Examples Of Greed In The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow

The Downfalls of Greed: An Evaluation of the Effects of Greed on Character “Greed may do your bidding, but death serves no man”(Lehigh Bardugo). Greed is a human emotion experienced by all. No matter who you are, everyone experiences greed. Washington Irving, born and raised in NYC, was able to study and watch different people and how they interacted with one another--including how they took on and dealt with greed. Irving used the knowledge he got from his early childhood to form and craft his story, Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow follows the events of the school teacher Ichabod Crane and his struggle with finding love and finding money. He goes through the town, picking fights with the town heart-throb: Brom Bones.

The very thing that many pine for. For many in the town of Sleepy Hollow, they don’t pine for an object; rather a woman by the name of Katrina Van Tassel. Whether it is with Brom Bones who uses her for her looks and her body, or it is Ichabod Crane who uses her for her fathers money; she is the receiver of their greed. However what many look past is the simple fact that Katrina herself is also dripping with greed. Irving describes her as, " a little of a coquette, as might be perceived even in her dress, which was a mixture of ancient and modern fashions, as most suited to set off her charms"(Irving 14). Katrina herself presents as a woman who has it and can have it all. Nothing stops her, and she will never stop until it is all hers. Irving portrays her greed a little differently than Ichabod’s and even Brom Bones’. Her greed is her want for more. Her want for both men. For them to fight over her, and make her swoon. She wants both men to herself, and nothing can ever stop that. Most critics write about the influence that Katrina has on the men in the book, however only a select few write about the greed that she truly feels. Critic David L. Arnold writes, "Katrina and the luxurious agrarian fecundity she represents, cannot in the economy of Sleepy Hollow, be allowed to pass into the possession of so inappropriate a suitor..."(Arnold 236). Other critics connect the premise of the book to the character of

Driven by his need for Katrina, he won’t stop until he gets her. He doesn't care that it hurts someone or something along the way. Irving creates Bones as a foil to Ichabod Crane. Brom Bones pines for Katrina, but not in the same way that Ichabod Crane does. He longs for Katrina in only a way that is rooted in greed. Irving depicts Brom Bones as a present day casanova, writing, "...while Brom Bones, sorely smitten with love and jealousy, sat brooding by himself in one corner"(Irving 28). Brom Bones becomes extremely greedy for Katrina. When she is not with him, it is like he exclaims, “Et tu Katrina?”. The biggest betrayal the world has ever seen is when she is not with him. The greed that Brom Bones experiences with Katrina Van Tassel predicts the rest of the story, portraying just how dangerous greed can become. Through greed we also see the downfalls. Multiple critics have written about the downfall of greed through the perspective of Brom Bones. David Anothy notes the greed and rivalry between Brom Bones and Ichabod Crane, “depicts a new form of masculinity as it was taking shape in the 1819 period..."(Anthony 2). One major pinpoint in the story shows itself through Brom Bones. The greed can also be seen through another lense. The greed Brom Bones experiences, stems from the “natural” roles of masculinity in life. Anthony deep dives into the topic of how the kind of greed that Brom