for husking Indian corn, or building stone fences… Rip was ready to attend to any body’s business”(63-64) Rip is remarkable because he shows good american kindness and is portrayed through his desire to help others, and barely make any profit, rather than only helping himself make a lot of money. “He was a stout old gentleman, with a weather-beaten countenance; he wore a laced doublet, broad belt and hanger, high crowned hat and feather, red stockings, and high heeled shoes, with roses in them.” The Dutchmen were a bit odd. Not to mention unreal, mythical people. They had magical liquor that would Rip to sleep for 20 years! These characteristics in the story definitely put in impact in this mythology.

The story of “Rip Van Winkle” definitely featured magical and mysterious events. The most important element was Rip’s mysterious disappearance for years and randomly waking up with no memory of what happened. “One taste provoked another, and he reiterated his visits to the flagon so often, that at length his senses were overpowered, his eyes swam in his head, his head gradually declined, and he fell into a deep sleep.”(70) That magical liquor put him to sleep for twenty years. The consequences was that he missed his children grow up along with his grandchild, the passing of his wife, dog, and neighbors. As with the other topics, the events and their consequences in this tale have a major impact on the story.