- Apr 2017
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He assured the company that it was a fact, handed down from his ancestor, the historian, that the Kaatskill mountains had always been haunted by strange beings. That it was affirmed that the great Hendrick Hudson, the first discoverer of the river and country, kept a kind of vigil there every twenty years, with his crew of the Half-moon; being permitted in this way to revisit the scenes of his enterprise, and keep a guardian eye upon the river and the great city called by his name. That his father had once seen them in their old Dutch dresses playing at ninepins in the hollow of the mountain; and that he himself had heard, one summer afternoon, the sound of their balls, like distant peals of thunder.
This solidifies the fact that these ghosts are “real” (at least in the world of the narrative) since they have been noted by other people then just Rip, and have similar stories of interactions/observations between the Dutch ghosts and members of the town.
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He doubted his own identity, and whether he was himself or another man.
This moment provides an example of an existentialist dilemma in the form of dissociative dread toward his understanding of self. Rip’s confusion is so strong that it causes him to doubt the nature of his own being.
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stared at him with such a fixed statue-like gaze, and such strange uncouth, lack-lustre countenances, that his heart turned within him, and his knees smote together.
This is a moment defining real fear towards his current predicament.
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On nearer approach, he was still more surprised at the singularity of the stranger’s appearance. He was a short, square-built old fellow, with thick bushy hair, and a grizzled beard. His dress was of the antique Dutch fashion—a cloth jerkin strapped round the waist—several pairs of breeches, the outer one of ample volume, decorated with rows of buttons down the sides, and bunches at the knees. He bore on his shoulders a stout keg, that seemed full of liquor, and made signs for Rip to approach and assist him with the load. Though rather shy and distrustful of this new acquaintance, Rip complied with his usual alacrity;
These Dutch ghosts are part of the history of the area but are also tangible forces that drive the plot. Rip can physically interact with these ghosts as if they were normal people, the only thing that proves odd is that they do not speak. Regardless, they are ghosts that are more like echoes of a time past that can be encountered, rather than being antagonistic like the ambiguous forces that Poe presents in his works.
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As he was about to descend, he heard a voice from a distance hallooing: “Rip Van Winkle! Rip Van Winkle!” He looked around, but could see nothing but a crow winging its solitary flight across the mountain. He thought his fancy must have deceived him, and turned again to descend, when he heard the same cry ring through the still evening air, “Rip Van Winkle! Rip Van Winkle!”—at the same time Wolf bristled up his back, and giving a low growl, skulked to his master’s side, looking fearfully down into the glen. Rip now felt a vague apprehension stealing over him; he looked anxiously in the same direction, and perceived a strange figure slowly toiling up the rocks, and bending under the weight of something he carried on his back. He was surprised to see any human being in this lonely and unfrequented place, but supposing it to be some one of the neighborhood in need of his assistance, he hastened down to yield it.
This build up provides a sense of apprehension, with Wolf detecting some sort of danger and the odd way that Rip’s name was being called through echo. This does not stop him from proceeding onward to make his chance meeting with the company of Dutch ghosts.
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“Oh! that flagon! that wicked flagon!”
A loose connection to Poe within the realm of alcahol playing a part in altered mind states.
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His mind now misgave him; he began to doubt whether both he and the world around him were not bewitched.
The assumption that one has come under a spell or some other form of witchcraft would be a real fear for people of the time. Many believed the early superstitions, and while they acted as explanations for things they could not explain, they acted as warnings and preventive measures for certain behavior. Stories of ghosts and witches could be used to keep people away from dangerous territories, or provide lessons about needing to be more attentive to the possible dangers found outside of the safety of civilization. Irvings other works (like Legend of Sleepy Hallow) highlight the impact that fear can has on the mind.
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The moment Wolf entered the house, his crest fell, his tail drooped to the ground, or curled between his legs, he sneaked about with a gallows air, casting many a sidelong glance at Dame Van Winkle, and at the least flourish of a broomstick or ladle, he would fly to the door with yelping precipitation.
This is a light bit of foreshadowing, noting that the dog has a sense for danger. It comes up again when Rip is about to encounter the Dutch ghosts.
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The great error in Rip’s composition was an insuperable aversion to all kinds of profitable labor. It could not be for want of assiduity or perseverance
Rip as a character is surprisingly similar to Irving in his mannerisms. Though it is not as widely known, Irving had a similar aversion to labor due to a massive amount of anxiety brought on by the failure of his brother’s businesses after the Revolution. The fear of the state of the new nation was noticeable in how drastically the economy was shifting, which was one of the deciding factors that pushed Irving into writing and publishing. It was a way to secure some financial stability and support for his family’s livelihood while also avoiding ventures that could, at any moment due to the young nation’s “growing pains”, could fail and lead to ruin (Kopec).
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ghosts, witches, and Indians.
Most of the early American folklore has been lost to time, since many of these stories were told mainly by word of mouth alone. Irving was one of the first to solidify local folklore in his works, practically starting the genre of “campfire narratives” in literature. His short piece of horror fiction, Legend of Sleepy Hallow, is what pioneered the American Gothic form of literature, which would be later built upon by writers like Poe.
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RIP VAN WINKLE.
The annotations below are focused on the themes and language of American gothic horror and the connection to another text located here.
Associated Sources in MLA Style:
Badenhausen, Richard. "Fear and Trembling in Literature of the Fantastic: Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Black Cat'." Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 29, no. 4, 1992, pp. 487-498. EBSCOhost.
Bann, Jennifer. "Ghostly Hands and Ghostly Agency: The Changing Figure of the Nineteenth-Century Specter." Victorian Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Social, Political, and Cultural Studies, vol. 51, no. 4, 2009, pp. 663-686. EBSCOhost.
Kopec, Andrew. "Irving, Ruin, and Risk." Early American Literature, vol. 48, no. 3, Nov. 2013, pp. 709-735. EBSCOhost.
Norton, Mary Berth. "Witchcraft in the Anglo-American Colonies." OAH Magazine of History, vol. 17, no. 4, July 2003, pp. 5-9. EBSCOhost.
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It was now the representation of an object that I shudder to name—and for this, above all, I loathed, and dreaded, and would have rid myself of the monster had I dared—it was now, I say, the image of a hideous—of a ghastly thing—of the GALLOWS!—oh, mournful and terrible engine of Horror and of Crime—of Agony and of Death!
Here is a distinct fear of the gallows, something the narrator has told us he is condemned to for his crime at the beginning of his tale. The fear outlined in this sentence represents the narrator’s true fear, the fear of facing what he has done. The gallows are an object for delivering punishment through the death of the criminal. The narrator constantly faced fear, guilt, and anger but fails to address their effects throughout the story. He instead chooses to run away from these emotions by burying them in alcohol or just remove them from his life with violence. This is the only moment that causes the narrator to seize up and deliver short hyphenated statements, which to a reader would sound quick and manic. This fear is an existential fear of closure and finality, now that the narrator has own death it shows through the text a moment of vulnerability (Badenhausen 492-493).
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But may God shield and deliver me from the fangs of the Arch-Fiend! No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, than I was answered by a voice from within the tomb!—by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman—a howl—a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the dammed in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.
Here the replacement cat (and possible paranormal force) acts upon the plot by revealing the narrators misdeeds. Like Irving’s Dutch ghosts, this mysterious cat is integral to the story for without their influence the main characters would be unaffected. Again, this cat provides another confusing instance of possible paranormal power by somehow ending up inside the wall. The narrator hated the creature so much, how could he have missed it as he bricked up his wife’s corpse? It either had managed to avoid detection to hide itself within the wall, or had some greater power that allowed it to appear there as it had in the tavern.
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I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan.
This is the point of no return, where the narrator goes from mere killer of beast to full villain with manslaughter. He is unmoved by killing the thing that prevented him from taking out his anger again, she had interrupted his control and for that she died.
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Pluto had not a white hair upon any portion of his body; but this cat had a large, although indefinite splotch of white, covering nearly the whole region of the breast. Upon my touching him, he immediately arose, purred loudly, rubbed against my hand, and appeared delighted with my notice. This, then, was the very creature of which I was in search. I at once offered to purchase it of the landlord; but this person made no claim to it—knew nothing of it—had never seen it before.
Just like the mark on the wall, this is another stange occuance that could be related to the paranormal. This cat appears out of nowhere and specifically targets the narrator. It could be seen as an antagonistic force, a manifestation meant to spell the narrator’s downfall. Again, Pluto’s name is referenced, calling back to the idea of death and relating it to this new cat. Its lack of an eye is an intentional narrative decision by Poe, but in the world inside the text is strangely coincidental to be near identical to Pluto, almost unsettling so. What is interesting about this cat is that the white tuft of fur it sports “develops” the image of the stockade. Either an outside force is at work on the cat’s fur, or the cat itself is a doppelganger (a supernatural creature that morphs its own body to match another’s appearance) of sorts.
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I approached and saw, as if graven in bas relief upon the white surface, the figure of a gigantic cat. The impression was given with an accuracy truly marvellous. There was a rope about the animal’s neck.
This odd occurrence might be attributed to something paranormal. As the narrator later explains, it is physically possible for flesh remains to leave burn impressions on surfaces. However, the corpse of the cat would have to have been resting against the wall for that impression to develop, and the chances of that happening to produce such a haunting representation is highly improbable. Perhaps there was some sort of other force at work and it made possible the author’s explanation or something else entirely. Whatever the case, it remains unknown, but a reader can confirm that within the world of the narrative because it is a tangible remnant viewed by multiple people and not just the narrator.
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One night as I sat, half stupified, in a den of more than infamy
The narrator never seeks to remedy his situation, only to run from it or drink it away.
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I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty
These are the common themes Poe tends to play on throughout his body of work, which are tied to very personal and emotional moments. A healthy human mind is capable of a vast array of different feelings, each meant to inform thought via bodily sensations and responses. If the narrator can comprehend the emotions, but does not associate them to his crime, is it an effect of alcohol? Could it be something darker, something stemming from a broken mind?
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spirit of PERVERSENESS
This is not a "physical" sprit like those in Irving's works. In this case, "spirit" embodies the “feeling” or the “quality of” what it is referencing. The spirit of perverseness would be something of a compulsion, something internal that forces negative action and/or thought.
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Pluto
This is a bit of plain faced foreshadowing. Pluto is the Roman equivalent of Hades, the god of death and overseer for the underworld. The name calls upon the imagery of darkness and death, which no doubt plays into the narrative throughout.
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In speaking of his intelligence, my wife, who at heart was not a little tinctured with superstition, made frequent allusion to the ancient popular notion, which regarded all black cats as witches in disguise.
The concept of the witch played a large role in the development of colonial America, and the superstitions surrounding witchcraft are usually connected to larger outside forces that were difficult to explain or comprehend. Disease, injury, misfortune, and other tragic events that would occur were often blamed on fellow townsfolk that had preexisting issues or disagreements with others (Norton 5-6). Due to the empiricist model of thought, perception defined reality, so all that was required to prove someone was capable of witchcraft was to “experience” the effects. If someone said they saw a person turn into a cat, it was taken as proper testimony to the event.
It is interesting that the wife holds this belief, yet the narrator downplays it. Perhaps that is a veiled critique of these old superstitions.
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But my disease grew upon me—for what disease is like Alcohol!
Poe was a known alcholic, so it is interesting how he comments on it a being a "disease" with this narrator character. Perhaps there is more self-inserted introspection involved then his usual themes of guilt, sadness, and loss noteable in his other works.
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THE BLACK CAT.
The annotations below are focused on the themes and language of American gothic horror and the connection to another text located here.
Associated Sources in MLA Style:
Badenhausen, Richard. "Fear and Trembling in Literature of the Fantastic: Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Black Cat'." Studies in Short Fiction, vol. 29, no. 4, 1992, pp. 487-498. EBSCOhost.
Bann, Jennifer. "Ghostly Hands and Ghostly Agency: The Changing Figure of the Nineteenth-Century Specter." Victorian Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Social, Political, and Cultural Studies, vol. 51, no. 4, 2009, pp. 663-686. EBSCOhost.
Kopec, Andrew. "Irving, Ruin, and Risk." Early American Literature, vol. 48, no. 3, Nov. 2013, pp. 709-735. EBSCOhost.
Norton, Mary Berth. "Witchcraft in the Anglo-American Colonies." OAH Magazine of History, vol. 17, no. 4, July 2003, pp. 5-9. EBSCOhost.
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