The person01–03
01·Who they are
Who is Old Scratch (The Devil)?
Old Scratch is Washington Irving's American Devil—not the horned, theatrical figure of European romance, but something more unsettling: a grim, soot-blackened woodsman at home in the colonial wilderness. When Tom Walker first encounters him in the swampy forest near Boston, Old Scratch is seated on a stump amid the ruins of an old Indian fort, surrounded by the spiritual residue of conquest, violence, and buried pirate gold. His face is "begrimed with soot," his clothes ragged, his manner unhurried. He carries an axe, and the trees around him are scored with names—merchants, politicians, deacons—each one a soul already ripening for harvest. He is less a seducer than a record-keeper, an accountant of corruption who collects debts humanity has already chosen to incur. Irving designs him to be recognized, not feared: he is the logical endpoint of greed, not its cause.
02·Arc & motivation
What is Old Scratch (The Devil)'s arc and motivation?
Old Scratch does not develop across the story so much as he completes a transaction. His arc is one of patient, inevitable collection. He first meets Tom with Kidd's treasure as bait, offering wealth in exchange for a soul. Tom's initial refusal—rooted not in virtue but in spite toward his wife—is only a delay. When Tom's wife ventures into the swamp to negotiate her own deal, Old Scratch apparently destroys her, returning only her apron knotted around a heart and liver: a grotesque receipt. This detail reveals his motivation clearly. He is not after one soul in particular; he is after the souls that corruption has already prepared. He waits. When Tom finally agrees to the pact and thrives as a usurious moneylender, Old Scratch recedes entirely, letting human avarice do its work. Years later, he arrives on a black horse mid-foreclosure and takes Tom away, leaving a scorched ledger and a heap of cinders. His motivation is systemic, not personal—he is the harvest, not the seed.
03·Key moments
What are Old Scratch (The Devil)'s key moments?
The encounter at the stump is the story's defining scene. Old Scratch casually identifies the marked trees—Crowninshield's name among them, a man Tom knows—and confirms, almost conversationally, that Crowninshield is "ready for burning." When Crowninshield dies shortly after, Irving demonstrates that Old Scratch's forest register is literal and active, not metaphorical. The devil does not threaten; he observes facts.
The return of Tom's wife's apron is equally significant. The knotted cloth containing a heart and liver functions as black comedy and moral signal simultaneously: Old Scratch is not a negotiating partner but a force that consumes anyone who approaches him through appetite alone. Tom's wife, arguably more brazen in her greed than Tom himself, meets a fate that Tom interprets with grim humor rather than terror—itself an indictment of his character.
The final collection scene carries the story's moral weight. Tom, now deep in hypocritical religiosity, swears "the devil may take me if I have made a farthing"—and Old Scratch arrives at once, in black, on horseback, during a moment of Tom's cruelest dealing. The thunderstorm, the disappeared horse, the burned ledger: Irving stages the scene as cosmic punctuation. The contract, signed long ago in human corruption, is simply being honored.
The cast04–05
04·Relationships
What are Old Scratch (The Devil)'s most important relationships?
With Tom Walker, Old Scratch enacts the story's central irony: he never truly deceives his quarry. Tom understands the bargain entirely and takes it anyway. Their relationship is transactional and coldly symmetrical—Tom gets years of prosperity; Old Scratch gets his soul on schedule.
With Tom's wife, Old Scratch functions as an equalizer. Her independent ambition meets the same terminus as her husband's deal will. The apron-and-organs detail suggests Old Scratch has no patience for those who approach him purely as opportunists without even a transaction to offer.
With Kidd's treasure, Old Scratch is custodian rather than creator. The pirate's buried gold is already tainted; Old Scratch simply uses existing corruption as currency, reinforcing Irving's Calvinist undertow that the Devil inherits what greed builds.
With Crowninshield, the relationship is entirely administrative. The marked tree and the timely death illustrate that Old Scratch's ledger runs parallel to the visible world, quietly auditing it.
05·Connected characters
How is Old Scratch (The Devil) connected to the other characters?
Study06–07
06·Questions
Questions readers ask about Old Scratch (The Devil)
What does Old Scratch look like when Tom Walker first meets him?
Old Scratch appears as a grim, soot-blackened woodsman, with a face "begrimed with soot," ragged clothes, and an axe in hand. He sits on a skull-marked stump amid the ruins of an old Indian fort in the swampy woods near Boston. Irving strips him of any theatrical, horned-Devil imagery, presenting him as an unsettling figure who looks entirely at home in the corrupt colonial wilderness.
What is Old Scratch's relationship with Tom Walker?
Old Scratch is Tom Walker's tempter and eventual soul-collector, and their relationship is the story's central transaction. He offers Tom the buried treasure of Captain Kidd in exchange for Tom's soul, waits patiently while Tom prospers as a usurious moneylender, and ultimately collects what is owed by riding off with Tom on a black horse mid-foreclosure, leaving only a scorched ledger and a heap of cinders behind.
What happens to Tom's wife when she tries to make her own deal with Old Scratch?
Tom's wife disappears in the swamp after seeking her own bargain with Old Scratch, and he destroys her. The only evidence of her fate is her apron, which Old Scratch returns to Tom knotted around a heart and liver — a grotesque receipt suggesting he had no interest in negotiating and simply consumed anyone who approached him through appetite alone, without a proper transaction to offer.
What is the significance of the trees Old Scratch marks in the forest?
The marked trees function as Old Scratch's living ledger of corrupt souls already claimed. Each tree bears the name of a wicked individual — merchants, politicians, deacons — and falls when its namesake dies. When Old Scratch points out Absalom Crowninshield's tree and declares it ready to be felled, Crowninshield dies shortly after, confirming that the forest register is literal and active, not metaphorical.
How does Old Scratch finally collect Tom Walker's soul?
Old Scratch arrives on a black horse during one of Tom's most ruthless acts of moneylending and carries him off in a thunderstorm. Tom had recklessly sworn "the devil may take me if I have made a farthing," and Old Scratch obliges. All that remains afterward is a burned ledger and a heap of ashes — Irving staging the moment as cosmic punctuation on a contract signed long ago in human corruption.
Is Old Scratch portrayed as a deceiver in the story?
No — Irving removes deception from Old Scratch's characterization. He never tricks Tom or conceals the terms of their bargain; Tom understands the deal entirely and accepts it anyway. Old Scratch functions more as a record-keeper and collector than a seducer, confirming the corruption already present in his victims rather than creating it, which reinforces Irving's Calvinist moral that damnation is self-authored.
Why does Old Scratch use Captain Kidd's treasure as bait?
Old Scratch uses Kidd's buried gold because it is already morally tainted — wealth accumulated through piracy and murder — making it the perfect instrument for a soul-bargain. Irving presents Old Scratch as custodian of existing corruption rather than its originator, and Kidd's treasure embodies that principle perfectly: the Devil inherits what greed builds, and simply puts it to further use.
What does Old Scratch represent thematically in the story?
Old Scratch embodies Irving's warning that human greed is its own damnation, with the Devil as its inevitable auditor. He is less a supernatural seducer than a systemic force — patient, administrative, and indiscriminate — who harvests souls that avarice has already overripened. His colonial woodland setting and bookkeeping function give him a distinctly American character, linking him to the financial corruption of early New World society.
07·Essay angles
Use this in your essay
Tool · Essay angles
Old Scratch as mirror, not tempter
The Devil as capitalist allegory
Gender and the Devil's appetite
Calvinist predestination and Old Scratch's patience
Irving's Devil versus the European tradition