House Of The Seven Gables Research Paper

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The House of the Seven Gables, follows the story of a quarrel between two families: the Pyncheons and the Maules. The following paper will analyze this feud, specifically, whether or not the afflictions that plagued the Pyncheon family were due to the Maule curse, or greed independent to each generation. It all began in the mid-1600s. A man by the name of Matthew Maule built a small house near a stream. The area around the house would eventually become a small town. Another man, Colonel Pyncheon, wanted Maule’s land, but he could not get Maule to sell it to him. When Maule is convicted of and hung for witchcraft, Colonel Pyncheon is able to acquire the land. This made many people think that Colonel Pyncheon had

Matthew Maule, knowing the events that transpired between his grandfather and Colonel Pyncheon, held a deep hatred towards the Pyncheons. He still believed that the house of the seven gables, and the land it rested on, belonged to his family. When the two met, Gervayse told Maule that he thought Maule might have known the whereabouts of a deed to a tract of land near the town. The deed had disappeared during the building of the house. After some discussion, the young Maule agreed to help Gervayse, but only under one condition. Maule would only help in exchange for the house of the seven gables. Gervayse reluctantly agreed, but Maule wouldn’t give any information until he could see Gervayse’s daughter, Alice. When Alice entered the room, Maule began to hypnotize her. Realizing something is not right, Gervayse tried to stop him, but Alice stayed his hand. His daughter’s willingness and his greed caused him to let Maule hypnotize his daughter. Maule used Alice to find out that the location of the deed will not be revealed until the land has lost all of its value. Seeing that he can get nothing, Maule tells Gervayse to keep the house. Maule uses his power over Alice many times, eventually causing her death by

The uncle was so shocked, that he died, right there. Instead of finding help, Jaffrey continued to go through papers until he found a will for his uncle that was in favor of his cousin Clifford. He then set up the incident to look like his cousin had killed their uncle. Clifford was tried and convicted of murder, while Jaffrey went on to be very successful, due to the inheritance from his uncle. Decades later, both Jaffrey and Clifford were well into old age. Clifford had hated his cousin ever since he was framed for the death of his uncle, and, due to old age and seclusion, had become slightly insane. Jaffrey went to the house of seven gables, where Clifford was living, with the intent of asking him where to find the famed deed mentioned in the previous pages. While Clifford’s sister and caretaker, Hepzibah, went to fetch her brother, Clifford killed Jaffrey. It was Jaffrey’s greed that began the rivalry between the two cousins, and the same greed that eventually led his cousin to kill