House of seven gables author. The House of the Seven Gables Preface by the Author Summary & Analysis 2023-01-05
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The House of the Seven Gables is a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in 1851. It is considered a classic of American literature and is one of Hawthorne's most well-known works.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804. He was a descendant of John Hathorne, one of the judges in the Salem witch trials, and the experience of having such a controversial ancestor inspired much of Hawthorne's writing. Hawthorne was a deeply introspective and philosophical writer, and his work often explored themes of guilt, redemption, and the complexities of human nature.
The House of the Seven Gables is set in the fictional town of Pyncheon Street in Salem, Massachusetts and follows the story of the Pyncheon family, who are struggling to maintain their wealth and status in the community. The novel's central character is Hepzibah Pyncheon, a spinster who is forced to open a shop in the family's ancestral home, the House of the Seven Gables, in order to support herself and her brother, Clifford.
The House of the Seven Gables is known for its Gothic atmosphere and its use of symbolism and allegory. The house itself is a central symbol in the novel, representing the Pyncheon family's past and their present decline. The house is described as being gloomy and decrepit, with a history of tragedy and misfortune. The Pyncheon family is similarly described as being trapped in their own history and unable to escape the past.
Throughout the novel, Hawthorne explores themes of guilt and redemption as the Pyncheon family struggles to come to terms with their troubled history and the weight of their ancestral sin. The novel also deals with issues of class and social status, as the Pyncheon family tries to maintain their place in society despite their declining fortunes.
In addition to its themes and symbols, The House of the Seven Gables is also known for its complex and well-developed characters. Hawthorne's portrayal of Hepzibah Pyncheon, in particular, has been praised for its depth and sensitivity.
Overall, The House of the Seven Gables is a powerful and thought-provoking novel that remains a classic of American literature. Nathaniel Hawthorne's skill as a writer is evident in his use of symbolism and allegory to explore deeper themes and in his ability to create complex and nuanced characters. The novel is a testament to Hawthorne's talent as a writer and his enduring place in the literary canon.
The House of the Seven Gables: Full Book Summary
Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Heminway's Key West. It certainly operated to prolong in their case, and to confirm to them as their only inheritance, those feelings of repugnance and superstitious terror with which the people of the town, even after awakening from their frenzy, continued to regard the memory of the reputed witches. It was itself like a great human heart, with a life of its own, and full of rich and sombre reminisces. The tradition was that a certain Alice Pyncheon had flung up the seeds, in sport, and that the dust of the street and the decay of the roof gradually formed a kind of soil for them, out of which they grew, when Alice had long been in her grave. We have already hinted that it is not our purpose to trace down the history of the Pyncheon family, in its unbroken connection with the House of the Seven Gables; nor to show, as in a magic picture, how the rustiness and infirmity of age gathered over the venerable house itself. But he will be ill pleased, I judge, if you suffer him to neglect the courtesy due to one of our chief rulers, and who may be said to represent King William, in the absence of the governor himself. This portion now forms the middle of the house.
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
And now--in a very humble way, as will be seen--we proceed to open our narrative. However the flowers might have come there, it was both sad and sweet to observe how Nature adopted to herself this desolate, decaying, gusty, rusty old house of the Pyncheon family; and how the ever-returning summer did her best to gladden it with tender beauty, and grew melancholy in the effort. Whether its sources were disturbed by the depth of the new cellar, or whatever subtler cause might lurk at the bottom, it is certain that the water of Maule's Well, as it continued to be called, grew hard and brackish. Maule was accused of practicing witchcraft and was executed. Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Heminway's Key West. For various reasons, however, and from impressions often too vaguely founded to be put on paper, the writer cherishes the belief that many, if not most, of the successive proprietors of this estate were troubled with doubts as to their moral right to hold it.
Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. So far as the prospective territory was concerned, he unquestionably died too soon. The coroner's jury sat upon the corpse, and, like sensible men, returned an unassailable verdict of "Sudden Death! Latterly, there were rumors which few believed, and only one or two felt greatly interested in that this long-buried man was likely, for some reason or other, to be summoned forth from his living tomb. And now, being a trifle choleric in his temperament, the lieutenant governor uplifted the heavy hilt of his sword, wherewith he so beat and banged upon the door that, as some of the bystanderswhispered, the racket might have disturbed the dead. But the Puritan soldier and magistrate was not a man to be turned aside from his well-considered scheme, either by dread of the wizard's ghost or by flimsy sentimentalities of any kind, however specious. In Holgrave's story, Matthew Maule, grandson of the accused witch, is recruited by Alice's greedy father to assist in finding documents that will make him rich. There it rose, a little withdrawn from the line of the street, but in pride, not modesty.
The pious clergyman surely would not have uttered words like these had he in the least suspected that the Colonel had been thrust into the other world with the clutch of violence upon his throat. Clergymen, judges, statesmen--the wisest, calmest, holiest persons of their day--stood in the inner circle round about the gallows, loudest to applaud the work of blood, latest to confess themselves miserably deceived. His widow had recently taken another husband. Nathaniel Hawthorne's gripping psychological drama concerns the Pyncheon family, a dynasty founded on pious theft, who live for generations under a dead man's curse until their house is finally exorcised by love. Colonel Pyncheon had him hanged as a wizard so that he could seize the man's property. It might fairly be anticipated that the progress of time would rather increase and ripen their prosperity than wear away and destroy it.
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne, First Edition
Behind the house there appeared to be a garden, which undoubtedly had once been extensive, but. In his youth, he was especially influenced by Gothic romances and the novels of Sir Walter Scott. When his appointment was complete, he toured Italy. But, in after days, when the frenzy of that hideous epoch had subsided, it was remembered how loudly Colonel Pyncheon had joined in the general cry, to purge the land from witchcraft; nor did it fail to be whispered that there was an invidious acrimony in the zeal with which he had sought the condemnation of Matthew Maule. Phoebe shows a willingness to work that is absent in Hepzibah and Clifford.
Holgrave is revealed as Maule's descendant, but he bears no ill will toward the remaining Pyncheons. Many interesting features of the original mansion remain, including unusual forms of wall insulation, original beams and The In 1994, the Seamans Visitor Center was opened at the historic site. The Hawthornes had a happy marriage and had three children: Una, Julian, and Rose. It was too late to give assistance. In 1841, he joined Brook Farm in West Roxbury and in 1842 moved into the By 1846, the Hawthorne family was living back in Salem with Una 1844 and Julian 1846. In reality, Maule intends revenge on the Pyncheons by making Alice permanently susceptible to his commands. Emmerton grew up in a city that was transitioning from its past as a major shipping port to its future as a manufacturing center for both textiles and the leather industry.
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne [PDF]
One inauspicious circumstance there was, which awakened a hardly concealed displeasure in the breasts of a few of the more punctilious visitors. The family of Colonel Pyncheon, at the epoch of his death, seemed destined to as fortunate a permanence as can anywise consist with the inherent instability of human affairs. The street having been widened about forty years ago, the front gable was now precisely on a line with it. Light Tanning Of The Edges Due To Age. He held information about some Pyncheon family acreage in the eastern part of the country. The inspiration for this work comes from a real house located in the town of Salem, Massachusetts, which is now a national heritage site.
It used to be affirmed that the dead shopkeeper, in a white wig, a faded velvet coat, an apron at his waist, and his ruffles carefully turned back from his wrists, might be seen through the chinks of the shutters, any night of the year, ransacking his till, or poring over the dingy pages of his daybook. In Salem, the first settlement house was run by the YMCA. Open daily 10am-4pm through December 31. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980: 353. Higginson, and the outpouring of a psalm from the general throat of the community, was to be made acceptable to the grosser sense by ale, cider, wine, and brandy, in copious effusion, and, as some authorities aver, by an ox, roasted whole, or, at least, by the weight and substance of an ox, in more manageable joints and sirloins. If one of the family did but gurgle in his throat, a bystander would be likely enough to whisper, between jest and earnest, "He has Maule's blood to drink! All editions are complete and unabridged, and feature Introductions and Afterwords. However, the Turner House, or Turner-Ingersoll Mansion, in Salem, Massachusetts, was an inspiration for him.
