Table Of Content
Then, in a gust of anger at her insensibility,he shook her maiden form with a violence which, the next moment, it affrightedhim to remember. He withdrew his encircling arms, and Alice—whose figure,though flexible, had been wholly impassive—relapsed into the sameattitude as before these attempts to arouse her. Maule having shifted hisposition, her face was turned towards him slightly, but with what seemed to bea reference of her very slumber to his guidance. The carpenter was standing erect in front ofAlice’s chair, and pointing his finger towards the maiden with anexpression of triumphant power, the limits of which could not be defined, as,indeed, its scope stretched vaguely towards the unseen and the infinite. Alicesat in an attitude of profound repose, with the long brown lashes drooping overher eyes. According to some versions of the story, a regular contract to the above effectwas drawn up by a lawyer, and signed and sealed in the presence of witnesses.Others say that Matthew Maule was contented with a private written agreement,in which Mr. Pyncheon pledged his honor and integrity to the fulfillment of theterms concluded upon.
Brief Biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne
The House of the Seven Gables, published in 1851, is a Gothic novel by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne that delves into the dark secrets and curses haunting the Pyncheon family in their ancestral home. The story unfolds through generations, intertwining themes of guilt, redemption, and the weight of the past. The mysterious house becomes a metaphor for the family’s struggles as the characters confront their fates and the consequences of their ancestors’ actions. Hawthorne’s rich symbolism and exploration of the human psyche make this novel a timeless exploration of the complexities of heritage and destiny. After years of Hepzibah trying, the governor finally releases Clifford from prison, whereupon he returns to the Pyncheon house.
Inspiration for Hawthorne
For the sake of that redeeming quality,a man of generous nature would have forgiven all her pride, and have beencontent, almost, to lie down in her path, and let Alice set her slender footupon his heart. All that he would have required was simply the acknowledgmentthat he was indeed a man, and a fellow-being, moulded of the same elements asshe. Here ensued a great many words between Matthew Maule and the proprietor of theSeven Gables, on the subject which the latter had thus broached. It seems(although Mr. Pyncheon had some hesitation in referring to stories soexceedingly absurd in their aspect) that the popular belief pointed to somemysterious connection and dependence, existing between the family of the Maulesand these vast unrealized possessions of the Pyncheons. It was an ordinarysaying that the old wizard, hanged though he was, had obtained the best end ofthe bargain in his contest with Colonel Pyncheon; inasmuch as he had gotpossession of the great Eastern claim, in exchange for an acre or two ofgarden-ground. A very aged woman, recently dead, had often used themetaphorical expression, in her fireside talk, that miles and miles of thePyncheon lands had been shovelled into Maule’s grave; which, by the bye,was but a very shallow nook, between two rocks, near the summit of GallowsHill.
Clifford and Phœbe
But there is no one thing which men so rarely do, whatever theprovocation or inducement, as to bequeath patrimonial property away from theirown blood. They may love other individuals far better than theirrelatives,—they may even cherish dislike, or positive hatred, to thelatter; but yet, in view of death, the strong prejudice of propinquity revives,and impels the testator to send down his estate in the line marked out bycustom so immemorial that it looks like nature. It was too powerful for the conscientiousscruples of the old bachelor; at whose death, accordingly, the mansion-house,together with most of his other riches, passed into the possession of his nextlegal representative. The House of the Seven Gables, antique as it now looks, was not the firsthabitation erected by civilized man on precisely the same spot of ground.Pyncheon Street formerly bore the humbler appellation of Maule’s Lane,from the name of the original occupant of the soil, before whose cottage-doorit was a cow-path. A natural spring of soft and pleasant water—a raretreasure on the sea-girt peninsula where the Puritan settlement wasmade—had early induced Matthew Maule to build a hut, shaggy with thatch,at this point, although somewhat too remote from what was then the centre ofthe village.
Publication history and response
It was atleast something short of positive despair, that to-day she might sit shiveringalone, and not suffer continually a new grief, and unreasonable pang ofremorse, at every fitful sigh of her fellow sufferer. Phœbe took leave of the desolate couple, and passed through the shop,twinkling her eyelids to shake off a dew-drop; for—considering how briefher absence was to be, and therefore the folly of being cast down aboutit—she would not so far acknowledge her tears as to dry them with herhandkerchief. On the doorstep, she met the little urchin whose marvellous featsof gastronomy have been recorded in the earlier pages of our narrative.
When the customer was gone, Hepzibah talked rather vaguely, and at greatlength, about a certain Alice Pyncheon, who had been exceedingly beautiful andaccomplished in her lifetime, a hundred years ago. The fragrance of her richand delightful character still lingered about the place where she had lived, asa dried rose-bud scents the drawer where it has withered and perished. Thislovely Alice had met with some great and mysterious calamity, and had grownthin and white, and gradually faded out of the world.
The Scowl and Smile
And Uncle Venner, who had studied the worldat street-corners, and other posts equally well adapted for just observation,was as ready to give out his wisdom as a town-pump to give water. By looking a little further in this direction, we might suggest an explanationof an often-suggested mystery. Why are poets so apt to choose their mates, notfor any similarity of poetic endowment, but for qualities which might make thehappiness of the rudest handicraftsman as well as that of the ideal craftsmanof the spirit? Because, probably, at his highest elevation, the poet needs nohuman intercourse; but he finds it dreary to descend, and be a stranger.
A Day Behind the Counter
But, after all, it seemed rather aperception, or a sympathy, than a sentiment belonging to himself as anindividual. He read Phœbe as he would a sweet and simple story; he listened toher as if she were a verse of household poetry, which God, in requital of hisbleak and dismal lot, had permitted some angel, that most pitied him, to warblethrough the house. She was not an actual fact for him, but the interpretationof all that he lacked on earth brought warmly home to his conception; so thatthis mere symbol, or life-like picture, had almost the comfort of reality.
The House of the Seven Gables: Characters
Neither was what we call the moral nature soforcibly awakened as to present itself in remarkable prominence. But a certainfine temper of being was now not brought out in full relief, but changeably andimperfectly betrayed, of which it was the function to deal with all beautifuland enjoyable things. In a character where it should exist as the chiefattribute, it would bestow on its possessor an exquisite taste, and an enviablesusceptibility of happiness. Beauty would be his life; his aspirations wouldall tend toward it; and, allowing his frame and physical organs to be inconsonance, his own developments would likewise be beautiful. Such a man shouldhave nothing to do with sorrow; nothing with strife; nothing with the martyrdomwhich, in an infinite variety of shapes, awaits those who have the heart, andwill, and conscience, to fight a battle with the world. To these heroictempers, such martyrdom is the richest meed in the world’s gift.
Fusion Fest brings live music, dance, food, arts and the Salem community together at The Gables - Destination Salem
Fusion Fest brings live music, dance, food, arts and the Salem community together at The Gables.
Posted: Fri, 04 Aug 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
The impression of itsactual state, at this distance of a hundred and sixty years, darkens inevitablythrough the picture which we would fain give of its appearance on the morningwhen the Puritan magnate bade all the town to be his guests. A ceremony ofconsecration, festive as well as religious, was now to be performed. The carcass of adeer, shot within twenty miles, had supplied material for the vastcircumference of a pasty. A codfish of sixty pounds, caught in the bay, hadbeen dissolved into the rich liquid of a chowder. The chimney of the new house,in short, belching forth its kitchen smoke, impregnated the whole air with thescent of meats, fowls, and fishes, spicily concocted with odoriferous herbs,and onions in abundance.
Again, when the lawyers were making inquiry for the missing document, itwas a by-word that it would never be found, unless in the wizard’sskeleton hand. So much weight had the shrewd lawyers assigned to these fables,that (but Mr. Pyncheon did not see fit to inform the carpenter of the fact)they had secretly caused the wizard’s grave to be searched. Nothing wasdiscovered, however, except that, unaccountably, the right hand of the skeletonwas gone. There appeared to be qualitiesin Holgrave, such as, in a country where everything is free to the hand thatcan grasp it, could hardly fail to put some of the world’s prizes withinhis reach.
And while he thus sleptearly, as other children do, and dreamed of childhood, Phœbe was free tofollow her own tastes for the remainder of the day and evening. The girl waved her hand to Hepzibah and Clifford, and went up the street; areligion in herself, warm, simple, true, with a substance that could walk onearth, and a spirit that was capable of heaven. Nothing gives a sadder sense of decay than this loss or suspension of the powerto deal with unaccustomed things, and to keep up with the swiftness of thepassing moment. It can merely be a suspended animation; for, were the poweractually to perish, there would be little use of immortality. We are less thanghosts, for the time being, whenever this calamity befalls us. The author needs great faith in his reader’s sympathy; else he musthesitate to give details so minute, and incidents apparently so trifling, asare essential to make up the idea of this garden-life.
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