The House of the Seven Gables (novel)
The House of the Seven Gables , German The House with the Seven Gables , is a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne published in 1851. It is one of the major works of American Romanticism .
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The story is set in the eponymous house, the headquarters of the once respected and influential Pyncheon family in New England . Its construction, however, is based on a dark past: 160 years ago the builder, Colonel Pyncheon, had wrested the property on which it was later built in a most unjust way from its actual owner, Matthew Maule, by accusing them of witchcraft and to be executed. However, Colonel Pyncheon passed away suddenly during the house's dedication ceremony (whether from an inherent disease or the curse Maule cast against Pyncheon shortly before his execution is not discussed here). Since then, a silent hatred has smoldered between the two families; the house fell into ruin in time, and times were going to be very hard for both the Pyncheons and the Maules.
The current residents of the house are the Hepzibah Pyncheon siblings and brother Clifford, and a young student named Holgrave, who is sublet with the Pyncheons and who has an exceptional interest in the history of the Pyncheons and the house. Clifford has been in prison for the past thirty years on charges of murdering his uncle. Shortly before his return, the impoverished Hepzibah opens an old shop that is built into the house in order to get some money back. Clifford eventually returns home a broken man who no longer has the strength to get back to life and instead watches life outside the house through an upstairs window. Both siblings are becoming more and more isolated from the outside world and thus almost become living spirits; the only contact with the outside world for some time is with old Uncle Venner, a good friend of Hepzibah, and Ned Higgins, a cheeky boy and the only regular customer in the store.
Soon after, however, the two Pyncheons get a visit: Phoebe, the seventeen-year-old daughter of Hepzibah's country cousin, arrives at the house and with her youth and zest for life brings some light back into the lives of the old people. However, another guest, this time unwelcome, comes in, namely Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon, a respected but highly selfish and tyrannical man who, in his nature and appearance, is a rebirth of the old Colonel. Little by little it is revealed that Jaffrey is chasing after an old family treasure, namely the title deed for a piece of land that is said to promise further prosperity for the Pyncheons; the document is supposed to be hidden somewhere in the house. Clifford's uncle, Jaffrey Pyncheon Sr., had died of the 'Curse of the Pyncheons' when he caught his son looking for the document, and Jaffrey had incriminated his cousin Clifford and thus, in order not to be charged with murder taken to jail. But now he assumes that Clifford knows about the hiding place of the document and threatens to send him back to prison if he does not want to hand it over to Jaffrey.
Some time later, Phoebe leaves the house to make some arrangements at home before moving permanently into the house, whose residents she has grown to love despite its dark history. But shortly afterwards Jaffrey comes back, forced entry to the house and asks for the certificate. When the desperate siblings want to surrender to fate, Jaffrey suddenly dies of a family curse; In their perplexity and an unconscious frenzy of freedom, Clifford and Hepzibah flee the house and take a train through the night before returning to the house disillusioned. Jaffrey's body is found the next day, just as Phoebe returns; but the suspicion that Hepzibah and Clifford might have had something to do with his death is invalidated by their return and Holgrave's help.
In the end, the story undergoes some dramatic revelations: Holgrave turns out to be the last descendant of the Maules, and the legendary document is found behind the portrait of Colonel Pyncheon, but it turns out to be worthless for a long time, as the land concerned has already been settled. Holgrave and Phoebe, who have fallen in love, declare their intention to get married, thereby ending the old feud, and the house loses its dark atmosphere. But the Pyncheons don't want to stay there any longer: Since they inherited his entire fortune with Jaffrey's death, the Pyncheons and Holgrave, together with Uncle Venner, move to the country and leave the house and its history completely behind.
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The eponymous house refers to an actual house in Salem, Massachusetts , which was built in 1668 and which was inhabited by Hawthorne's cousin Susannah Ingersoll. Hawthorne, who visited often, was inspired by the history of the house in his novel. In the early 20th century the house was converted into a museum by a foundation, with parts of the house being remodeled to do justice to Hawthorne's novel.
This novel also served as an inspiration for the horror author HP Lovecraft because of its gloomy atmosphere , who praised it as a great work of American literature in his essay "Supernatural Horror in Literature".
Film adaptations
- 1910: Short / silent film The House of the Seven Gables (1910) , with Mary Fuller as Hepzibah
- 1940 feature film drama The House of the Seven Gables , with Margaret Lindsay as Hepzibah, Vincent Price as Clifford and George Sanders as Jaffrey
- 1960 TV adaptation of Shirley Temple's Storybook with Shirley Temple as Phoebe (as part of the Shirley Temple Show )
- 1963 Twice-Told Tales (as part of the film adaptation of a Hawthorne collection of short stories of the same name), also with Vincent Price
