By Nathaniel
Hawthorne
"The House
of the Seven Gables" is a romantic novel set in a grand and rustic, old
house with seven
gables in New
England town. The story opens with its history, beginning in the 1690's, when
witch-hunting was
rampant. Afterwards, it revolves around
the course of one summer in the 1850's.
At his
housewarming party, Colonel Pyncheon, the socially noted owner of the house was
mysteriously
found dead in one of the rooms. Although
he was highly esteemed for his wealth and
high position,
legend has it that he usurped the land on which his house stood from a poor
fellow
named Matthew
Maule. Maule was a nobody.
Furthermore, he was rumored to be practicing
witchcraft. For
this, he was hanged and it was rumored that Pyncheon was responsible for it
because
he wanted the
land for himself. However, his social prominence and Maule's infamy allowed him
to
get away with the
crime smoothly. Before Maule died
though, cursed him saying, "God will give him
blood to
drink."
For years, the
Pyncheon-Maule dispute carried on. The
long line of Pyncheons struggled to keep
the land from
their rivals. Though they succeeded in
this, their greed became their own undoing.
Alice Pyncheon
dies because her father, Gervayse, allowed her to be hypnotized by a Maule also
named Matthew,
because he believed him when he said that he needed Alice's mind to find a the
hidden Pyncheon
treasure. Clifford Pyncheon was another
victim of the greed of his cousin Judge
Jaffrey
Pyncheon. He framed him and sent him to
prison for killing their uncle so that he could have
the Pyncheon
fortune to himself.
However, after
many years, the once talked-about mansion was eventually forgotten, and the
story
focuses on the time
when Hepzibah Pyncheon, an old and lonely spinster inhabited it. She was often
feared for the
scowl on her face that was actually only
the result of a chronic squint due to her poor
eyesight. Proud and without talent for practical
matters, she is a symbol of decaying aristocracy.
She grieves for
her beloved brother, Clifford, who was framed and imprisoned. She had a boarder
named
Holgrave. He is an attractive and
imtellectual young man with modern views
and notions.
He preaches about
social reform to Hepzibah and Phoebe.
When her money
was running out, Hepzibah was forced to open little bakeshop in the front gable
of
the house and
abandon her illusion of aristocracy.
This only adds to her misery until her young niece,
Phoebe, comes
from the country to live with her in the house.
Like a ray of sunshine, she lights up
the house with
her beauty, simplicity, and free-spiritedness
After 30 years in
prison, Hepzibah's brother, Clifford, is released and comes home to the house
of
seven gables. He has a love for beauty but the years of
seclusion had drawn out the life from him
and he became
bitter and spiritless. Then he develops
a special bond with Phoebe. Despite the
complexity of his
personality, she understood him.
A frequent visitor
was Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon. He resembled
his ancestor, the colonel physically
and in his greed
and pretentiousness as well. Yet, he pretends to be good-natured and amiable.
He
insists that
Clifford possessed the knowledge about a hidden Pyncheon fortune. However, the truth
of the matter is
that Clifford has long since forgotten the secret.
One day , Judge Jaffrey comes again, looking for
Clifford. He manages to force Hepzibah
to let
him see her
brother and she goes up to fetch him. He
is not in his room and when she comes back
to tell the
judge, she finds him dead. And Clifford
is standing beside him. Afraid that he
would be
accused of murder
again, Clifford flees, bringing Hepzibah along.
In their absence, Holgrave and
Phoebe fall in
love.
Eventually, it
was discovered that Jaffrey's death was a result of a stroke, and everything is
cleared
and
resolved. Clifford and Hepzibah return
and Holgrave asks Phoebe to marry him.
She agrees
and he discloses
that he is a descendant of Matthew Maule.
The secret treasure turned out to be
the deed of the
territory, which was now useless. It was
hidden inside a vault concealed by the
painting of the
colonel which hung on the wall of the house eversince it was built.
Hepzibah,
Clifford, Phoebe, and Holgrave all decide to leave the house and live in the
country,
where they
inherited an estate from Judge Jaffrey.
And that was the end of the Pyncheon - Maule
dispute.
The story
presents us with several themes.
Firstly, that the sins of the forefathers are passed on to
the next
generations, and they become branded for life.
Although one cannot undo what have
already been
done, he can still strive to break the curse, and free himself from the spiral
of sin.
Secondly, man
cannot live alone. Isolation can draw
out life from a being. Clifford and
Hepzibah
who had been
living n seclusion for many years had become bitter and lifeless, but when they
were
re-united and
Phoebe came into their lives, they became alive again. Third, man should not be
divided by social
classes. Hawthorne was obviously against
aristocracy for he preaches through
Holgrave that
wanting to be above the rest leads to isolation and division. Lastly, Hawthorne tells
us not to be
deceived by appearances. "Do not judge
a book by its cover", as it is commonly said.
The judge's
beatific smile is as misleading as Hepzibah's scowl.
The themes of the story present
valuable lessons relevant even today.
Hawthorne's style of
writing is very
relaxed and personal. By using the
present tense, one feels as if he were within the
story as it
unfolds before him. With this, one
particularly feels the relevance of the irony of his novel
today.
He plays up the
novel by embellishing it with mischief like the disappearing skeleton hand and
ghost
who plays the
harpsichord. He also filled with
symbolism. For instance, the withered
with odd
markings
symbolize the fading eminence and odd traits of the Pyncheon family. The organ grinder
and the little
figures in his box represent the concept of individualism --- each figure,
dancing to the
same tune
accomplish nothing. The image of the
cracked porcelain vase hurled at the granite column
represents
Clifford, in all his frailty versus Jaffrey, to whom he does not stand a chance
against. The
house itself
symbolizes the human heart. It may be
stone-cold but when warmed with love
(Phoebe), it will
blossom.
Word Count: 1091
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