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First edition title page. The House of the Seven Gables: A Romance is a Gothic novel written beginning in mid-1850 by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in April 1851 by Ticknor and Fields of Boston. The novel follows a New England family and their ancestral home. In the book, Hawthorne explores themes of guilt, retribution, and ...
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
- 1851
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert S. Levine (Editor) 3.45. 40,998 ratings3,030 reviews. The sins of one generation are visited upon another in a haunted New England mansion until the arrival of a young woman from the country breathes new air into mouldering lives and rooms. Written shortly after The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables re ...
- (40.9K)
- Paperback
Historical Context of The House of the Seven Gables. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 loom large over The House of the Seven Gables, as they did over Hawthorne’s own life. The Trials began after two little girls accused three women (a slave, a beggar, and a poor elderly woman) of supernaturally afflicting them with strange fits.
- Introduction
- Author Biography
- Plot Summary
- Media Adaptations
- Characters
- Themes
- Topics For Further Study
- Style
- Historical Context
- Compare & Contrast
The House of the Seven Gables, published in 1851 by the notable Boston publisher Ticknor, Reed & Fields, is Nathaniel Hawthorne's third novel. Some of the novel's themes can be found in his previous writings, specifically in Legends of the Province House (1830s) and "Peter Goldthwaite's Treasure" (also written in the 1830s). In both of these tales,...
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804 to an esteemed family headed by Nathaniel Hathorne and his wife, Elizabeth Manning (The author added the "W" to his name later in life). Hawthorne had two sisters (one older and one younger), and after his father's death of yellow feverin Surinam in 1808, the family lived for ten ...
Preface
The House of the Seven Gablesbegins with a preface in which Hawthorne makes a point to tell readers that the tale they are about to read is a "Romance" rather than a traditional "Novel." He proceeds to say that because the story is written as a Romance, it gives him creative license to present reader's with his selective understanding of the truth instead of binding him to being true to life. He notes that Romances give writers a creative and subjective license to "mellow the lights and deepe...
I: The Old Pyncheon Family
The first chapter opens with a description of the House of the Seven Gables, its history, and that of the Pyncheon and Maule families. In the mid-1600s, Matthew Maule (the elder) settles in the County of Essex and establishes a homestead. Soon thereafter, Colonel Pyncheon decides he would like to build his familial estate on Matthew's land. Matthew refuses to surrender his land. He is then put on trial for witchcraft and with Colonel Pyncheon's full support, is hung. Just before dying, Matthe...
An unabridged reading of The House of Seven Gablesread by Roslyn Alexander is available through http://www.audible.com for purchase. Produced in 1993 by Recorded Books, Inc., this reading runs for...A second reading of The House of the Seven Gables, which runs six hours and is narrated by Joan Allen, is also available. This abridged reading was produced by Dove Audio, Inc. in 1997.Http://www.audiobooks.com also offers a recorded reading of The House of Seven Gablesperformed by Buck Schirner and produced by Brilliance. This 1995 version runs eleven hours.J. Searle Dawley directed a silent film adaptation of The House of the Seven Gablesin 1910. This adaptation starred Mary Fuller as Hepzibah Pyncheon and was produced by the Edison Company.Ned Higgins
Ned Higgins, a young boy, is Hepzibah's first shop customer. He is a repeat customer who enjoys the shop's gingerbread cookies. When Phoebe returns from her visit home and later discovers that the judge has died in the parlor, Ned warns her that something wicked has happened in the house. As Hepzibah, Clifford, Phoebe, and Holgrave leave to take up residence at the judge's country estate, Hepzibah gives Ned money.
Holgrave
Holgrave is a resident in one of the gables in the House of the Seven Gables. The narrator describes him as "a slender young man, not more than one or two and twenty years old, with a rather grave and thoughtful expression, for his years, but likewise a springy alacrity and vigor." He is exceptionally supportive of Hepzibah's opening of the cent shop. Holgrave falls in love with Phoebe and, in the final chapter, reveals that he is a descendent of Matthew Maule. Toward the end of the story, Ho...
Matthew Maule
Matthew Maule is the first owner of the land upon which the House of the Seven Gables is eventually built. He is not a man of great wealth or power, yet he stands up against Colonel Pyncheon and refuses to give him his land. As a result, Maule is put on trial for practicing witchcraft and is ultimately convicted and hung. Just before his death, Maule curses Colonel Pyncheon, who watches the proceedings from horseback. Maule says, "God will give him blood to drink." When Pyncheon dies mysterio...
Subsequent Generations Inherit the Sins of Their Ancestors
As stated in the preface, one of the primary themes in The House of the Seven Gablesis that "the wrong-doing of one generation lives into the successive ones." In this case, Colonel Pyncheon's support of Matthew Maule's prosecution and ultimate execution start the chain of events that seem to carry down through the generations. Just before his death, Matthew Maule (the elder) curses Colonel Pyncheon, stating that "God will give him blood to drink." During the Colonel's first house warming fes...
Much has been said by critics about the ways in which Hawthorne's life is evidenced in his fiction. Research Hawthorne's life and discuss which people and events in his life seem to surface in this...Some reviewers have been critical of the ending of this novel. Is the pairing of Phoebe and Holgrave believable to you? Does it seem to be too much of a Hollywood ending that neatly cleanses the fa...Hawthorne states early on that one of the main themes in this novel is that the sins of the past are passed down through generations. Do you agree or disagree? Can you point to any examples in soci...Hawthorne named this novel after the house in which most of the action takes place. Why do you think he did this? What does the house symbolize? Can you think of any other titles that he might have...Gothic Romance
The House of the Seven Gables is a Gothic novel, which is a type of novel that was popularized in England in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Gothic romances trace back to Horace Walpole's 1765 novel, The Castle of Otranto and were often mysteries that involved the supernatural. Characteristically, novels of this type take place in haunted castles or other remote and isolated locations. Often, gothic romances involve a heroine in peril and are peppered with horror and viole...
Third-Person Omniscient and First-Person Plural Point of View
The House of the Seven Gablesis told primarily in the third-person omniscient point of view. This means that the narrator, who is not a character in the story, tells the events of the story from a "godlike" perspective. The narrator knows everything about the characters and the events, past and present, relating to the action of the story. Interestingly, there are times that Hawthorne's narrator lapses into the first-person plural point of view, referring to himself and an unknown other perso...
Light and Dark Imagery
Light and dark imagery permeates The House of the Seven Gables. As Richard Harter Fogle notes in Hawthorne's Imagery: The Proper 'Light and Shadow' in the Major Romances, the house as well as the characters are all cast in a reoccurring pattern of lightness-darkness or sunshine-storm. For Fogle, light and sunshine stand for "general good fortune, for material prosperity, and for harmonious kinship with society." On the other hand, he likens the storm or darkness to "misfortune and the isolati...
The United States: The Mid-Nineteenth Century
At the beginning of the second half of the nineteenth century, Americans were optimistically looking forward to the future. Opportunity was the buzzword of the day as territorial expansion and the industrial revolution continued to sweep the nation. The gold rushwas on in California and with such economic opportunity feeding their dreams, Americans continued to seek land, wealth, and individual success. Despite such hope and enthusiasm, the country was becoming increasingly divided on the iss...
1850: The population of the United States is 23,191,876. 2000s:In 2000, the population of the United States is 281,421,906.1850: Hawthorne purchases a house in Concord, Massachusetts for $1,500. 2000s:In 2004, with prices ranging from $275,000 to $4.8 million, the average home price in Concord, Massachusetts is $600,000.1850: Working women often work as shopkeepers, seamstresses, domestic servants, teachers, or hat and fan makers. 2000s: Working womencan be found in most every occupation, including corporate manag...The House of the Seven Gables Full Book Summary. The House of the Seven Gables begins with a preface that identifies the work as a romance, not a novel. As such, Hawthorne prepares readers for the fluid mixture of realism and fantasy that the romance genre allows. The preface also conveys the major theme of the book, which Hawthorne refers to ...
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
- 1851
May 19, 2011 · The House of the Seven Gables, romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1851. The work, set in mid-19th-century Salem, Mass., is a sombre study in hereditary sin, based on the legend of a curse pronounced on Hawthorne’s own family by a woman condemned to death during the infamous Salem witch trials. The greed and arrogance of the novel ...
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LENOX, January 27, 1851. THE HOUSE OF SEVEN GABLES by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I. The Old Pyncheon Family. HALFWAY down a by-street of one of our New England towns stands a rusty wooden house, with seven acutely peaked gables, facing towards various points of the compass, and a huge, clustered chimney in the midst.
