Compare And Contrast Tell Tale Heart And Rip Van Winkle

The Essence of Time

Time is essential to all stories. In Washington Irving’s story, “Rip Van Winkle,” the lifetime of Winkle was wasted as he wanders into the woods to escape the hard work of tending to his farm and his nagging wife. There, he falls into a deep sleep and surpasses twenty years, awakening to a changed world from what he knew before. Society has changed and he is to adapt to the new way of life. The story, “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe, the narrator’s concept of time was the main idea to the story seeing as how he was in the works of murdering the old man. The heartbeats are associated as the ticking of a watch. Time alternated the confidence of the narrator to a fearsome realization that resulted in his confession

Not only significant in the stories, “Rip Van Winkle” and “Tell-Tale Heart,” time is the most important theme found in many great works of literary merit.

The plot of “Rip Van Winkle” follows a simple gentleman with good-nature, despite the laziness he portrayed in his Dutch village. He would rather tend to others business than owning up to his own issues, such as tending to his farm. Rip’s wife constantly complained of his idleness, carelessness, and ruin he was bringing the family. He remained settled where he was with no intentions to expand his potential involvement in the village’s society. Finally, he reached a point of great discouragement. He, at that moment, took it upon himself to evade the labor of his farm duties and the constant nagging of his wife by escaping to the woods. He made his way to the highest parts of the Kaatskill Mountains where he was intercepted by a stranger and led to an amphitheater. There he was invited to join a group of men in consumption of liquor they provided.

He traveled to his home and found it worn down and neglected. He called out for his wife and children only to hear silence. As he wandered through the village, he learned of the changes that had occurred since he last stepped foot in civilization. He did not know what year it was, how long he slept or any recollection of time whatsoever. What once was a peaceful town, had now turned into a concerned and aware group of citizens. The essence of time had taken on a new role from that of which Rip last remembered. Rip finally found that he had been absent from the economy for twenty years when he spoke with a young woman. She, among the rest of the crowd peering at Rip, was curious about the explanation Rip had for looking lost the way he did. He found the young lady’s name was Judith Cardenier and asked who her father was, which she then replied “Ah, poor man, Rip Van Winkle was his name, but it’s twenty years since he went away from home with his gun, and has never been heard of since” (Baym 480). At the beginning of the story, it was made aware that “Rip Van Winkle lived near the Kaatskill Mountains in a village that was very old and founded by the Dutch Colonists” (Briunshi). The mountains were made significant seeing as how when time goes by, the mountains change. Whether it is from season to season or day to night, the mountains are always present. Rip was once in a simplistic