Ichabod Crane is the main character of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. From the moment Ichabod Crane is introduced in the story, Irving illustrates Ichabod’s cravings and obsessions with strong word choice and excellent turn of phrase. The reader is guided through each feature of Ichabod’s peculiar personality by Irving’s description of Ichabod’s actions, words, and desires. Ichabod is the schoolmaster and does not “spare the rod and spoil the child,” but he is not cruel, and is quite friendly to everyone young and old, but especially pretty females and people with good food. Throughout the story, the two things that are Ichabod’s greatest motivations are food and wealth, and Katrina Van Tassel. However, Ichabod also has great superstitions and fears, most likely because he loves to read Cotton Mather’s History of New England Witchcraft. The last major factor of his personality is his singing and dancing ability, in which he takes some pride.
Irving emphasizes Ichabod’s craving for good food on almost every page. When Ichabod looks about the Van Tassel farm, he imagines every animal prepared for a great feast. “In his devouring mind’s eye,” Ichabod sees stuffed pigs with apples in their mouths, pig sliced into juicy bacon, and the geese “swimming in their own gravy.” The reader must wonder if Katrina’s attractiveness is the reason Ichabod loves her, or if he really just wants the riches of her estate. Ichabod’s chief competitor for Katrina’s heart is Brom Van Brunt, the most famous, strongest, and rowdiest man in the area, nicknamed Brom Bones because of his great size. Knowing he can’t openly compete with Brom Bones, Ichabod courts Katrina quietly and persistently, and soon gains the advantage over Brom Bones, who then plays pranks on Ichabod to get some semblance of revenge. Unfortunately for Ichabod, Katrina ultimately rejects him near the end of the story, and then Ichabod disappears, reportedly at the hands of the Headless Horseman, but Irving cleverly implies that it was actually the doing of Brom Bones, who then marries Katrina.
Ichabod is not just motivated by desires. He is also obsessed with witchcraft, legends, superstitions, and supernatural happenings, and he is a scholar of Cotton Mather’s History of New England Witchcraft. His reading of that book along with his fascination with the stories and rumours told by “old Dutch wives, as they sat spinning by the fire.” As he walks on the roads, through the woods, and across the meadows during twilight, his fearful mind turns every natural noise and movement into a ghoul or a goblin. The most terrifying phantom is the Headless Horseman, who chases Ichabod in the end of the short story. However, the wise reader can understand Irving’s clues that the Headless Horseman chasing Ichabod was actually Brom Bones in disguise, and when Ichabod was knocked out by the Horseman’s head, that was actually a pumpkin. The clever use of foreshadowing throughout the story predicts that Ichabod will have an encounter with monsters of legend, and also that there will be a conflict between him and Brom Bones. With a masterful twist, Irving has both of these events happen at once. It’s a great climax for the detailed story of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and the complex character of Ichabod Crane.