Analysis Of Ichabod Crane And Brom Bones In The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the school teacher Ichabod Crane and the town hero Brom Bones were both pursuing Katrina Van Tassel, the “daughter and only child of a substantial Dutch farmer” (75). Ichabod was Katrina’s “singing-master” (69) who “made advances in a quiet and gently insinuating manner” (86). Katrina enjoyed Ichabod’s attention and flirted with him, but did not reciprocate Ichabod’s feelings in the end so he left. Conversely, Brom, the “hero of the county round,” (83) assertively showed that he was willing to fight for Katrina’s hand and would have “carried matters to open warfare,” (88) to prove his love, but Ichabod “was too wary to give him opportunity” (88). Still, Katrina seemed to have enjoyed encouraging Ichabod’s rivalry

Captain Standish was not willing to spend the time wooing Priscilla and sent John to ask for her hand in marriage in his stead. He chose not to speak to Priscilla himself because he was afraid of hearing “No, point-blank from a woman” (II). Priscilla rejected the Captain’s offer because she felt he should have spent time wooing her before asking for her hand in marriage stating “If I am not worth the wooing, I surely am not worth the winning!" (III) Captain Standish might have had a better chance at winning Priscilla’s hand had he taken the time to woo her and asked her hand in marriage himself. In contrast, John, although also in love with Priscilla, was willing to set it aside in favor of his friendship with Captain Standish proclaiming, "The name of friendship is sacred; What you demand in that name, I have not the power to deny you! So the strong will prevailed, subduing and moulding the gentler, Friendship prevailed over love, and Alden went on his errand” (II). While John was proclaiming Captain Standish’s love to Priscilla, she asked him, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John?" (III) showing that she had feelings for John but was willing to wait until he was ready to declare his love. Priscilla clearly indicated that she preferred John’s affections rather than Captain Standish’s detachment even

and Sherry Zimmerman, J.D. M.S., courtship should include these four stages: 1) meeting each other and engaging in informal conversation, 2) developing a relationship by learning more about each other, 3) building emotional intimacy by spending time with each other, and 4) taking a leap of faith to make a commitment for the future. During Ichabod’s courtship, he completed each stage in order, however since Katrina rejected him, he rode off “with an air quite desolate and chop-fallen” (107), met the Headless Horsemen, and disappeared. While on the other hand, like Ichabod, Brom diligently tried to complete each stage of courtship and was apparently successful until Ichabod came along. Since Ichabod was in the way, “Brom took all opportunities of turning him into ridicule in presence of his mistress” (89). We assume Brom completed his final stage of courtship after Ichabod was scared away because he married Katrina. Unlike Ichabod and Brom, during Captain Standish’s courtship he didn’t seem to follow any of the above stages. He skipped the first three courtship stages altogether and convinced his friend John to complete the last stage for him on an errand. Regardless of being shy, John actually completed the first three courtship stages as her friend. He was only willing to complete his courtship once Captain Standish was presumed dead and Priscilla had already declared