The romantic supernatural in ´the devil and tom walker´

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Written by Washington Irving in 1867, “The Devil and Tom Walker” is one of the first pieces of writing that fell into the category Romanticism. Characteristics of Romanticism in the story are the belief in the supernatural and an emphasis on the imagination that resonates throughout the story. Irving has used the supernatural category of Romanticism to portray the general theme of the story, that is, beware the danger of greed.

The use of the devil is the main supernatural aspect in the story. An example of this is how he appears without making any sounds in Tom’s, the main character, first encounter with him was in a swampy area of the forest, appearing without making any sounds is impossible in these conditions. Irving’s description of the devil gives us a character with certainly inhuman characteristics: “but his face was neither black nor copper color, but swarthy and dingy and begrimed with sooth as if he had been accustomed to toil among fires and forges.” There is a supernatural suspense consistent throughout the story, it is created by the fact that the reader knows that the devil has complete control over Tom’s life, but still Tom tries to betray him by becoming a “Violent Churchgoer” as well as carrying a bible with him at all times. Irony is also included in Irving’s story, it is when Tom is taken away from his house by the devil and his bible is left under the mortgage he is about to foreclose. This is ironic because Tom was cheating on the devil at the same time he was sinning.

The use of descriptive writing such as the setting is another important aspect of the story. Irving describes a setting that is a menacing one: “ The swamp was thickly grown with great gloomy pines and hemlocks, some of them ninety feet tall, which made it dark at noonday… and hemlocks lay half-drowned, half-rotting, looking like alligators asleep in the mire.” The use of a simile can be seen in this section of the story. The comparison between half-drowned, half-rotting, hemlocks and sleeping alligators is that in a swamp they would be difficult to tell apart since they would look very much alike. He uses this simile to extend the idea of how threatening the swamp actually is, again to support the supernatural.

Irving convincingly interweaves the setting with the existence of the devil as he shows how greed takes over Tom, and this leads to his end. Greed, is a very powerful force that can be related to the story, it is not only powerful but dangerous. It makes people often impatient and sooner or later it will lead to one’s fall, Irving’s story supports this idea: “In this way he made money hand over hand; became a rich and mighty man… built himself, as usual, a vast house out of ostentation; …” . The supernatural elements in the story is what began Tom’s greed and is also the only force that has the power t...