Gretchen

Viragoish wife of Rip Van Winkle, in Washington Irving’s story of that name. Gretchen , a German diminutive of Margaret; the heroine of Goethe’s Faust . Faust meets her on her return from church, falls in love with her, and at last seduces her. Overcome with shame, Gretchen destroys the infant to which she gives birth, and is condemned to death. Faust attempts to save her; and, gaining admi ion to the dungeon, finds her huddled on a bed of straw, singing wild snatches of ballads, quite insane. He tries to induce her to flee with him, but in vain. At daybreak Gretchen dies, and Faust is taken away. Gretchen is a perfect union of homeline and simplicity, though her love is strong as death; yet is she a human woman throughout, and never a mere abstraction. No other character ever drawn takes so strong a hold on the heart.