Romanticism In The House Of The Seven Gables

Despite its frequently dreary nature, Romanticism runs rampant throughout the length of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The House of the Seven Gables. It becomes the most evident when one considers the curse that Matthew Maule laid upon Colonel Pyncheon during his execution. Just prior to his untimely demise, Maule proclaims, “‘God will give him blood to drink!’” (Hawthorne 3). Maule’s curse proves to be strangely telling being that it describes the manner in which the Colonel would die not long after his own death. When the Colonel’s death is taken into consideration by his descendants, it would appear as though they too are suffering and paying for his greatest sin—his false accusation of Maule. (The claim stated that Maule was a wizard and should be killed on account of his use of magic. The accusation was made so that Colonel Pyncheon could gain Maule’s lands following his execution). The notion that the Pyncheon family was struggling with their own nature, (an inclination toward malevolent behavior), and other intangible forces, which were not within their power to control, (Maule’s curse), played heavily into the prevalence of Romantic themes within Hawthorne’s novel.

Examples of the hardships the Pyncheon family faced include the poverty, which had stricken their family and Clifford’s imprisonment at the hands of Judge