Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables
The mood of Hawthorne’s The House of the Seven Gables is dark, and painstakingly creepy and slow. The story centers around the murders of two men, centuries ago, the curse that was placed upon the house as a result of that conflict, and the repercussions to the current generation. The overall story is like that of a nightmare of total and complete oppressive darkness. Not so much the fright that results from images of goblins and monsters, but that feeling of being scared of the dark; not because of what is there, but because of what you don’t know is there.
Hawthorne sets this mood by describing the events that triggered the curse placed upon the Pyncheon mansion in the very first chapter, but never reveals more than a piece of the motivations and consequences at a time, throughout the remainder of the story.
The descriptions of the house deteriorating throughout the years covered in the book establishes the sensation of the endless nightmare – that despite mortal man, the house remains as it was from the day it was erected and only the outward appearance changes. . In fact, as the story centralizes around the curse placed upon the house, it is almost the main attraction of the story, the other characters only playing supporting roles to show the potency of the dark power that the house holds on members of the Pyncheon dynasty. Because Hawthorne gives the house human characteristics, “So much of mankind’s varied experien...
The Dark Side of Judge Pyncheon in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Novel, The House of the Seven Gables
Hawthorne and Poe showcase a theme of darkness but differ in their approach to the setting. In Young Goodman Brown, the story primarily
Hawthorne’s Romantic writing ability allures his readers into deep thought of the transforming characters creating himself as a phenomenon. His ability to transform Puritan society in a dark world “attracts readers not only for their storytelling qualities, but also for the moral and theological ambiguities Hawthorne presents so well” (Korb 303). In “Young Goodman Brown” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses Romantic characteristics such as artificiality of the city, escape from reality, and the value of imagination.
The author ironically describes day as “clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day” (Jackson, 2008, p 5). Hawthorne, on other hand presents a gloomy description to connect readers with settings by saying “Young Goodman Brown came forth at sunset into the street of Salem village” (Hawthorne, 2012, p 128). Hawthorne presents a town that conducts rituals of witchcraft and also burns witches. The plot of the story is knitted around a paralyzed community that follows traditions. In the forest, Goodman sees various well-known faces of senior authorities and reputed faces. Hawthorne, presents a ritualistic society that is dark and
Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the first American writers to pioneer the unprecedented and unforeseen gothic genre which resulted in the exposure of darker themes across America in the 19th century. This new genre sprouted the “brooding” romantics who revolved around the human’s capacity for evil as a main theme of their works. Being one of the “brooding” romantics, Hawthorne followed the Puritans’ belief that everyone is a sinner as a result of being a descendent of the Puritans associated with the infamous Salem witchcraft trials. Not only was he related to the despicable Puritans, but also, he had to live with the guilt that his dishonorable great-great grandfather, Judge Hathorne, was “the only one who refused to apologize for his role
Lang, H.J. “How Ambiguous is Hawthorne?” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
To set the tone in the story the author had to describe the surroundings of the characters. For example the author states, "with the first glimpse of the building, a sense of insufferable gloom pervaded my spirit." when giving a detailed response of how he feels about the house. This helps show that the author himself feels depressed when in sight of the building and gives the reader a thought of how the house looks. Other textual evidence in the passage also shows a feeling of suspense like the quote, "There was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart - an unredeemed dreariness of thought which no goading of the imagination could torture into aught of the sublime. " which is how the author feels when he thinks about the house. The author cannot bear to imagine the house because he has a dark and negative imagination with different fears he thinks can come to life because of how unsettling the house makes him feel. While suspense is a direct indication of a depressed and dark tone, some other Gothic elements can be used indirectly to describe negative values in the story.
III. Comparable aspects of Hawthorne's characterization in The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables
“The truth is, that, once in every half-century, at longest, a family should be merged into the great, obscure mass of humanity, and forget all about its ancestors” (Hawthorne 155) explains Holgrave about the aristocratic roots of the Pyncheon family in The House of the Seven Gables. In this novel, Nathaniel Hawthorne creates a story that effectively describes the clash between the decaying aristocracy and the emerging laboring class in the nineteenth-century in America through its characters. This “gothic romance” tells the story of an aristocratic Pyncheon family that once was wealthy, but now encounters itself with poverty and scarcity to the point that the old maid, Hepzibah Pyncheon, must open up a cent-shop in the house in order to survive. Through out the novel, Hawthorne uses Hepzibah to show the reader the inevitable process of transformation from the high aristocracy to the lower middle class that every aristocrat had to go trough in those times.
Many have characters in their novels go through what many people go through on a daily basis. When reading a book, many people want to relate to what is going on. They want to feel like they are not alone. This is more common today than in the 19th century. However, The House of the Seven Gables is a great example to read if someone wants to be able to relate to a character. What makes it even better is that Hawthorne most likely was not thinking about how his characters would affect future readers. He was writing a fantastic novel, not just trying to sell
Lathrop, G. P., ed. "Hawthorne, Nathaniel." The Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature. Binghamton, New York: Vail-Ballou, 1962. 439-40. Print.
When the news came of his father’s death, Hawthorne’s mother withdrew into her upstairs bedroom, coming out only rarely during the remaining forty years of her life. The boy and his two sisters lived in almost complete isolation from her and from each other (29).
The mansion is a superb example and symbol of clairvoyance; it allows for great insight and perspective, furthermore, it is the one constant in the book. This allows it to greatly alter the story, even though it is an inanimate object that has no feelings, no thoughts, and cannot talk, but still says the most about everyone’s personality. It is an object that conveys true human nature, it does not care who everyone is, as they are all the same to it, and all it provides is a place to see and step back from reality to reflect on people’s actions.
In Hawthorne’s “Wakefield” the narrator’s thoughts and comments bring insight into the motivations of the character of the story. The story includes a long introduction in which the narrator, Hawthorne, describes how he heard the curious story of Mr. Wakefield. Hawthorne supplies his audience with a condensed version of the entire plot of the story. With this introduction, Hawthorne has already informed the audience of the story’s intriguing plot and this intensifies the audience’s desire to find out Mr. Wakefield’s motivations because they cannot comprehend why he would do such a thing. The audience will try to make sense of Mr. Wakefield’s actions, but they will not find a logical explanation. The story may seem unreal but the reader must take the story as it is and focus on the charact...
Hawthorne’s use of symbols and detailed explanations help show how people’s actions ripple across affecting everyone and everything in their life. From the beginning of the novel Hawthorne engaged in the actions of young Hester Prynne and how it ruined not only her life but also made it more difficult for that of Pearl’s and caused the eventual deaths of her lover, Dimmsdale and ex-husband, Chillingworth.