Jason Miller
Dr. Jones
Seminar in Composition
September 2, 2008
The Song Remains the Same
The first five chapters of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “ The House of the Seven Gables “ tells the story of the Pyncheons through detailed anecdotes of their past. This sense of history that Hawthorne endows on to the reader allows the audience to understand how much success the Pyncheon family once had. By letting the audience know the history of the Pyncheon it makes it possible to see some of the links between the different generations of the Pyncheons. More importantly it allows the reader to see how much has changed through time.
Hawthorne starts “The House of the Seven Gables” by introducing the Pyncheon House. Hawthorne considers the house one of the town’s “antiquities”, and, in doing so, provokes a strong sense of ancient history around the house. The eerie past surrounding the house drawls the reader in. This clever technique allows further description and with every description the reader is more drawn in. Also focusing on the house allows Hawthorne to make a smooth transition to the dark past of the house. The unaware reader is oblivious of the change in plot. As the house is being described Hawthorne tells the story of Colonel Pyncheon’s false accusations against the original proprietor Matthew Maule. This lust for power foreshadows the destruction of the Pyncheon family.
Colonel Pyncheon, consumed by his own lust for power, ultimately gets Matthew Maule convicted of witchcraft. At the time witchcraft was a capital crime even if there was no evidence present. As idiotic as this sounds witch burnings were not unheard of. In many witchcraft trials the plaintiff would benefit from the defendant’s doomed fate. Maule’s case is no exception. The accusations are induced by a land dispute. Since Colonel Pyncheon has some influence in local politics he is able to obtain a trial. Maule is questioned and is found guilty. Maule’s death is inevitable. Moments before Maule’s death he points to Colonel Pyncheon and states, “God will give him blood to drink!” In doing so, Maule seals Colonel Pyncheon’s fate. Several weeks after the completion of Pyncheon’s mansion, Pyncheon has a gathering of friends. As more guests appear they realize Pyncheon is not with them. Upon opening his sleeping chamber they see him dead, with blood around his mouth. Strangulation is suspected but Hawthorne makes it very clear that there is no actual evidence of such a crime. So begins the curse of the Pyncheons.
The curse, along with the house, becomes a part of an enduring legacy for the Pyncheon family. The Pyncheon plague does have some peculiar parallels to the modern day English monarchy. Colonel Pyncheon was once a great man with the world in the palm of his hand. This resembles King James I of England. King James was king of the whole British Isles including Scotland and Ireland. It can be said that the passing of Colonel Pyncheon resembles the passing of King James I because after the death of both men, their bloodline’s power slowly degressed. King Charles I, son of King James I, fell victim to multiple wars including two civil wars. This led to his execution. Monarchies were deemed divine so by executing the English parliament they marked the beginning of the end for the English monarchy. Luckily King Charles II, son of King Charles I, escaped the disgruntled citizens of England. Even though the crown was reestablished by the crowing of King Charles II, things were never to be the same. Years went by and the monarchy lost more power to the Parliament of England. As a result, the modern day English monarch is a mere figurehead, a shell of the former power that they once were. Just like the English monarchy, the Pyncheon’s family has regressed from their glory days. After the death of Colonel Pyncheon the family lost its influence in local politics and now the remaining inhabitant of the house must resort to owning a cent shop for her livelihood.
The first five chapters bombard the reader with information concerning the history of they Pyncheons. Hawthorne does this so that the reader becomes one with the past. Knowing the history of a family allows us to make links between the former Pyncheons and the current ones. In doing so it is possible to draw some similarities to many contemporary issues. Hawthorne cleverly weaves all of these cryptic themes, which makes “The House of the Seven Gables” a true classic.
4 comments:
Jason,
I can see how you tied in Hawthorne’s ideas of history into your essay, but you do not address the question until about the fourth paragraph, and to me, this presents a problem. The first three paragraphs are merely a summary of what we all read in the book, and it’s a summary that has more description than your actual response to Hawthorne’s ideas of history in relation to the Pyncheon family and their legacy in “The House of the Seven Gables.” I would suggest condensing all the summary parts of your essay and focusing on your own view of history and change in comparison with how Hawthorne illustrates his ideas in the book. In order to do this you can possibly go into a little more detail of the similarities between English aristocrats and the Pyncheons and how those similarities in issues such as wealth, greed, and the other aristocratic families come together to form your ideas and Hawthorne’s.
In addition, reading over the essay again might help to fix all repetitive areas in sentences and ideas. “…drawls the reader in. This clever technique allows further description and with every description the reader is more drawn in.” These two sentences combined bring the reader in a complete circle, ending where it started. There are other times in the essay where this occurs. I would suggest just glancing over the sentences individually and seeing if they need some work.
Overall I thought it was a pretty good essay and I really liked your example of King James I and King Charles I and II. Focus more on adding detail to this example, and take away most of the summary to jump right into the question, and I think your response will be greatly improved.
-Siatta
Jason Miller
Dr. Jones
Seminar in Composition
September 2, 2008
The Song Remains the Same
The first five chapters of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “ The House of the Seven Gables “ tells the story of the Pyncheons through detailed anecdotes of their past. This sense of history that Hawthorne endows on to the reader allows the audience to understand how much success the Pyncheon family once had. By letting the audience know the history of the Pyncheon it makes it possible to see some of the links between the different generations of the Pyncheons. More importantly it allows the reader to see how much has changed through time.
Hawthorne starts “The House of the Seven Gables” by introducing the Pyncheon House. Hawthorne considers the house one of the town’s “antiquities”, and, in doing so, provokes a strong sense of ancient history around the house. The eerie past surrounding the house drawls the reader in. Also by focusing on the house, it allows Hawthorne to make a smooth transition to the dark past of the house. The unaware reader is oblivious of the change in plot. As the house is being described Hawthorne tells the story of Colonel Pyncheon’s false accusations against the original proprietor Matthew Maule. This lust for power foreshadows the destruction of the Pyncheon family.
Colonel Pyncheon, consumed in his own lust for power, ultimately gets Matthew Maule convicted of witchcraft. In many witchcraft trials the plaintiff would benefit from the defendant’s doomed fate. Maule’s case is no exception. The accusations are induced by a land dispute. Since Colonel Pyncheon has some influence in local politics he is able to obtain a trial. Maule is questioned and is found guilty..Moments before Maule’s death he points to Colonel Pyncheon and states, “God will give him blood to drink!” In doing so, Maule seals Colonel Pyncheon’s fate. Several weeks later Colonel Pyncheon is found dead.
The curse, along with the house, becomes a part of an enduring legacy for the Pyncheon family. The Pyncheon plague does have some peculiar parallelsto the modern day English monarchy. The English aristocrats were in a league of their own. Like the Pyncheons, any monarch could manipulate the public in favor of personal gain. The modern day monarchs are a mere shadow of their former glory. Like the English monarchy, Colonel Pyncheon was once a great man with the world in the palm of his hand. This resembles King James I of England. King James was king of the whole British Isles including Scotland and Ireland. He believed in the Divine Rights of Kings, which basically made him infallaible. Even though Colonel Pyncheon never stated that he was infallible , his actions show his pompous attitude. Colonel Pyncheon was able to manipulate the public without any opposition. It can also be said that the passing of Colonel Pyncheon resembles the passing of King James I because after the death of both men, their bloodline’s power slowly degressed. King Charles I, son of King James I, fell victim to multiple wars including two civil wars. His inability to listen to the public’s wants led to these two wars, which in turn, led to his execution. Monarchies were deemed divine so by executing the King marked the beginning of the end for the English Monarch. Luckily King Charles II, son of King Charles I, escaped the disgruntled citizens of England. Even though the crown was reestablished by the crowing of King Charles II, things were never to be the same. Years went by and the monarchy lost more power to the Parliament of England. As a result, The modern day English monarch is a mere figurehead, a shell of the former power that they once were.Just like the English monarchy, the Pyncheon’s family has regressed from their glory days. After the death of Colonel Pyncheon the family lost its influence in local politics. Like the people of England who hated King Charles I, the masses were disgruntled with the Colonel’s actions. This made life an uphill battle for the remaining Pyncheons.Having a tarnished name nearly stripped the Pyncheons of their former glory and now the remaining inhabitant of the house of the seven gables must resort to owning a cent shop for her livelihood.
The first five chapters bombard the reader with information concerning the history of they Pyncheons. Hawthorne does this so that the reader becomes one with the past. Knowing the history of a family allows us to make links between the former Pyncheons and the current ones. In doing so it is possible to draw some similarities to many contemporary issues. Hawthorne cleverly weaves all of these cryptic themes, which makes “The House of the Seven Gables” a true classic.
I'm keeping my comments pretty short, because Siatta's analysis applies to the final version as well as to the rough draft.
You have a great deal of summary (maybe you cut some in the final draft - I didn't read the first version closely; regardless, there's still a lot). Then, you have a lengthy discussion of the English monarchy.
Like Siatta, I thought your discussion of the English monarchy was pretty interesting, but *I* certainly didn't see how it followed from Hawthorne. Rather than presenting a quote, then deriving a concept from that quote and arguing for or against that concept, you never really clarify what concept you see at work in Hawothorne - so you end up making a vague (if interesting) historical parallel, instead of really looking at Hawthorne's *concept* of history.
It's not just that you didn't follow the assignment carefully - but that you didn't follow it in such as way that it ended up being vaguer and less interesting than it might have been.
Also - you should have *cited* some of the material about British history.
One more thing - in case I didn't clarify.
Siatta: good work.
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