Examples Of Romanticism In The Devil And Tom Walker

Romanticism may seem all about Love and fairy tales but many people have never heard of the dark side... The dark side of Romanticism includes death, evil intentions and many more things. “The Devil and Tom Walker” is a dark romantic short story about a man named Tom who took a shortcut through the swamp, met Old Scratch, made a deal with him, and was eventually carried away by the Devil because of his greed. In the story, Irving demonstrates dark American Romanticism with emotion, supernatural beings, and greedy and sinful characters.
First off, Irving uses emotion throughout the whole short story, which is one of the ways that demonstrates the influence of American Romantic Literature. For example, Irving

Sure enough Old Scratch took Tom. The quote shows even though the poor man begged for more time, Tom, the dark and greedy man would not allow it. Emotion is also found when Tom loses his life to the Devil. The text states, “Tom had a lurking dread that the Devil, after all, would have his due. That he might not be taken unawares, therefore, it is said he always carried a small bible in his coat pocket” (Irving --). Tom’s emotion gets a hold of him when he realizes the deal he made with the Devil and what it is going to cost him. The greedy man then tries everything to evade his death, but soon finds out it was impossible. The author implies that Tom was killed by stating, “Away went Tom Walker, dashing down the streets; his white cap bobbing up and down; his morning

Tom’s wife goes behind her husband’s back and makes a deal with Old Scratch because she wants all the fortune for herself. The audience realizes soon after that the deal costs her, her life. After this, Tom goes to look for his wife, but instead, searches for all his fortunes that his wife has taken with her. Tom soon makes a deal with the Devil and opens a business within the next few days. These actions show how neither Tom nor his wife really care for each other. They would rather lie and steal, than love one another. Lastly, Larry L. Stewart implies that the wife is greedy when he states, “she greedily urges him to accept the bargain” (Larry L. Stewart 2). This source points out that the wife simply wants more fortune and does not care about what could happen to her husband if he makes a deal with the Old