Title: Rip Van Winkle Characters - eNotes.com
Headings: Rip Van Winkle Characters
Rip Van Winkle Characters
Characters
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Rip Van Winkle
Dame Van Winkle
Judith Cardenier
Rip Van Winkle, Jr.
The Stranger
Hendrick (Henry) Hudson
Nicholas Vedder
Derrick Van Bummel
Brom Dutcher
Peter Vanderdonk
The Self-Important Man
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Content: His children are ragged and wild, and his wife, Dame Van Winkle, is constantly frustrated with him. Dame Van Winkle often nags him for his lack of effort. When Rip tires of the way his wife treats him, he tries to escape by lounging in front of the inn with the town’s other idle men. Rip's wife, however, follows Rip there, and goes on to nag not only Rip but all the idle men that sit in front of the inn. One day, Rip goes squirrel hunting in the Catskill mountains, bringing with him his dog and a gun. Up in the mountains, Rip finds himself on the highest part of a grassy green knoll. Just as he lays down to rest and survey the land around him, he hears someone calling his name. He looks around to find a strange man in traditional Dutch clothing climbing up the mountain toward him with a giant barrel upon his back. Rip’s dog, Wolf, growls at the strange man, but Rip characteristically goes to help him without caution. Rip helps the man carry the barrel of beer up a strange and barren river bed and into a hollow.