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Theme Of Power In The House Of Seven Gables

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Abigail Goldsmith Dr. Kirsti Cole ENG-671 29 April 2023 Power in The House of Seven Gables In Nathanial Hawthorne’s The House of Seven Gables, readers witness various characters experiencing intimidation from the story’s antagonist, Judge Pyncheon, a man who, despite his obvious character flaws, enjoys high social status and respectability in the town. However, this facade is shading something much darker, and Judge Pyncheon actually enjoys flexing his privilege wherever he can in order to hold power over those who are less privileged than he, specifically Hepzibah and Clifford. This abuse of power is something he has inherited from his past family members, though, as a closer analysis of the family tree reveals that Pyncheon men have caused …show more content…

This is mainly observed through the comparison of Hepzibah and Phoebe: Hepzibah is the old crone who has locked herself up in her home and cut herself off from society, and she is devastated that she must open up a penny shop to support herself and her brother. Phoebe, on the other hand, is the model woman, the type of woman that people of the time period wanted to be: through blending her skills in both the domestic and private spheres, she shows that women will help move the country forward, which was something incredibly important as the country at this time was moving forward into a capitalistic …show more content…

Race is especially apparent regarding the Pyncheon land deed, which asserts that land originally claimed by Native Americans was now the property of the Pyncheons. Ownership itself comes into question here, as Mark Rifkin discusses: according to him, the Penobscot leaders who were actually developing treaties for their land said “the great God who put us on the land did not give us the privilege of knowing what the value of it is” (72). From the native perspective, they were put onto this land by God, so who is to say they actually own it? Could it not be argued that they are simply living where the Lord has appointed

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In this literary analysis I am going to discuss how Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon and all generations leading back to Colonel Pyncheon were affected by greed and how it carried through each generation. Additionally, I will provide a little background on both Judge Pyncheon and Colonel Pyncheon, and discuss what I think of Maule’s curse and how the curse affected the future generations in any known way. The greed of the Pyncheon family influenced each generation up to Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon. The Pyncheon family desired property Matthew Maule had owned, so much so that Littles 2 Colonel Pyncheon had made accusations that Maule was a witch.

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She then talks about some common roles, the whores, wives, and slaves during this time. Pomeroy enlightens the audience on the topic of women, who were seen as nothing at the time. Men were seen as the only crucial part in history; however, Pomeroy 's focus on women portrays the era in a new light. Pomeroy talks about the reason she wrote the book with the

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The first sentence of the book immediately stood out because it addresses the stereotype that society put women into at that time, “A woman’s environment was the family dwelling, and the yard or yards surrounding it” (Ulrich 13). The reader now knows that a woman’s duties during this time period were strictly confined to the house and nowhere else. However, it is astounding to realize that a woman can learn most of her trades during this time period from the house. It is true that during this time period women were the epicenter of trade it is even stated in the bible, “She is a skilled manufacturer, ‘She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.’ She is a hard-working agriculturist: ‘With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.’

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You Be The Judge: An Investigation of Facade in “The House of Seven Gables” Self-awareness allows one to understand their own flaws and shortcomings. The ability to assess one’s weaknesses in character allows for reflection introspectively, creating valuable realizations about one’s own identity. However, some members of society lack this innate ability, rendering them unable to understand their own corruption. In an excerpt of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The House of Seven Gables,” the narrator crafts the appearance of morality in Judge Pyncheon, constructing the illusion of respectability, then increasingly displays contempt of the dark reality that “some one wrong act” truly defines Pyncheon’s character.

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If you’ve ever read The Crucible, written by Arthur Miller, or The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, you may have made a connection between the two. These two texts relate in many different ways and of course, they also have numerous differences. While comparing and contrasting the two texts, The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter, I concluded on three similarities including: a conflicted male, reputation, and setting; three differences include: reactions from Hester and Abigail, attitude of Roger Chillingworth and Elizabeth Proctor, and the communities’ opinions on the Reverends. John Proctor from the Crucible and Arthur Dimmesdale from the Scarlet Letter both share a conflict in theses texts. Both characters obviously, have made the decision

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Hawthorne states in his preface that "the wrong-doing of one generation lives into the successive ones, and, divesting itself of every temporary advantage, becomes a pure and uncontrollable mischief. " Consider all the bad things that have happened to the Pyncheons since their ancestor Colonel Pyncheon caused the hanging of Matthew Maule in order to seize his property. Are these things the result of the Maule curse, or can each unfortunate event be attributed to an expression of the same greed that motivated the Colonel Pyncheon? The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the story of the ancient Pyncheon family, and their struggles with the curse that has plagued them for generations.

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For example, When Francis Nurse tells Judge Danforth that he believes the girls are lying to him about the witchcraft accusations, he responds, “Do you know who I am, Mr. Nurse? … And do you know that near to four hundred are in the jails from Marblehead to Lynn, and upon my signature? … And seventy-two condemned to hang by that signature?” (Miller 90). Here the characterization of Hawthorne is shown to be arrogant and audacious because he is very confident about his decision to condemn that many people, and will not listen to others opinion.

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Both of these examples explicitly state the ways in which women were dehumanized through the institution of marriage during this time. Because marriage was mainly seen as a way to support yourself, and men were the ones who were expected to provide that support, it made people see women as the useless part of the equation. Even though men were expected to be the financial bedrock for the women, women were also expected to not be totally destitute. Otherwise the husband would be taking on that much more of a financial burden than the wife already is. This is seen in the novel when the marriage between Wickham and Lydia is discussed, where Lydia is seen as a poor match for Wickham mainly due to Wickham not being able to support a girl with such little financial assets.

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Black and Native American communities have adopted various stances regarding land. Black Americans have had to fight for their right to own land since the Reconstruction era due to land theft, displacement, and other issues that date back to the time that their ancestors were held as slaves. Contrarily, Native American tribes have preserved their lands through treaties and statutory recognition of their sovereignty. Nevertheless, despite threats of exploitation and displacement, both communities have had to fight for their right to access and control their

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This proved when the narrator’s mother always tried to get the narrator to do work that appropriate for a lady instead of outside work, however it was not something that she enjoyed. The narrator also was not considered of real helper to her father because she was a female. This proved when her father introduced the narrator as ‘his new hired hand’ to a salesman, he replied, “I thought it was only a girl” (line 76, paragraph 10).This shows how the society view girl as ‘just a girl’ at that time and it means that their roles are not really significant in the society. As being said by Alexander Pope (1688-1744), “Most women have no character at all.” (Bressler, C.E., 2011).

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