Greed Runs in the Family: An Analysis of Unfortunate Events
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The House of Seven Gables, a series of unfortunate events occur, one right after another, to the remaining Pyncheon and Maule descendants following the death of Colonel Pycheon many years earlier. It can be argued that the events which occur are a direct result of the curse set upon the Pyncheons by the late Matthew Maule. However, there is far more evidence leading to the argument that each event which occurs only coincides with the characters displaying greed similar to that which possessed the colonel, rather than being a direct result; in order to argue this point, an examination of the Pyncheon family tree must first be done.
Firstly, Hawthorne states
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Much like his ancestor, Jaffrey as a man of high social standing is used to getting his own way, and thus refuses to leave the sodden spot of land which once belonged to the Maules. Therefore, it is quite a fitting yet unfortunate fate that he should sit at the very seat where his uncle is said to have died, only to suffer a fatal stroke himself. While some can argue that this was a sort of manifestation of the Maule curse, there is a crucial piece of evidence to support the contrary.
“Another business ... then, was to consult his family physician….Why, it is rather difficult to describe the symptoms. A mere dimness of sight and dizziness of brain, was it?--or a disagreeable choking, or stifling, or gurgling, or bubbling, in the region of the thorax, as the anatomists say?--or was it a pretty severe throbbing and kicking of the heart, rather creditable to him than otherwise, as showing that the organ had not been left out of the judge's physical contrivance? ... But a fig for medical advice! The judge will never need it” (Chapter 18, pg.