The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Characters

Let’s look at the characters in more detail.

Ichabod Crane

The story’s main protagonist, Ichabod is the schoolmaster and singing master of Sleepy Hollow. He is tall and lanky, with feet like shovels and large green eyes. He is well-read and highly superstitious, with an insatiable appetite for food. Though he has stiff competition, he aims to marry the beautiful and wealthy Katrina Van Tassel.

Katrina Van Tassel

Ichabod Crane’s love interest and heiress of the affluent Van Tassel estate. She is described as “coquettish” and is known to be a bit of a flirt. Katrina’s character is significantly less developed than her male counterparts, and she functions more as an object of conquest in the story.

Abraham “Brom Bones” Van Brunt

Ichabod Crane’s chief competitor in the battle for Katrina Van Tassel’s hand in marriage. Brom Bones is brutish and prone to roughhousing and pranks and is the opposite of the gangling and studious Ichabod. Despite his roguish behavior, he is seen as something of a hero among the inhabitants of Sleepy Hollow.

Baltus Van Tassel

Katrina’s father, the good-natured head of the Van Tassel household. Baltus is a loving and doting father, letting Katrina “have her way in everything.” While he is comfortable and generous in his wealth, he is not overly proud of it.

Hans Van Ripper

Ichabod’s bad-tempered and curmudgeonly host. He lends Ichabod the old and equally bad-tempered horse Gunpowder that Ichabod rides during his fateful meeting with the Headless Horseman.

The Headless Horseman

The ghost of a Hessian soldier who was decapitated by a cannonball during the Revolutionary War. The Headless Horseman is said to ride at night in search of his head, returning to his resting place in the cemetery before sunrise. According to Brom Bones, the Horseman is unable to cross the bridge leading to the church.

Diedrich Knickerbocker

The narrator of the story, Diedrich Knickerbocker is a fictional New England historian that author Washington Irving frequently used as a vehicle to tell his stories.

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Themes

Below are some of the main themes of the text. Are there others you can think of?

Superstition and Tradition

The residents of Sleepy Hollow are stubbornly convinced of the existence of the supernatural. Even when presented with eyewitness testimony that Ichabod Crane was not carried off by the Headless Horseman but fled the valley and became a politician, the Dutch wives of Sleepy Hollow (whom the narrator ascertains are “the best judges of these matters”) still hold fast to the belief that he met his end by supernatural means.

The superstition of the Sleepy Hollow residents correlates with tradition, especially seeing as these descendants of Dutch settlers have a distinct set of practices and beliefs. Irving wrote “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in 1820 when the Industrial Revolution was in full swing. The existence of Sleepy Hollow as a place where time stands still and ancient superstitions are still held in high regard is indicative of the small pockets of societal resistance that held firm against the advancement of the Industrial Revolution. It’s a reminder that even as progress marches forward in an era of logic and reason, there’s still power in the beliefs and practices of yesteryear.

History and Legend

The story of Ichabod Crane takes place “some thirty years since.” As Irving published “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in 1820, we can assume that the story takes place around 1790. This takes us to a particular time in American history. The United States was a young nation still healing from the wounds of the Revolution and trying to establish a sense of history and legend. Irving’s use of the fictional historian Diedrich Knickerbocker further drives the idea of a historical narrative in a time when little of it existed. The tale of the Headless Horseman represents a young country’s longing to establish legend and a sense of wonder.

Greed

Ichabod Crane is the shining example of this particular theme. From his unappeasable appetite to his lust for the Van Tassel’s estate, Ichabod is a caricature of greed. Even his tenderness for Katrina Van Tassel leaves the reader wondering just how much of it stems from his actual fondness for Katrina and how much is influenced by his wanting to share in her inheritance. The passages in the story that describe Katrina’s estate and all the riches within it greatly outnumber the passages that describe Katrina herself. Further, Katrina’s beauty and desirability give the sense of her being more of an object of finery than a human being.

Katrina’s father, Baltus Van Tassel, provides a counterpoint to Ichabod’s lust for food and finery. Baltus already possesses a staggering amount of wealth and seems wholly content in what he has. He even shares his wealth by throwing a lavish party that feeds and entertains those who possess much less than he does, including Ichabod.

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Analysis

Let’s dive a little deeper by analyzing the text.

Tone and Setting

This Gothic tale is found “among the papers of the late Diedrich Knickerbocker.” Irving brings forth legend and history with his use of this fictional historian as the narrator of the story. Knickerbocker also gives the story a certain sense of folkloric authenticity, as his account is third- or even fourth-hand. Seeing how young a nation the United States was at the time of publication, this tone of an authentic historical and folkloric narrative is crucial in establishing a common American heritage within the story.

Irving paints a vivid picture of the United States’ northeastern countryside with his ornate descriptions of the Hudson Valley and its surroundings. The story begins by plunging the reader headfirst into the beauty of Sleepy Hollow’s surrounding area. Irving gushes over the tranquil brooks and rivers, the active wildlife, and the overall stillness of this sequestered countryside in the American Northeast. He also sets the story squarely in the fall season with colorful descriptions of the ripening autumnal produce and the changing color of the leaves. This adds to the story’s ghostly nature by timing the events around Halloween.

The Hudson Valley. This scenic area provides the setting for “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Pixabay

Irving utilizes these images of nature to evoke dread in some passages. The natural sounds of the valley haunt Ichabod during his walks through the darkened valley: “...every sound of nature, at that witching hour, fluttered his excited imagination; the moan of the whip-poor-will from the hillside; the boding cry of the tree-toad, the dreary hooting of the screech-owl.” The scenes that portrayed a place of beauty in previous passages are now designed to invoke a sense of terror in the reader. However, the tone of dread is balanced with a sense of humor. Specifically, passages that play on Ichabod’s amusingly large appetite or the pitfalls of courtship provide comic relief in an otherwise harrowing tale.

Caricatures and Archetypes

Irving makes great use of caricature in his characters. Ichabod Crane’s exaggerated comical appearance and love of knowledge present a stark contrast to Brom Bones’ equally exaggerated role as a Herculean competitor in the battle for a lady’s hand. These vastly different characters perfectly demonstrate the classic brain versus brawn archetype and further add to the folkloric feel of the story.

Irving doesn’t stop in his archetypal character portrayal with Ichabod and Brom Bones. Katrina Van Tassel serves as the typical “fair maiden,” a character that is less of a developed human being and more of a living, breathing representation of the wealth for the lucky gentleman who marries her. Her father, the kindly Baltus Van Tassel, presents a flip side to this battle for riches. While Ichabod and Brom Bones engage in a fierce competition for wealth, Baltus already possesses that affluence and is satisfied with it. He represents the ultimate goal of financial security that men like Ichabod and Brom Bones crave.

Facts Versus Fiction

What happens to Ichabod Crane after his fateful encounter with the Headless Horseman? Irving carefully places clues that Ichabod Crane’s fate could be explained by logical means. The smashed pumpkin, Brom Bones’ skill on horseback, his motive in removing Ichabod as a competitor, and his “exceedingly knowing” disposition after Ichabod’s disappearance all point to the conclusion that he was the figure that frightened and hunted Ichabod. However, this conclusion is insinuated rather than definitively stated.

Irving ultimately leaves the conclusion open to interpretation, challenging the reader to decide for themselves. The logical individual will undoubtedly conclude that the Headless Horseman was merely Brom Bones playing a prank, and Ichabod simply fled the area. However, the passionate believer in the unknown may prefer the enigma in the Dutch wives’ belief that he was spirited away by the Headless Horseman. In leaving the ending open, Irving allows room for a mystery that is true to the spirit of folklore.