The House of the Seven Gables, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a work of romance that contains many aspects of realism. The work closes resembles his recurring fascinating with the Puritan Era. Hawthorne?s use of themes throughout this novel closely reflect the values of the era. This novel was written with three main themes: fate vs. free will, family, and finally, religion. Hawthorne?s use of these themes solidifies the then ideals throughout the novel, they play a major part in the portrayal of the story and the time period. The variety of themes in Nathaniel Hawthorne?s The House of the Seven Gables reflect his fascination with the Puritan Era, and the guilt he inherited from previous generations.
The story is set in a small New England town,
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Several years later the housekeeper, Hepzibah, resides at the now rundown mansion and needs to open a store to financially support herself. The store is a huge shame in her life because it symbolizes the loss of wealth and power of the Pyncheon family. Phoebe, a distant cousin of Hepzibah, comes into the shop and persuades Hepzibah to let her live in the mansion. Clifford is now released from jail and the crew soon receives a visit from their cousin Judge Pyncheon. He offers them financial support, they refuse and yell at him to leave the property. Phoebe becomes curious about the Judge and begins to ask the lodger, Holgrove, about Clifford?s past. Holgrove tells her of Alice Pyncheon and soon realizes he has hypnotized her. One day while Phoebe was on a visit home, Judge Pyncheon shows up at the mansion and demands to speak with Clifford, claiming that Clifford knows where the hidden fortune is. Hepzibah goes to retrieve Clifford but fails to find him. She returns downstairs and sees him pointing at Judge Pyncheon?s slumped body. The two run from the mansion, fearing that …show more content…
free will. Throughout the novel the characters are faced with the challenge of the curse from many generations before them. Situations that occur within are a constant debate between fate vs. freewill. ?The central focus of The House of the Seven Gables is the inevitable and inescapable presentness [sic] of the past.? [endnoteRef:7] No matter what the main characters in the novel do they are consistently haunted by the curse set on their family from so many years before. The fact of the curse can be argued as fate because there is nothing any of the characters can do to stop or change the situation. Revenge of Maule constantly hangs over their heads throughout the novel, making the past always present. Every new generation that inhabits the house is equally as guilty as the last. [7: Bell
Nathaniel Hawthorne was a truly outstanding author. His detailed descriptions and imagery will surely keep people interested in reading The Scarlet Letter for years to come. In writing this book he used themes evident throughout the entirety of the novel. These themes are illustrated in what happens to the characters and how they react. By examining how these themes affect the main characters, Hester, Dimmesdale, and Chillingworth, one can obtain a better understanding of what Hawthorne was trying to impress upon his readers.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of The House of Seven Gables, reveals Judge Pyncheon’s character in a strategic manner to show the shallowness in Judge Pyncheon’s good deeds. The author uses the position of details, diction, and tone to express his dislike for Judge Pyncheon’s character and also to reveal the judges character as two-fold, first good, then evil.
For example, Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” depicts the themes of freedom and autonomy. The main character, Mrs. Mallard, explains how her marriage is somewhat dissolved of ties after the supposed death of her husband, she explains how freedom from her difficult marriage is the best outcome that could ever happen to a woman. Perhaps Chopin’s difficulties in her own marriage encouraged her to write about what freedom would be, as well as how independence would feel after the death of one’s partner. Hawthorne also writes according to personal experience. His themes focus mainly on sin and occasionally hypocrisy and he is persistent with the Puritan ideologies from his family in most of his works. In Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” the reader can perceive the hypocrisy amongst the people in the village and how even the holiest person in the village has his or her own deeds with the dark side. In most of Hawthorne’s works, the theme of sin is prevalent and it shows how Hawthorne’s experiences with his growing up in a Puritan family impacted his
“I’m sorry, Maureen. Sorry for everything.” (276, Walls) And when that sentence was whispered, a family was left broken and unwhole. In a family of five children, even a more conventional one, sometimes the youngest feels left out. But because of the Walls unconventional parenting, Maureen didn’t sometimes feel left out, she always felt left out. Since she was the youngest of the Walls children, she was fortunate enough not to have to move all the time but that might not have been the most beneficial thing for her. Throughout the novel the family lived in many different places, each more dangerous and disgusting than the last. However, I think for most readers Welch was the most upsetting place. Maureen grew up in that toxic
The underlying characteristics allure, suspend, and entice Hawthorne's readers into the journey. Romantic Characteristics such as artificiality of the city, escape from reality, and the value of imagination metamorphosis Hawthorne's writing style of Romanticism in Puritan
The House of the Seven Gables written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a novel that engages the reader in an intricate love story that blends history and a fanciful ancestry. Hawthorne stays true to the Romantic era’s convections through his detailed development of the plot. Through his writing, the reader can capture the emotions, morality and motives of each character. Although Hawthorne writes in the romantic style, he does not fail to go against the social norms with the plot. He defines the normal roles of women and he emphasizes the role of wealth in society. Furthermore he asserts his opinions on issues that were prevent in that time, such as, racism, slave emancipation and Jim Crow. The story was not created to just provide a creative love
Although Nathaniel Hawthorne’s allegory, The House of Seven Gables, was not entirely true, the incomparable part of it had to do with his personal history and his cultural background. His relation to the house was from his cousin Phoebe and the ideas about the witch trials were because he was living in the very time they were taking place. Therefore, I do think that the personal history and cultural background affect what the author writes about whether the book be fiction or non-fiction, but most of the time, non-fiction.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of America's most renowned authors, demonstrates his extraordinary talents in two of his most famed novels, The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. To compare these two books seems bizarre, as their plots are distinctly different. Though the books are quite seemingly different, the central themes and Hawthorne's style are closely related (Carey, p. 62). American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne is most famous for his books THE SCARLET LETTER and THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES, which are closely related in theme, the use of symbolism, characterization, and style.
Throughout Young Goodman Brown and other works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the themes of sin and guilt constantly reoccur. Like many authors, Hawthorne used events in his life as a basis for the stories that he wrote. Hawthorne felt that ones guilt does not die with him/her but is rather passed down through the generations. Hawthorne's great-great uncle was one of the judges during the Salem witchcraft trials. Hawthorne felt a great sense of guilt because of this. Hawthorne used a great deal of symbolism to depict what would come to be known as the subconscious. In this allegory he used symbolism to speak of a dreamlike process. Hawthorne used the characters and the events of the story to create a double meaning. Symbolism and was used to show the effects of the events on the characters rather than lying in the events alone. He is not only there to explore his own sinful character but to also right the wrongs of his father, his grandfather, his church community, and his wife.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an early American writer that has had a powerful influence on literature for literally centuries. He was known for penning short stories that still have a powerful impact. This writer had a unique style and incorporated definite themes in his writings. This essay will explore Nathaniel’s early life, writings and delve into his specific style of storytelling.
Are the characters governed by fate or free will? Fate means a power that some people believe causes and controls all events, so that you cannot change or control way things will happen. Free will means the ability to decide what to make independently of any outside influence. The different between the two they justify the causes that are in somebody else’s hands or in your own hands. The reason why I picked the background information that supports my hook because life can be influenced by the outcome of what you do regardless of what is in favor. The characters and events in the play were influenced by fate because the path and actions they chose recently reflect what happen later on in the play.
Nathaniel Hawthorne chose the market place and the forest as settings used to symbolically develop his portrait of society and the characters in The Scarlet Letter. In this novel a story unfolds of three people who are torn apart by sin, revenge, and guilt. The market place reveals to the reader a place of restraint and severe Puritan laws. The setting of the forest yields
Nathaniel Hawthorne's works are notable for their treatment of guilt and the complexities of moral choices. "Moral and religious concerns, in short, are almost always present in Hawthorne's work"(Foster, 56). Given Hawthorne's background, it is not a stretch of the imagination to say that his novels are critiques of Puritanism. Hawthorne lived in the deeply scarred New England area, separated from Puritanism by only one generation. His grandfather had been one of the judges in the Salem Witch Trials. Personal issues include the various ways Hawthorne's family and specific events in his life influenced his writing. Readers can easily recognize how "Young Goodman Brown" incorporates facts about his Puritan ancestors. Father Hooper in "The Minister's Black Veil" may be symbolically paralleled to Hawthorne's ancestors, trying to hide a sin they have committed. His descendants' remarks on him in The Custom House introduction to The Scarlet Letter mix pride in Hawthorne's prominence and a sense of inherited guilt for his deeds as judge. Hawthorne's guilt of wrongs committed by his ancestors was paramount in the development of his literary career. He investigates human weaknesses through the time period of his ancestors. Generally Hawthorne's writings contained powerful symbolic and psychological effects of pride, guilt, sin and punishment.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, there are many moral and social themes develped throughout the novel. Each theme is very important to the overall effect of the novel. In essence, The Scarlet Letter is a story of sin, punishment and the importance of truth. One theme which plays a big role in The Scarlet Letter is that of sin and its effects. Throughout the novel there were many sins committed by various characters. The effects of these sins are different in each character and every character was punished in a unique way. Two characters were perfect examples of this theme in the novel. Hester Prynne and The Reverend Dimmesdale best demonstrated the theme of the effects of sin.
The Scarlet Letter is a fictional novel that begins with an introductory passage titled ‘The Custom-House’. This passage gives a historical background of the novel and conveys the narrator’s purpose for writing about the legend of Hester Prynne even though the narrator envisions his ancestors criticizing him and calling him a “degenerate” because his career was not “glorifying God”, which is very typical of the strict, moralistic Puritans. Also, although Hawthorne is a Romantic writer, he incorporates properties of Realism into his novel by not idealizing the characters and by representing them in a more authentic manner. He does this by using very formal dialogue common to the harsh Puritan society of the seventeenth century and reflecting their ideals through this dialogue. The Puritans held somewhat similar views as the Transcendentalists in that they believed in the unity of God and the world and saw signs and symbols in human events, such as when the citizens related the meteo...