In his stories, women were not portrayed as nice. Women were usually nagging and arguing with their husbands. Some critics felt that Irving took an anti-feminist approach in his writing. However, some critics believe that The Legend of Sleepy Hollow shows the importance of marriage. Some critics also highlight the quality of his work. Certain pieces of his work are considered remarkable. While other elements of his work are considered less good, Irving's health was also not very good and he suffered from tuberculosis. So his brothers decided to send him overseas to Rome to recover. Irving was engaged to Matilda Hoffman. Matilda Hoffman died suddenly and Irving took her death quite hard. Irving dated two women for two years but remained single his entire life. In RIP Van Winkle, Dam Van Winkle is abusive, harassing and sarcastic. In Rip Van Winkle, Washington Irving says: “But what courage can withstand the constant and overwhelming terrors of a woman's tongue. » He seems to imply that he didn't like women who gave their opinion and expressed their opinion. It appears Rip is heading into the woods to escape his wife. In The Devil and Tom Walker, Tom's wife has character, a big mouth and she was strong. His face sometimes showed signs that perhaps their fights were more than words. She would hide things from Tom. They didn't have a very good marriage. Again, Irving portrayed the woman as loud and harassing. In The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Irving portrayed women differently. Katrina Van Tassel is very beautiful, sexy and flirtatious. Katrina knew what the power of her beauty could do. Even though Katrina isn't a nag like Dam Van Winkle, she was bad in a different way. Katrina seemed to know what and who she wanted and was willing to use her beauty and sexuality to get what she wanted. In my opinion, Irving didn't like women very much. He seemed to think that most women were nagging and abusive or that they would use their beauty to get what they wanted. He seemed to think that most men wanted revenge or revenge on women. I don't think his portrayal of Dame Van Winkle is fair. He portrayed her as being mean and unfair to Rip..