Characters and plot

1. RIP VAN WINKLE
by
WASHINGTON IRVING

2. CHARACTERS
• Rip Van Winkle
is a kind, good-natured, neighborly man
who lived at the foot of the Catskills while the
United States was still a colony of Britain.
Although descended from great soldiers, he is
peaceful, even obedient, to his quite
domineering wife. Children, women, and dogs
love him, and his only flaw is that he is
incapable of doing any work from which he
could make a living. During his long sleep, the
world gets along fine without him.

3. • Geoffrey Crayon
Crayon is the narrator of the collection
of stories. He is an avid traveler and is
highly interested in the stories, people, and
cultures of the past.

4. • Roscoe
is a famous European author who has
chronicled the history of the Medici. Crayon
encounters him in Liverpool, where Roscoe
has done his best to encourage the city’s
literary pursuits. Roscoe came from neither
a well-connected nor a well-off family, and
he brought himself to fame purely by his
own talent and dedication.

5. • Leslie
a close friend of Crayon’s, loses his
fortune soon after marrying his wife, but
finds that she is happy just to be with him,
and she supports him through it all.
• Mary
Leslie’s wife, is a lively and optimistic
woman whose strength in the face of their
poverty keeps Leslie from becoming
depressed.

6. • Dame Van Winkle
Rip Van Winkle’s wife, is a sour-tempered
woman who spends all her time berating Rip for
taking such poor care of the farm and being so
idle.
• Derrick Van Bummel
The schoolmaster of Rip Van Winkle’s
village, Van Bummel is a dapper and learned
little man. He is not intimidated by words of any
length. He ends up being a great general in the
Revolutionary War and getting a seat in
Congress.

7. • Nicholaus Vedder
is a patriarch of Rip Van Winkle’s
village and the landlord of the inn outside of
which the men gather to gossip. He is the
leader of opinion in that group, although he
is never heard to speak. All the men can
understand, by the speed and ferocity with
which he smokes his pipe, whether
something pleases or displeases him.

8. • Judith Gardenier
is Rip Van Winkle’s daughter, with
whom he lives quite happily after his return
from the mountain.
• Peter Vanderdonk
is the oldest inhabitant of Rip Van
Winkle’s village, a descendant of the
historian who wrote one of the earliest
accounts of the province. His corroboration
of Rip Van Winkle’s story leads Rip to be
reaccepted upon his late return.

9. • George Somers
is the kind and dutiful son of a poor old
woman. He goes to sea to help make money
and is captured. He manages to make it
home, where he dies under his mother’s
care.
• Baron Von Landshort
is a German baron whose family has
lost its money, but who still lives in his
castle. He finds great joy in his
consciousness of being the greatest man in
his little world.

10. • Count Van Altenburg
The son of a Bavarian nobleman, Van
Altenburg is betrothed to Baron Von
Landshort’s daughter without ever seeing
her. He is not ardent in love, but he is
punctilious and honorable. On his way to the
castle, however, he is wounded by a band of
robbers, and he dies before he ever meets
his bride.

11. • Herman Von Starkenfaust
A former army compatriot of Van
Altenbug’s, Von Starkenfaust is of German
nobility. His home is not far from Baron Von
Landshort’s castle, but his family has a
longstanding feud with the Von Landshorts.
A fan of both women and adventure, he
undertakes his promise to his dying friend to
bring the tidings of his friend's death to the
Baron’s daughter.

12. • Frank Bracebridge
is a sprightly, good-humored young man
with whom Crayon once traveled on the
continent. Crayon runs into him again in a
village in England on Christmas Eve.
• The Squire
Frank Bracebridge’s father, the Squire is
an old gentleman who is eccentrically old-
fashioned and is very kind and generous. He
has a singular mixture of whim and
benevolence.

13. • Master Simon
A long-term guest at the Squire’s,
Master Simon is a small, tight, brisk man
with an air of droll eccentricity. He plays a
large part in the general mirth of the
company on Christmas Eve by being the wit
of the family. He is a bachelor with a small,
independent income, which he manages
well and thus can live comfortably on,
traveling among all his relations’ homes.

14. • John Hallum
is an old man whom Crayon meets in an
asylum for the elderly. He collects oddities.
• Philip of Pokanoket
was an Indian warrior infamous
throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut at
the time of the first settlement of New England.
He was known as King Philip.
• Massasoit
was chief Sagamore of the Wampanoags,
who showed generous kindness to the early,
forlorn settlers of New England. Philip was his
son.

15. SUMMARY
Rip Van Winkle is a “simple, good-natured
fellow” with a faithful dog, a son, a daughter,
and a domineering wife. Rip is a favorite of the
women and children of the village, and a
popular member of the crowd of men who
gather outside the local tavern to argue about
politics, but he is not as welcome in his own
family. As willing as he is to play with the
neighborhood children or to help his neighbors
with chores, he is lazy and unproductive at
home.

16. His farm, which is the family’s source of food
and income, is falling to ruin. Rip has
gradually sold off most of it piece by piece,
and what little land remains is rocky and
infertile. Truth be told, he does not spend
much time working on the farm, preferring to
be out in the village visiting or in the
mountains hunting and fishing. In short, he
is “ready to attend to anybody’s business but
his own.” His wife never lets him forget his
responsibilities to the family, or the many
ways he fails to fulfill them.

17. One autumn day, Rip feels so oppressed by
the haranguing of his wife that he takes his
gun and sets out with his dog, Wolf, to find
some peace and quiet. Late afternoon finds
him sitting in a high spot in the mountains,
admiring the view of the Hudson River far
below. Realizing that night is approaching,
that he will not be able to get home before
dark, and that he will face a scolding for
coming home so late, he gets up with a
heavy heart to set out for home. Just as he
begins to climb down, he hears a voice
calling his name.

18. The voice belongs to a stranger, a “short,
square-built old fellow” dressed in old-
fashioned Dutch clothing and carrying a keg
of liquor up the rocks of a dry stream bed.
Without speaking, he indicates that Rip
should help him carry his burden up the
mountain and into a hollow. There Rip sees
a group of bearded men playing ninepins, a
form of bowling, in the same old-fashioned
Dutch clothing.

19. Although they are playing the game, they do
not speak or smile; the only sound is the
thunderous rolling of the balls. Rip
understands by their gestures that he is to
serve the men the liquor from the keg. He
does so, and when the men are not looking
he also steals a few sips for himself.
Gradually, the drink overtakes him and he
falls asleep.

20. When Rip awakens, he is back in the spot
where he was sitting when he first saw the
stranger. It is a sunny morning and he worries
that his wife will be angry with him for spending
the entire night away from home. Reaching for
his gun, which he has always taken good care
of, he finds instead a rusty old gun. Surely, he
thinks, the strangers have drugged him, and
stolen his gun. His dog, Wolf, is also missing.
Determined to confront the men, he gets up
and tries to locate the hollow but he can find no
trace of it. In fact, the dry stream bed is now
filled with rushing water. With nothing else to
do, he heads for home.

21. Arriving in the village, Rip sees other
strange things. He does not recognize any
of the villagers he passes and they do not
seem to recognize him. There are buildings
he has never seen before and everyone is
dressed in a new style of clothing. Stroking
his chin, Rip discovers that his beard has
grown a foot long while he slept. When he
finally reaches his own house, he sees that
it has fallen to ruin. And at the village inn,
where he has spent so many hours, the
picture of King George III of England has
been replaced by an image of General
Washington.

22. As Rip wanders through the town looking
confused, a crowd gathers around him. As he
asks for his old friends, he learns that they
have died, or gone away. Finally, he meets a
kindly young woman who has the same name
as his daughter. She tells him that her father,
Rip Van Winkle, went into the mountains and
disappeared twenty years before. Rip tells his
story of the strange men and the keg, and an
old villager remembers the historical “fact” that
the explorer Hendrick Hudson haunts the
mountains and appears every twenty years.
Rip’s daughter takes him home to live with her.

23. Rip Van Winkle has gone on a very long
sleep, awakens twenty years later, and
returns to his village to discover that
everything has changed. The disturbing
news of the dislocation is offset by the
discovery that his wife is dead. In time, Rip’s
daughter, son, and several villagers identify
him, and he is accepted by the others.

24. THANK YOU!
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