Washington Irving Misogyny

Washington Irving is a writer who authored many short stories and essays in the early nineteenth century. He is the writer of many classical short stories, such as “Rip Van Winkle,” “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and “The Devil and Tom Walker,” which are many people’s favorite short stories. However, in many of these stories the portrayal of certain male characters--and their relationships with female characters--have raised the question of whether or not Washington Irving had some questionable ethics. More specifically, it is misogyny that the late author has been accused of because of his stories. The male characters referred to in these accusations are Tom from “The Devil and Tom Walker,” Rip from “Rip Van Winkle,” and Brom Bones from “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” These characters’ portrayals show how Irving was misogynistic, rather than these values simply just a byproduct of the era Irving was living in. The first piece of evidence for this accusation is the character of Tom Walker from “The Devil and Tom Walker.” Tom Walker is introduced in the story as a person that is not likeable in many senses, and his wife is perceived the same way (Lines 31-37). The story describes the people living in the Walker house as all having a bad name (Line 31). Furthermore, Irving goes into great detail to describe how awful Tom …show more content…
The character under scrutinization is rather Ichabod’s rival, Brom Bones. Brom Bones is a muscular, jock-like type male who is the rival candidate of Ichabod for Katrina Van Tassel’s hand in marriage (Paragraphs 27-28). The way Brom Bones is a stereotypical jock and only wants Katrina’s hand in marriage for her father’s wealth is why this character adds to the stacking pile of evidence against Washington