The House of The Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne
People thought it a bad omen to keep Colonel Pyncheon’s stern-looking portrait, a sword in one hand, a Bible in the other, upon the wall of the room in which he died. But it was done according to his will. Photo Courtesy of Ten Famous Houses in Fiction
The chickens at The House of the Seven Gables are an ancient breed of haughty birds symbolizing the Pyncheons. The mystical well represents the Maules. And the flowers growing from the nook in the gable are known by the neighbors as Alice’s posies. Alice Pyncheon was the great-granddaughter of Colonel Pyncheon. One day, she flung a handful of seeds into the air, in fun. The seeds took root and have continued to bloom year after year. Photo courtesy: Ten Famous Houses in Fiction.
Why had Colonel Pyncheon employed the deceased wizard’s son to build the house? Was that wise given the Pyncheon family curse? And did building the house over the location upon which the home of Maule once stood provide his ghost the freedom to roam about and haunt the new rooms as he pleased? Photo courtesy: Ten Famous Houses in Fiction.
Matthew Maule and Colonel Pyncheon
The House of The Seven Gables was built around 1690 on two acres of land in Salem, Massachusetts and was previously owned by the deceased Matthew Maule, who for forty years cultivated the land, but was charged and executed for the crime of witchcraft.
The wealthy and influential Colonel Pyncheon swiftly purchased the land of which he, for some time, had desired.
The House of the Seven Gables
With Maule’s humble shack demolished, Colonel Pyncheon proceeded to build the extravagant House of the Seven Gables, as it soon become known, employing Matthew Maule’s son to construct the grand house.
Maule’s Curse
Should the house have been built over the place upon which the home of the dead wizard once stood, the townsfolk wondered, giving Maule’s ghost the freedom to haunt the new rooms as he pleased?
As legend goes, right before his death Matthew Maule had cursed the Colonel and his posterity.
“God will give him blood to drink,” Maule had said from the gallows.
And when the foundation was dug, Maule’s Well, a pristine spring well-known among the locals for reportedly possessing magical properties, turned brackish.
Was this evidence of Maule’s curse?
Housewarming Festivities
On the day of the house’s completion all residents, of all classes, of the small New England port, were invited to visit. They oohed and aahed over the luxurious features.
Even the lieutenant governor attended. Yet, when he asked to see the host, he was told the Colonel did not wish to be disturbed.
However, the lieutenant governor demanded and entered the Colonel’s room, finding the man behind his desk, in a tall, oak chair, pen in hand.
The Portrait
Behind Colonel Pyncheon a portrait hung on the wall, his replica, a sword in one hand, a Bible in the other.
Except, the real Colonel Pyncheon’s white ruff was now soaked in blood.
The Colonel was dead.
Was the curse to blame?
Hepzibah
Throughout the years, the portrait remained in the same room, in obedience to Colonel Pyncheon’s will, monitoring each passing generation.
But at the beginning of the story, over one-hundred and fifty years after the Colonel’s death, the portrait now watches over Hepzibah Pyncheon, who lives in the house with her sad and faded brother, Clifford.
What misfortune has Clifford suffered?
Phoebe
Poverty has driven the reclusive Hepzibah to open a cent shop in a side room out of desperation. On the day of the shop’s opening, Phoebe, Hepzibah’s young country cousin, arrives without prior notice.
By this time, the house has fallen into neglect: the oak frame blackened by wind and weather, weeds springing from the shingles, a neglected garden.
The Garden
A tenant residing in the attic, Mr. Holgrave, is a mysterious and radical thinking artist, who practices a new type of magic called the daguerreotype, and spends his spare time in the garden, growing vegetables with some success.
But it was not until Phoebe arrived that the garden was properly tamed.
Everyone and everything appears to flourish under Phoebe’s care: the shop, the garden, the hens, Hepzibah, Clifford, and…Mr. Holgrave.
Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon
But then there is cousin Jaffrey Pyncheon, who had been willed most of the family wealth, and is set to inherit the House of the Seven Gables upon Hepzibah’s death. Or her destitution.
He owes houses and wealth a plenty. Why is he concerned with the derelict House of the Seven Gables?
One day he threatens Hepzibah and Clifford.
He sits in the tall, oak chair, beneath the portrait of Colonel Pyncheon.
He sits for hours.
The sun disappears. The moon rises.
The sun returns. And when it does, Jaffrey Pyncheon looks much like the old Puritan in the portrait.
Only…he is not wearing a white ruff, but instead a white front shirt.
Actually, a more brownish red…
I adore this Gothic classic because it contains my favorite storytelling obsessions: a house “of a certain age” taking center stage, a moody setting, the past haunting the present, and ghostly shivers.
The book reads much like Charles Dickens or Thomas Hardy, including the wordiness often encountered in a Victorian novel; however, Hawthorne’s writing is very beautiful, making the lengthy descriptions worth the read.
(Of note there is a piece of dialogue with uncomfortable racial stereotyping, albeit brief, which has not aged well).
For more posts about other famous literary houses, click: Thornfield Hall from Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Satis House from the Dickens novel Great Expectations and Merlyn’s Cottage and The Castle of the Forest Sauvage from British mythology.