In contemporary times, females are often belittled and expected to act in a submissive manner, but in the past, these rules were even more strict and demeaning. Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle,"" is the story of a man who, in attempt to flee his nagging wife, escapes to the Kaatskill Mountains. Rip Van Winkle, our protagonist, takes drastic measures to avoid his responsibilities and after drinking a mysterious substance, finds himself awoken in post Revolutionary War America. Rip Van Winkle is characterized as a simple man with one goal in life, happiness. Rip's enviable content with the life handed to him is constantly praised throughout the story, while Dame Van Winkle is villainized for wishing Rip would carry out his responsibilities as a husband and a father. This idea is portrayed immensely in the following sentence, "Poor Rip was at last reduced almost to despair; and his only alternative to escape from the labour of the farm and the clamour of his wife, was to take gun in hand and stroll away into the woods. " Rip's farmland is in shambles while his children wear tattered and dirty clothes, therefore his wife begs him to work and provide for his family, yet he continues to ignore his wife's pleas and ventures into the wilderness.
In 18th century America, the sole provider of money in the family was the man, thus making Rip Van Winkle's responsibilities much more important. The gender roles of this time made it so women could not own property, control her wages, or have access to high education. The woman of Pre-Revolutionary America had no legal identity and depended on their husbands for any sort of monetary needs, but Dame Van Winkle had nowhere to turn when her husband refused to provide because he would rather fish in fishless waters. Rip's wife, thusly, should hope for her husband to tend to his farm and children, but she is described as a nagging, almost verbally abusive, wife and Rip as the victim.