Lust and Greed in Washington Irving's 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of Washington Irving's short story, 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,' focusing on the prominent themes of lust and greed. The essay examines how Irving uses folktale characteristics to portray the characters' motivations, particularly through the character of Ichabod Crane. It explores Crane's desires for Katrina Van Tassel, driven by both physical attraction and the prospect of wealth, and how his actions are challenged by Brom Bones. The analysis also considers the manifestations of lust and greed in other characters, such as Katrina and Brom Bones, and the symbolism employed by Irving to highlight these themes. The essay references critical works to support its arguments, providing a comprehensive understanding of the story's complexities and its commentary on human nature. It also explores the role of Gothic elements and the setting of Sleepy Hollow in enhancing the narrative's impact. The essay concludes by summarizing the dominant role of lust and greed in the story through its characters.

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“The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow” by Washington Irving
Folktales have been a great source of entertainment for the literary fans and Irving has
masterfully included all the characteristics in this short story. The short story revolves around the
“lanky” schoolmaster Ichabod Crane and the strong Brom Van Brunt, known most popularly as
“Brom Bones”. Like in every folktale, the short story also imbibes characteristics such as stock
characters, Gothicism and humor. The tale is set in the 18th century, in a town known as Tarry
Town, in a secluded valley known as Sleepy Hollow. In this story, Irving uses the folktale
characteristics to portray the lusty and greedy nature of love through the character of Ichabod
Crane (Thesis).
The Sleepy Hollow in Tarry Town is filled with stories of haunting, ghosts and witches.
The town has an eerie feeling and it is bound to make any sane individual go crazy. Ichabod
Crane comes to the town as a schoolmaster with a reputation being strict and yet popular
amongst the parents of his students because of his worldly knowledge and stories about ghosts
and apparitions. Ichabod falls in love with the beautiful Katrina Van Tassel, the only daughter of
Baltus Van Tassel, a wealthy farmer. Irving describes Crane as “a tall, but exceedingly lank, with
narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves” (Irving 9).
Crane was popular amongst the female circles in his neighborhood because of his “gentlemanlike
personage” (Irving 11). This aspect of his character made him an eligible contender for winning
the hand of Katrina, for whom, many of the town’s men have lined up.

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Crane was also a singing master that qualified him to train Katrina and provide him an
opportunity to woo her. As described by Irving, Katrina was “a blooming lass of fresh eighteen”
plump as a partridge, and universally famed, not merely for her beauty, but for her vast
expectations” (13). Crane was first attracted to her physical characteristics making him lust for
her. However, when he visited her father’s mansion, his lust paved way for greed. While
describing the character of Ichabod Crane in the 1999 film adaptation by Tim Burton, author
David Arnold compares Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Ichabod Crane to that of Irving’s. According
to the author, “Irving’s Ichabod Crane is an interloper, a representative of not only of thoughtless
rapacity but also of creeping urbanization and industrialization, who must be expelled to preserve
the idyllic homogeneity of Sleepy hollow”(Arnold). In some contrast to Irving’s depiction, Tim
Burton’s Ichabod Crane seems more welcomed in the Sleepy Hollow despite his interloping
attributes.
Author AL Primlyn in the work “Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow as American Folklore: A Representation of Headway” tries to explain the way
Ichabod Crane looked at Katrina. The author states, “Also he is a ravenous eater and his appetite
exposes his avariciousness and greed” (Primlyn 49). Irving’s comparison of Katrina to food
(“plump as partridge, ripe and melting”) further confirms Ichabod Crane’s lust towards her. He
“had a soft and foolish heart towards the sex; and it is not to be wondered at, that so tempting a
morsel soon found favor in his eyes”, as Irving puts it in the story (Irving 14).
The greedy nature of love could be found in the extension of the above lines, “…more
especially after he had visited her in her paternal mansion” (14). He finds that Katrina’s father
has abundant wealth in the form of meadowlands, rye and wheat enriched fields and orchards,
which he could easily turn into cash and become rich in no time after marrying Katrina who will

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inherit all these properties. Prior to meeting Katrina and visiting her paternal mansion, Crane’s
intellectuality and pedagogy was restricted to teaching children and other beautiful young
women. However, his intellect was presented with the new challenge of gaining the affections of
Baltus Van Tassel’s daughter. As Liz Wells, Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert and Nicos Philippou
explain, Ichabond Crane is the manifestation of a character Washington Irving wanted his
readers to see but never to incorporate in real life. As per the authors’ views, “In Ichabod, the
reader sees the country schoolmaster as a clownish buffoon of questionable intelligence and
meager education” (Wells, Stylianou-Lambert and Phillipou 33). This description of Ichabod
Crane although does not bring forth his greedy nature of love, it does explain that he is unworthy
for Katrina.
Ichabod Crane’s manipulative way to gain Katrina’s hands is challenged by a more rustic
yet physically and humorously superior Brom Bones. Irving makes clear physical distinctions
between the two by describing Bones as a “broad-shouldered and double-jointed, with short
curly black hair” whereas Crane was described as “narrow-shouldered”. Hence, it was clear that
Crane had to face a strong competition to win Katrina and the wealth she possessed. Crane but
was adamant and would not let go without a fight. He made his subtle advances through the gates
of the mansion in the disguise of singing master perfectly hiding his actual greedy intentions.
“Ichabod made his advances in a quiet and gently-insinuating manner. Under cover of his
character of singing-master, he made frequent visits at the farm house”, describes Irving. Bones
on the other hand, stopped making advances after he found that Crane easily made entry into
Katrina’s mansion; his interest decreased. David Greven, while explaining the story of The
Legend of Sleepy Hollow, states that although the story has subtle mentions of greed and lust in
the form of Ichabod Crane, other characters mainly Katrina and Brom Bones also display lust.

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The author writes, “Woman’s lust for man’s severed head, the sea of the brain, that great clot of
seminal fluid. He is in her sphere of power – and the violence that ensues can be seen as either a
tribute to her or the fulfillment of of her stratagems” (Greven). Therefore, it could be seen that
the lusty and greedy nature of love is seen through the characters other than Ichabod Crane.
Greed and lust is not only found in Ichabod Crane’s lust for Katrina and greed for her
money, it is also found in his physical characteristics as well. As Kristine Tucker notes, “Irving
describes Ichabod Crane as having “green glassy eyes”, a phrase that symbolizes his envy and
greed” (Tucker). This description of Crane clearly provides the readers with the assumption that
he was an antagonist who deserved the treatment he received at the end of the story. In addition
to this view, Brent S. Plate states, “Within the world of surreal, distinctions between life and
death, good and evil, birth and death dissolve and the monstrous headless horsemen may actually
be seen as a symbol of justice, purging the community of its deadly sins of greed, lust and envy”.
Lust and greed have been dominant in the works of most writers who have presented in
different ways. In Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is visible through the
character of Ichabod Crane. Crane lusts for Katrina Tassel because she has attractive physical
features and her father owns huge property. The moment he lays his eyes on her, he decides to
win her hand to fulfill his lust. After visiting her paternal mansion, greed adds to his lust. He sees
that Katrina’s father, a wealthy farmer has vast areas of meadowlands, which he could easily turn
into cash. However, other characters also demonstrate the traits of lust and greed such as Katrina
has greed for power over men and Brom Bones’s greed for supremacy over other men.

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Works cited:
Arnold, David LG. "Fearful pleasures, or" I am twice the man": The re-gendering of Ichabod
Crane." Literature/Film Quarterly 31.1 (2003): 33.
Greven, David. "Troubling Our Heads about Ichabod:" The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," Classic
American Literature, and the Sexual Politics of Homosocial Brotherhood." American
Quarterly 56.1 (2004): 83-110.
Irving, Washington, and Harriet Marie Johnson. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Gregg Publishing
Company, 1986.
Plate, S. Brent. "Sleepy Hollow." Journal of Religion & Film 4.1 (2016): 11.
Primlyn, A. Linda. "Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy
Hollow” as American Folklore: A Representation of Headway." Dialogue-A Journal
Devoted to Literary Appreciation 12.01 (2016): 46-51.
Tucker, Kristine. "What Is The Tone Of Irving's Short Story "The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow"?".
Education.Seattlepi.Com, 2019, https://education.seattlepi.com/tone-irvings-short-story-
the-legend-sleepy-hollow-5373.html. Accessed 25 Mar 2019
Wells, Liz, Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert, and Nicos Philippou. Photography and Cyprus: Time,
Place and Identity. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014.