Answer:
In "Rip Van Winkle," Washington Irving uses language that differs between its literal meaning and the actual message being communicated. For example, Irving describes a “curtain lecture” as “worth all the sermons in the world for teaching the virtues of patience and long-suffering.”
While this description literally means that when Dame Van Winkle is lecturing her husband, it teaches him patience, Irving’s real message is that this type of nagging is not valuable at all.
The story implies that Rip’s wife often lectures and nags him:
“… his wife kept continually dinning in his ears about his idleness, his carelessness, and the ruin he was bringing on his family. Morning, noon, and night, her tongue was incessantly going, and everything he said or did was sure to produce a torrent of household eloquence.”
The word “eloquence” usually describes speeches, poetry, and other well-crafted writing. Irving uses it ironically in the story to describe Rip’s wife’s lectures, as they are not beautiful or well-written prose.
In this way, Washington Irving uses humor and irony to show the relationship between Rip and his wife.
