Department of American Studies |
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The Ending of Nathaniel Hawthorne's the House of the Seven Gables
Introduction
When reading The House of the Seven Gables in an appreciative way, we may feel satisfied by the ending of the romance. Everything seems to be just perfect. Holgrave gains back his traditional family property - the house of the seven gables. The old curse over the Pyncheons is gone. The order restored. Phoebe and Holgrave will even marry and therefore tie the two very different families together. Hepzibah and Clifford escape the house of the seven gables to live on a beautiful country estate. But why are the critics so dissatisfied with this wonderful ending?The Ending of The House of the Seven GablesBy looking behind the curtain of the plot and undertaking a closer analysis of the theme in The House of the Seven Gables, we cannot find a good ending because the characters follow their own logic. The possession of money now enables Hepzibah and Clifford to return to their aristocratic, anachronistic and isolated lifestyle. They step up the pedestal of imaginary rank again. They are no longer forced to cope with ordinary people, such as Holgrave. He marries Phoebe but the love scenes lack love in comparison to the carefully and detailed descriptions of notions and affections throughout the book. And Holgrave turns conservative in the romances ending and is no longer committed to liberal reform.
One stormy, rainy and grey day, the Judge enters the cent shop with the desire to speak to Clifford about the land claim. He points out that he is an "eminently respectable person - in position, public service, church work, avocations, appearance and manners". It was also him who bailed Clifford out of prison (Morris, 1984, p.35). Hepzibah refuses Judge Pyncheon to see Clifford because she is convinced of his evil intentions. When she refuses to call for Clifford, the Judge threatens to put Clifford into an insane asylum. Hereafter, Hepzibah tries to find Clifford and discovers that he is not in his chamber anymore. She is all frightened. She finds Clifford bending over the Judge who took seat in the ancestral chair. Clifford tells Hepzibah that "the weight is gone, (...); it is gone off this weary old world; and we may be as light hearted as little Phoebe herself!" (Hathorne, 1967, p.250). He orders her to get ready and to fetch some money and the cloak to leave the old house immediately. The burden of the past and the curse seems to be lifted. They can feel free from that now.Analysis of the EndingThe two abort the house for the first time and board a train. There, Clifford discusses with a passenger the necessity of tearing down houses which were built over graves. He utters all his discontent and detestation for the house of the seven gables because "the soul needs air" (Clifford to the stranger). All this is too much for Hepzibah who feels bewildered and out of reality. But, since they talk about the house of the seven gables continuously they begin to realize that they will not escape it. Finally, they return to the house on a beautiful day after the storm.
In the meantime, Judge Pyncheon will not wake up in his chair. It is assumed that Clifford has murdered him. Phoebe arrives at the deserted house and is welcomed by Holgrave. He explains to her the connection of the cause of death with all male Pyncheons. He thinks that the death was staged to look like murder for which Clifford sat in prison although he died of natural cause. Holgrave and Phoebe show some flames of love between them.
Then, Hepzibah and Clifford return to the house of the seven gables. The Judge is quickly forgotten. Clifford's mental condition improves but he will never turn all all right, but "he was evidently happy" (Hawthorne, p.314). Since Judge Pyncheon had no living son, all the inheritance fell to Clifford, Hepzibah and Phoebe, and through her also to Holgrave. Holgrave finally reveals his identity and admits that he is a Maule and also presents the useless documents which were the reason for all misfortunes of the Pyncheon family. The documents were hidden behind the portrait of the old Colonel. The decision is made to move to the country estate of the Judge and to take Uncle Venner with them for Clifford appreciates Uncle Venner's down-to-earth philosophy.
They leave the dark house of the seven gables with chatting and laughing. Hepzibah and Clifford do not mind to leave it forever. They feel free. Even the lousy chickens which were moved to the country already begin to lay eggs and reproduce. Maule's Well project pictures about the future and the love between Phoebe and Holgrave. The final conclusion is the option of marriage between Phoebe and Holgrave which welds together the opposing families. Romeo Maule and Julia Pyncheon. Uncle Venner seems to hear how the ghost of Alice Pyncheon (which also leaves the house) plays the old harpsichord on her way up to heaven after witnessing these wonderful events.
But why is this ending so dissatisfying to most critics? "The comparison with The Scarlet Letter has persisted, with the latter generally judged superior, a judgement prompted in part by frequent dissatisfaction with the ending of The House of the Seven Gables" (Rosenthal, 1995). We dive under the surface of the story and observe why Hawthorne "let the story follow its own logic to the end" (Turner, 1961). Since The House of the Seven Gables is not just a novel but a romance, the influences of the past upon the presence cannot simply end with the reestablishment of the right order. The past and the heritage keep on working on the characters.Final RemarksThe ending or better, Hawthorne's conclusion of The House of the Seven Gables is controversially debated among readers and critics. Some believe that the marriage between Phoebe and Holgrave represents the end of the curse while others claim that the curse will keep with the Pyncheons since this is a romance and the protagonists therefore cannot escape their family's heritage. Some are deeply disappointed by the ending because they feel that it is a concession to the reader's demand for a happy end and that this conclusion violates story and structure of the romance. Readers and critics agree, however, that the love between Phoebe and Holgrave comes too soon and is therefore underdeveloped and not worth to be trusted (Corrente, 1985, p.102/3)
"The last seven chapters [ch. 15-21] constantly reflect the main theme [of the romance] by pointing up the dichotomy between appearance and reality" (Dillingham, 1959 in Hawthorne, p.450). We witness the opposition of the superfical fairy tale and the real events. Whenever we look closer at a character we find that Hawthorne inverses them. Usually, they are the opposite of what they seem to be. "The author spends the whole book making this inversion clear and trying to make his readers see the reality in these people's characters under their -save Phoebe's- delusive exteriors" (Marks, 1962 in Hawthorne, p.346). But Hawthorne's attempt to do so does not necessarily mean that his readers will discover these inversions. The first chapter of the ending in The House of the Seven Gables is titled: "The Scowl and the Smile". From this chapter onwards to the end, the reader should realize that things are not the way as they seem.
The Judge has entered Hepzibah's cent shop with the desire to speak to Clifford. Hawthorne portrays him as a very kind and respectable person. "The purity of his judicial character, while on the bench; the faithfulness of his public service in subsequent capacities; his devotedness to his party, and the rigid consistency with which he had adhered to its principles, or, at all events, kept pace with its organized movements; his remarkable zeal as president of a Bible society; his unimpeachable integrity as treasurer of a Widow's and Orphan's fund..." (Hawthorne, p.230/1). At all, the Judge has an excellent reputation in society. There is no public suspicion or even evidence that shows his greed and criminal energy. This is his appearance, and he is the one who smiles. The smile is the inversion of his character traits for he should scowl. The reader comes to see the inversion of his character when he learns that the Judge is responsible for the imprisonment of Clifford to conceal his burglar. In the text, the terms 'Judge', 'Colonel' and 'Governor' get a negative connotation. On the opposite, Hepzibah scowls all day and this shapes her reputation in town. The scowl hides her cheerful, friendly and mild character.
At this point there is an other striking appearance. Clifford bends over the Judge who has died in the ancestral armchair. Then he urges Hepzibah to flee with him from the house. Since the reader already knows that Clifford had been in jail for thirty years, Hawthorne implies that Clifford is the murderer of Judge Pyncheon who had been his lifetime enemy and nightmare. But soon after that, Hawthorne inverses Clifford and we find out that he has neither murdered his uncle nor the Judge. Clifford is also not insane (his mental retardedness was caused by the permanent threat of the greedy-to-insanity Judge) but a strong dreamer who stands a little out of his world. "The shock of Judge Pyncheon's death had a[n ...] ultimately beneficial effect on Clifford. [...] He never, it is true, attained to nearly the full measure of what might have been his faculties" (Hawthorne, p.313/4). But since he always was a dreamer he cannot gain the full measure of the faculties expected from him. For Clifford, Hawthorne selected an awful destiny: Although being rich now, he has to go on living with his sister Hepzibah who he cannot bear looking into the face since she appears so ugly to him because of her age. He looses Phoebe as the symbol of the beautiful and womanhood to Holgrave. "What he [Clifford] needed was the love of a very few" (Hawthorne, p.313), certainly not the love and tyrannical care of Hepzibah, although he has no chance to keep alive without her.
The classical fairy tale elements here are the death of Judge Pyncheon as representative of the evil force. The good (as represented by Clifford, Hepzibah, Holgrave and of cause Phoebe) always succeed the bad. Another fairy tale element in the ending of The House of the Seven Gables is that the good hearted get all the money and also that the rightful possessor of the wealth comes into its possession. Unfortunately, The House of the Seven Gables is not a fairy tale and there is a complication to that incident.
The Pyncheons are not the rightful possessors of the wealth. It is the money that originally belongs to the Maules, since the Colonel took away the rightful possession from them. But this fact is not obvious to the Pyncheons of today. But it also does not seem to matter much, because "the Maules and the Pyncheons quit the house together, as they have lived together [over the centuries and finally even under one roof]. [...] Their different temperament have, at the very last, become almost one" (Michelson, 1984 in Rosenthal, p.86). An ending as in a story-book: The opposing families end their rivalry through interfamiliy marriage. Romeo Maule and Julia Pyncheon.
Hawthorne seems to believe that past misdeeds cannot fully become reversed. "If, after long lapse of years, the right seems to be in our power, we find no niche to set it in" (Hawthorne, page 313). This may suggest why Holgrave does not claim the inheritance, since he gets his share and Phoebe as creme on top. This is surely justice enough. And this solution prevents Holgrave from the fate that Hawthorne in his American Notebook fears to happen to all heirs: "To inherit a great fortune. To inherit a great misfortune". The fairy tale idea of getting a lot of money is not desirable since we never know what it will make out of us. To keep with Michelson, Holgrave gets his share of wealth in marrying Phoebe and all characters become on unified body. This incident make the romance so satisfying to Michelson.
The readers witness how the Pyncheons abort the house with great joy in order to live of the inherited money on Judge Pyncheon's country estate. According to Dillingham, this conclusion is in several ways problematic. The money allows Hepzibah to keep her aristocratic notion of life. She always took great pride in her family importance although she had been bitterly poor and isolated. When she had to open the cent shop to make her needs end, Hawthorne says that she had to "step down the pedestal of imaginary rank" (Hawthorne, p.38). Poverty forced her to do so. The reader sees how "the patrician lady is to be transformed into the plebeian woman." (Hawthorne, p.38). But now, under the new circumstances, she steps back up the pedestal of imaginary rank. She is able to justify her rank with monetary independence. This conclusion does not offer a chance for Hepzibah and Clifford to become equal members of society. They even escape from the democratic society which they are unable to understand. The wonderful county estate with its gingerbread cottage resembles a European palace. Again, we see the dichotomy between appearance and reality. The shop brought Hepzibah the chance to participate in the "united struggle of mankind". But she will live isolated from life in the country by choice. Clifford will no longer be confronted with life, he will have nothing to do but view the beautiful. Both, I think that I can conclude, choose not to live in society. Dillingham (p.459) leads one step ahead and thinks that Holgraves remark about the fifth act of a catastrophe does not mean the death of the Judge, but "the tragedy that is to befall Hepzibah and Clifford upon their inheritance ot the Judge's fortune". Therefore, the ending is anything but happy. Bruce Michelson would strongly disagree. He does not realize the potential catastrophe because of the unification of the two families. To him, "the novel tails off rather than closes" and he goes further in arguing that the very end is not the ending of a romance anymore, but a realistic one. The ride to the country estate "is in fact a venturing back into the real world." I feel that the fifth act of the catastrophe has already taken place with the death of the Judge. He had been sinful, but he had no chance for rescue. That is the catastrophe. Dillingham is too pessimistic about the future. The incident, that they will live on the Judges estate of his money appears rather ironic.
Speculations arise from the question why they take Uncle Venner with them. If there is any fairy tale ending in The House of the Seven Gables, then Uncle Venner is the jackpot winner. In opposite to the Pyncheons he is plebeian and very poor. His farm is rather a poor-house. It seems as if he is the mirror of the Pyncheons. He picks up the left-overs from the households of Pyncheon street. Especially Clifford appreciates his simple but down-to-earth street corner philosophy. He is the only figure described in the romance who is not a Pyncheon or a Maule and therefore not tainted with past misdeeds. He is also not isolated because he is familiar with several family circles. He stands outside the conflict. He is the winner of the story because he is the only one whom Hawthorne completely allows to escape his environment. Phoebe transplants him into a gingerbread cottage where he can do whatever he chooses (Hawthorne, p.317, 2nd paragraph). Maybe, this common man Uncle Venner is a glimpse of hope for Hepzibah and Clifford that the catastrophe that Holgrave has foreshadowed will never occur.
Finally, as I mentioned before, critics agree about the love between Phoebe and Holgrave. But some critics forget that neither Holgrave nor Phoebe are characters but figures, or even types. From that perspective, it is not so much important whether it appears true to us or not. This love serves a function. Which love? The love scenes simply lack love. "It is impossible for the reader to like [Holgrave], and one finds it difficult to conceive how Phoebe herself can like him. [...] ...a kind of magnetic influence [mesmerism] is substituted for affection" (Whipple, 1851 in Rosenthal, p.38). But in all his appraisal for Phoebe, he ignores that she is ignorant and even plain and understands nothing of what he says. According to Michelson (pages 85-90) the marriage is a success because it unifies the families and enabled Holgrave to escape the Maule past: he did not take the advantage to mesmerize Phoebe and to possess her. Phoebe becomes his key to freedom. That conclusion, Michelson argues, is satisfying because the young people (Phoebe and Holgrave) become human beings "rather than an instrument of malice or a mouthpiece for popular transcendental ideas". He thinks that Hawthorne has skilfully cleansed the house and therefore freed the inhabitants from the dictation of the past. The romance has become reality: dream world and the real one come to a balance.
Nina Baym wonders, however, about Holgraves absorption into the system against which he had fought (Baym, 1970 in Rosenthal, p.63-75). Holgrave gives up his radical ideas and wishes to build a stone house for Phoebe. He surrenders to her. But since he is only twenty two, it is understandable that he changes his mind. Baym claims that Holgrave gives up the idea of life in one's own pace. Holgrave becomes strangely melancholy in the ending. And it is strange for someone who is about to marry the beloved fiancee to fall into a brooding mood. He understands that it is impossible to escape the family heritage. He understands that there is no life without the influenece of the past. Finally, the house of the seven gables has sucked him inside. But Phoebe, the radiant, will sunlight his life. I personally believe that the marriage follows the logic of the narrative. Both families, burdened by the past, find together because they already are one body. The lack of love does not matter since the marriage serves only the purpose to show that fact. That marriage links them with their families past and lets them take their place in the line. This gives hope for the future. I speculate that the foretelling in the reflection of Maule's Well and in the whispers of the old Pyncheon elm indicates a better future for them and wishes them well. Otherwise, the foretelling about which I speculate does not make sense. Certainly, they will do well.
There is another, final dispute about the ending of The House of the Seven Gables: whether it is ironic or not. According to Michelson and Waggoner, Hawthorne did not want the ending to appear ironic. Waggoner simply claims that Hawthorne promised (after the publication of The Scarlet Letter) to write a more hopeful novel - The House of the Seven Gables. "Hawthorne meant his ending to be taken seriously! [...without irony]" (Waggoner, 1963, in Hawthorne, p.412). Waggoner argues, that the conclusion of the romance is full of indications of hope for Phoebe and Holgrave, Hepzibah and Clifford and the generations jet to come. The death of the Judge, the move to the country, the marriage, the company of Uncle Venner's wisdom, the tree's and the well's foretelling, yes, even the flourishing chickens and finally, Alice Pyncheon's ghost floating upwards to heaven playing her harpsichord: all that invites us to hope all the best for the families. Michelson sees it the same way. Waggoner admits, however, that Hawthorne makes it extremely difficult to hope for them, since he handles the love scenes and the marriage so very underdeveloped. But, as I mentioned before, the portrait of their love does not really matter but it is very important on the thematic level only. Unfortunately, the reader may not believe Hawthorne and therefore tends to consider the love between Phoebe and Holgrave either unconvincing or ironic. Waggoner proves his standpoint by reflecting Hawthorne's affection for his wife Libby. He felt saved by her. Hawthorne believed that the reader will feel the same way about Phoebe saving Holgrave and that he can therefore treat the love scene rather economically for it was clear to him that his readers will be convinced.
The question whether The House of the Seven Gables is meant bitterly ironical or the opposite cannot be solved since there is evidence to prove both varieties.
Remember the death scene where Judge Pyncheon refuses to wake up. This might be the most prominent scene of Hawthorne's devilish irony. He spends pages to describe the Judge in his ancestral chair with the climax where a common housefly is licking death. This irony fills the entire eighteenth chapter! The final chapter is almost plastered with irony: just a few examples. The chickens (we recall how they looked in the Garden of the house of the seven gables) moved to the country already, where they "had forthwith begun an indefatigable process of egg laying, with an evident design, as a matter of duty and conscience, to continue their illustrious breed under better auspices than for a century past" (Hawthorne, p.314). The chickens also give us a clue about the future prospects. Since they are so well, the Pyncheon-Maules may be well, too. They are a sign of hope. The image of houses built of stone or wood occurred several times throughout the book. Ironically, Holgrave wants to build a house of stone and even more paradox: the country estate is made of wood, as the house of the seven gables. He is an ironic image of the inconsistencies of youth. Their wish to take Uncle Venner with them also implies irony since he is rather plain and ordinary in opposite to the Pyncheon aristocracy. They take a democratic symbol with them. He may be a linker between the united struggle of mankind and the inward nature of the Pyncheon sphere.As said in the beginning of this chapter, the conclusion of The House of the Seven Gables deals with the dichotomy between reality and appearance. I described all the inversions that Hawthorne uses in an ironic way. According to Waggoner, Hawthorne wanted his novel to be taken seriously. Waggoner fails, however, to realize the irony behind the inversions. To him, the novel cannot be ironic if its intention is meant seriously. Both Michelson and Waggoner do not understand, that the book is both serious and ironic. Maybe, Hawthorne intended to write a more serious and less ironic novel after The Scarlet Letter.
I began with summarizing the ending chapters of The House of the Seven Gables. I described how it seems to come to a good conclusion. Then, I discussed all the aspects of the ending that I felt were important. I discussed how critics like Dillingham feel that the ending is very negative and everything but happy because they believe that the past will keep on working on the living generations and the ones to come. The character traits of the Pyncheon and the Maule lines are somewhat constant. The conflict between aristocracy and the democratic Americans cannot become settled. Although the Judge is dead, the money that Clifford inherits is still ill-gotten. We find that justice cannot be restored after a long period of time. But we witness how they arrange their family relations peacefully in the end.ReferencesCritics agree in their dissatisfaction about the love of Holgrave and Phoebe. I argue however that this love follows the logic of the theme and therefore closes the novel satisfactorily. Others believe that Hawthorne forced his conclusion in this direction because he had to meet the tastes and demands for a happy ending of his audience. His usage of irony leaves room for speculations and interpretations in any direction. The ending is bad, true. The ending is good, also true. The ending leaves no hope since the burden of the past is threatening, true. The ending says good-bye to its readers full of hope, true. There is a definite answer, definitely non.
It is left up to the individual reader to make a democratic decision. Depending on background, believes and preferences, there is an ending for everybody on its own.
Primary Text
Hawthorne, Nathaniel: The House of the Seven Gables, Norton Critical Edition, edited by Seymour L. Gross, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York City/London 1967.Secondary TextsThe hypertext edition of the novel is available from the
URL: http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/hawthorne.html
Baym, Nina: Hawthorne's Holgrave: The Failure of the Artist-Hero, 1970, in Rosenthal, pages 63-75.Corrente, Linda: Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables, Barron's Educational Series, Inc., Woodbury NY 1985.
Dillingham, William B.: Structure and Theme in The House of the Seven Gables, 1959, in Hawthorne, pages 449-459.
Marks, Alfred H.: Hawthorne's Daguerreotypist: Scientist, Artist, Reformer, 1962, in Hawthorne, pages 330-350.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel: The American Notebook, Ohio State University Press 1932/1960.
Michelson, Bruce: Hawthorne's House of Three Stories, 1984, in Rosenthal, pages 76-90.
Morris, Darlene Bennett: Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables, Cliffs Notes, Inc., Lincoln 1984 (1998 printing).
Rosenthal, Bernard: Critical Essays on Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables, G.K. Hall & Company, Inc., New York City 1995.
Reuben, Paul P.: Perspectives in American Literature, Chapter 3: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hypertext, login date: 14.11.1998,
URL: http://www.csustan/english/reuben/pal/chap3/hawthorne/htmTurner, Arlin: Nathaniel Hawthorne: An Introduction and Interpretation, Barnes and Noble, Inc., New York City 1961.
Waggoner, Hyatt H.: The Ascending Spiral Curve, 1963, in Hawthorne, pages 404-413.
Whipple, Edwin Percy: Review in Graham's Magazine, 1851, in Rosenthal, pages 37-40.