The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

4th reading, I think; first read in the late '50s

I never thought of this 1851 novel as a Gothic romance before I began researching and reading in that genre, but it certainly has many of the stock elements: a many-roomed, crumbling old house; a family curse; seemingly supernatural events. But it is so much more than that. Hawthorne wrote in the Preface that a writer of a romance should not "swerve aside from the truth of the human heart," but "...may so manage his atmospherical medium as to bring out or mellow the lights and deepen and enrich the shadows...." He also reveals that his novel has a moral purpose: "...the truth, namely, that the wrong-doing of one generation lives into the successive ones...."

Thus, Hawthorne has written a tale wherein the characters do reveal recognizable human reactions and mostly behave in realistic ways, with an atmospherical background which is, indeed, Gothic, with supernatural events which may be explainable, but then maybe not. His moral question still continues to be a point of interest today. Are we doomed to repeat the sins of our fathers? Do some inherit the tendency to evil? Is it nature or nurture which determines our character? Or a combination of both?

The story begins with the history of the Pyncheon family in pre-Revolutionary Massachusetts, when the avaricious Colonel Pyncheon serves as a judge in witchcraft trials and condemns Matthew Maule as a witch, thereby gaining access to Maule's land, which he has long coveted. As he is hanged, Maule pronounces a curse upon his judge: "God will give him blood to drink." After possessing the land and building on it a house with seven gables, Colonel Pyncheon is found dead, his front covered in the blood which has poured from his mouth.

The plot then moves forward 200 years, to a time when only a few Pyncheons remain. Living in the house with seven gables is the old maid Hepzibah, who soon welcomes her brother Clifford, who has been imprisoned for years for supposedly murdering a kinsman, and her young niece Phoebe, who brings a ray of light into the gloomy old house. Living in a secluded wing of the house as a boarder is a young man who takes a decided interest in the family, especially in Phoebe. The only other family member living in the town is Judge Pyncheon, who in appearance and actions seems almost a reincarnation of the Colonel Pyncheon who founded the family and received the curse. He is blamed by Hepzibah for framing her brother Clifford for murder in order to gain the Pyncheon money and land.

The action proceeds logically and inevitably toward an impressively dramatic and satisfying conclusion.

To my mind, one of the highlights of the novel is the picture of the character Hepzibah. She is portrayed as behaving and feeling entirely as one would expect of a lonely old woman at the time, in the situation. She seems to me to be Hawthorne's most fully realized character. I felt so sorry for her.

Hawthorne will be tedious for readers who are accustomed only to fast-moving and action-packed narratives. His action is dramatic, but it is not quick and does not move from cliffhanger to cliffhanger. He obviously loves words, and readers who share that attribute will appreciate his mastery.

This is my favorite Hawthorne novel. Even though I taught the more well-known novel The Scarlet Letter many times, I find this one to be more satisfying. Perhaps that's because I really want to believe that those who do evil will be punished in the end, and not just in the afterlife.

P.S. This is one of the best books ever if you will read it slowly, re-read parts if you don't understand them the first time, and really think about it afterwards.