Rip Van Winkle Literary Analysis

The story “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving is a moral allegory; a story that represents an abstract or spiritual but is portrayed in a literal way. “Rip Van Winkle” is a tale that is comprised of multiple abstract and hidden meanings, which are all cloaked by material forms. Irving’s use of setting, symbolism, and characterization help to produce a tale that intertwines mysticism with history. Together these create a deeper meaning behind the life of a simple man oppressed by his wife, truly standing as a symbol for the ruling of the British crown over the Thirteen Colonies. The story “Rip Van Winkle” relies heavily on the use of setting in order to facilitate readers with the process of understanding how the story connects to the American Revolutionary War. Washington Irving originally sets this tale in an antiques Dutch community right off the Katskill Mountains during the time of British rule. Because it is set in such a time and because of Irving’s use of words such as “noble” and “crown of glory” readers are set up to comprehend the dual meaning of this fable. The setting also portrays the Katskill region as so majestic and awe-inspiring that it verges on magical. It is described, through Rip’s eyes, when it is stated that “… but to his astonishment a mountain stream

The story “Rip Van Winkle” by Washington Irving is a moral allegory that conceals America’s prolonged struggled for freedom from Great Britain’s tyrannical rule by telling the fable of a henpecked husband who falls asleep to wake up and find that the nightmarish marriage he was enduring has seemingly come to an eternal end. Through the use of symbolism, setting, and characterization, Washington Irving truly allows readers to recognize that Rip’s life was much more fulfilling once he could “… go in and out whenever he pleased, without dreading the tyranny of Dame Van Winkle”. (Irving,