The House of the Seven Gables (1851) By Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

One of my winter reads has been The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is one of the most recognized titles in American literature, yet I suspect today it is probably one of the least read. It is regarded a Gothic masterpiece.

Set in puritan Massachusetts Colony, the book follows the blue-blood Pyncheon family from the Salem Witch Trial era through multiple generations. The patriarch of the family, Colonel Pyncheon, swindles the property he wants to build a mansion on from a poor carpenter named Matthew Maule by accusing him of being a wizard. As he is being hanged for witchcraft, Maule pronounces a curse on Pyncheon and his hereditary successors who would live on the land. When the mansion, The House of the Seven Gables, is completed the Colonel throws a party to celebrate. As the guests arrive, they will discover the Colonel’s body, dead by “natural” causes in the manner described in Maule’s curse. 

The mansion will pass down through generations of the family, eventually being bequeathed to unmarried Hepzibah Pyncheon for her and her brother Clifford to reside in as long as they may live. The annual stipend she inherited however proves insufficient and the mansion will fall into disrepair, even as she opens a “cent shop” and takes in a boarder to make ends meet. What Hepzibah does not know is that the boarder is a descendent of Matthew Maule, using an assumed name.    

There have been many movies made of The House of the Seven Gables, the first being a 1920 silent film. The 1940 movie is the most prominent. It stars Margaret Lindsay as Hepzibah, Vincent Price as her brother Clifford, and George Sanders as their cousin Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon. It's on Amazon Prime.  It is a good movie even though it takes major liberties with the book’s narrative (for example, the book ends with a death, the movie ends with a double wedding). Another fun version was an adaptation for the Shirley Temple Storybook hour on 1960s television. While its script is shortened, it is more faithful to the book, though it slants the script toward the role of cousin Phoebe Pyncheon, the part played by Shirley Temple. Agnes Morehead played Hepzibah. 

Recommendations: Book YES, but with the warning it is not a quick read, it has a very convoluted plot and is written in prim & proper, formal, puritan English. Also, Yes to the 1940 movie version. It is one of those great black & white Turner Classic Movie films, but understand it is significantly not faithful to the book. As for the Shirley Temple Storybook version, a Yes, because the 1960 television production quality is campy, particularly if you grew up to be a Dark Shadows fan.