The Dark Side of Nathaniel Hawthorne in The House of Seven Gables
In The House of the Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne
exhibits the fate of a family due to a curse by analyzing
the most “disagreeable” secrets of a man’s soul (Great Lives
1077). Hawthorne shows the decay of an aristocratic family
due to the sins of the past. He uses allegory within his
character’s personalities and emotions to expose “the truth
of the human heart” (biography).
Hawthorne’s chosen location for this novel reflects
greatly on his life and specifically his childhood. Salem
is the home of The House of the Seven Gables. Ironically
this is the same town in which he was born in and lived in
through adulthood. He was raised in this town, therefore he
was very aware of the dark side of its past. He was a part
of this past through his ancestors. One of which was a
judge in the infamous Salem witch trials. At this trial
Hawthorne’s uncle is cursed by a so-called witch with the
words, “God will give you blood to drink” (Magill 2736).
This curse is much similar to Matthew Maule’s curse on the
Pyncheon family (Magill 2734). The solitude of his
characters reflects his childhood as well. Growing up, his
2
mother kept herself away from people which led him to become
a very solitary man for much of his life. As a young child
Hawthorne was lamed. During these years he became well
learned with the writings of Edmund Spenser, John Bunyan,
and William Shakespear(CSLF 1570). From these men he has
gained technique and style.
Having lived in Salem most of his life, Hawthorne is
extremely influenced by Puritanism. His writings greatly
reflect this. Hawthorne deals much with the sins of a man
being pasted down for generations. This is very much a
Puritan belief. Puritans are a very superstitious type of
person. Thus, this explains Hawthorne’s belief that a
curse, such as Maule’s curse, can destroy a well-to-do
family (Walker 1577). Hawthorne’s characters dealt with
guilt forced on by their ancestor, much of which goes back
as far as the Puritans. He commonly plays guilt against
innocence within one character, Hepzibah Pyncheon. She
feels strongly that she must maintain the lifestyle and
tradition of her ancestor Colonel Pyncheon. He shows her
many personalitie...
... middle of paper ...
....
“Nathaniel Hawthorne.” Encarta Encyclopedia. (1997)
<http://encarta.msn.com>
“Nathaniel Hawthorne.” The Critical Temper. Ed. Martin
Tucker. Vol. 4. A Library of Literary Criticism.
Frederick Ungar Publishing, 1979, 509-514.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne.” World Literature Criticism.” Ed.
James P. Draper. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale Research Inc.,
1992, 1592-1605.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne.” Novels and Novelists : A Guide to the World of Fiction. Ed. Martin Seymour-Smith.
London : Shuckburgh Reynolds Ltd., 1980, 154-155.
Wagenknecht, Edward. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” Cavalcade of the American Novel. New York : Henry Holt and Company,
1952, 90, 9, 20, 25, 38-57.
Walker, Ronald G. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Vol. 4. Englewood Cliffs : Salem Press, 1983, 1314-1328.
Van Doren, Carl. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” The American Novel. Ed. Revised. Vol. 1789-1939. New York : The MacmillianCompany, 1966, 58-83 135-137, 210, 213, 215.
“American Transcendentalism.”
<http://www.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/enl311/amtrans.htm>
“PAL : Nathaniel Hawthorne.”
<http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/hawthorne.html
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Enriched Classic ed. New York City: Simon & Schuster, 2004. Print.
Lathrop, G. P., ed. "Hawthorne, Nathaniel." The Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature. Binghamton, New York: Vail-Ballou, 1962. 439-40. Print.
Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. Charlottesville, Va: University of Virginia Library, 1996. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne.” The Norton Anthology: American Literature, edited by Baym et al. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1995.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. �Young Goodman Brown.� Responding to Literature: Stories, Poems, Plays and Essays. Fourth Edition. Ed. Judith A. Stanford. Boston, 2003. 161-171.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Scarlet Letter”. American Literature: Volume One. Ed. William E. Cain. New York: Pearson, 2004. 809-813. Print
Fogle, Richard Harter. "Hawthorne's fiction: The Light and the Dark." Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Study of Short Fiction. Ed. Nancy Bunge. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993. 133-35
Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.
Martin, Terence. Nathaniel Hawthorne. Revised Edition. Twayne’s United States Authors Series. G.K. Hall & Company. Massachusetts. 1983.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne – Biography.” The European Graduate School. The European Graduate School, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. American Literature. Vol. 1. New York: Penguin Academics, 2004. 592-778. Print.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” The Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. 2186-95.
Wagenknecht, Edward. Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Man, His Tales and Romances. New York: Continuum Publishing Co., 1989.
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.