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The Problem with Class
In writing The House of the Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne has created a
novel that very effectively illustrates the evolving issue of class in nineteenth
century America through its characters. His intention in writing this story as he did
was, according to Richard H. Millington, to “speak from the center of a community
and…attempt to transform that center in the very act of occupying it” (409). The
novel tells the story of the Pyncheon family, once wealthy and respected, now
failing. Although they used to be important members of New England society, the
Pyncheon family is now so poverty stricken that the old maid, Hepzibah Pyncheon,
must open up a shop in her home merely to survive. The story begins by introducing
the house itself, the hereditary home of the Pyncheon family and describing the
events that have led to its current state. The characters in the novel are bigger than
themselves, representative of the broader themes of class structure in America.
Henry James comments on this by stating: that “they are all figures rather than
characters—they are all pictures rather than persons…They are all types, to the
author’s mind, of something general, of something that is bound up with the history,
at large, of families and individuals” (337).
The Pyncheon and Maule families have been at odds since Colonel Pyncheon
had Matthew Maule executed for witchcraft with the sole intention of obtaining his
land. In his final moments at the scaffold, Maule curses Colonel Pyncheon and all of
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his descendents saying, “God will give him blood to drink!” (Hawthorne 7). Maule’s
curse is realized when Colonel Pyncheon later dies mysteriously with “blood on his
ruff” and his beard “saturated with it” (Hawthorne 13). These events provide the
foundation for a feud that stretches across generations of the families.
The original conflict between Matthew Maule and Colonel Pyncheon is
symbolic of the class structure as it had always been. Colonel Pyncheon is an
influential member of the aristocracy. As a poor farmer, Matthew Maule has no
connections or means of thwarting Colonel Pyncheon. Having decided that he
desired Maule’s land, Pyncheon had the power and authority to get rid of Maule and
acquire his object. This situation is indicative of the extremely dualistic nature of the
hierarchical class structure practiced by colonial Americans. The wealthy members
of society were allowed to exercise their power and accomplish their goals through
any means necessary, while the poor laboring class found themselves to be nothing
more than pawns in a game played by the aristocracy. Hawthorne uses this
relationship between the Maule and Pyncheon families to portray the evolving class
structure of nineteenth century America and its movement away from this
hierarchical system. According to John Gatta Jr., “the book implies, within the
extended time-frame of its plot, an evaluation of the direction—and progress, if
any—of public, social history in America” (38).
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The last remaining scions of the Pyncheon family live in squalor. The
neighborhood is no longer fashionable and the house is dilapidated. Hawthorne
writes that it seems almost human in its decay:
The aspect of the venerable mansion has always affected me like a human
countenance, bearing the traces not merely of outward storm and sunshine,
but expressive also of the long lapse of mortal life, and accompanying
vicissitudes, that have passed within. (5)
The house, in its decrepit state, mirrors the decay of the Pyncheon family. As the
house degenerates and becomes less pleasant, so does the family. Hepzibah
Pyncheon’s scowl and sullen attitude make the people around her uneasy and
causes them to avoid her. One man states that her face is “enough to frighten the Old
Nick himself…People can’t stand it, I tell you! She scowls so dreadfully, reason or
none, out of pure ugliness of temper!” (Hawthorne 36). Another patron of the shop
states that “she’s a real old vixen, take my word of it. She says little, to be sure;--but
if you could only see the mischief in her eye!” (Hawthorne 41).
The only member of the Pyncheon family who has escaped ruin is the Judge
Jaffrey Pyncheon. Michael T. Gilmore states that the Judge uses the skills that
Hepzibah lacks in order to court the public and generate a favorable opinion of
himself. “Whereas Hepzibah’s scowl threatens to ruin her, his smile has brought him
every imaginable success” (179). His greedy nature leads him to emulate the
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Colonels “at all costs” mentality and the Judge frames his cousin for murder in order
to take his inheritance. Judge Pyncheon represents the Colonel and his role in the
original conflict. His position in society exactly mirrors that of his ancestor.
The Maule family, however, is apparently nowhere to be found. Hawthorne
writes,
after creeping…along the utmost verge of the opaque puddle of obscurity,
they had taken that downright plunge…For thirty years past, neither townrecord, nor grave-stone, nor the directory, nor the knowledge or memory of
man, bore any trace of Matthew Maule’s descendants. His blood might
possibly exist elsewhere; here…it had ceased to keep an onward course. (2021)
Although the family is no longer present, the effects of Maule’s curse remains and
the feud between the two families still exists. It manifests itself as the struggle
between classes as society’s perception is evolving. The two families represent two
opposite sides of a larger situation.
In discussing the connection between the two families and its development
over the years, Amy Schrager Lang states:
it is not merely guilt that persists into the present but also inequality, and
insofar as this is the case, neither the depredations of the rich nor the
hostility of the poor can be wholly contained in the past…The house of the
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seven gables is, then, the locus of a conflict between wealth and poverty,
prominence and obscurity, that, unresolved and apparently unresolvable,
binds generation after generation of Pyncheons and Maules to one another.
(463)
Hepzibah Pyncheon represents the aristocracy of American society. Her family
name and the legacy of her ancestors grant her a position in the social order.
However, her lack of wealth forces her to seek alternate means of supporting
herself. Despite her fears and misgivings, Hepzibah steps outside of her aristocratic
comfort zone and, out of her extreme need, opens a cent shop in her home.
This step is viewed by Hepzibah herself as an extreme form of degradation
and offends her aristocratic sensibility to the core. On the first day of her new
enterprise, she is completely overcome by her interactions with those few members
of society that enter her shop. She is offended by the “familiar” or “rude” tones she is
addressed in and is baffled by the fact that her customers “evidently considered
themselves not merely her equals, but her patrons and superiors” (Hawthorne 41).
The brief workday’s encounters are enough to alter Hepzibah’s perceptions and
attitudes toward the society that she lives in:
Her new experience led [Hepzibah] to very disagreeable conclusions as to the
temper and manners of what she termed the lower classes, whom,
heretofore, she had looked down upon with a gentle and pitying
complacence, unfortunately, she had likewise to struggle against a bitter
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emotion, of a directly opposite kind: a sentiment of virulence…toward the
idle aristocracy to which it had so recently been her pride to belong. (41)
This altered attitude towards the people that surround her is the first step in
Hepzibah’s transformation and provides a starting point in the novel for the
introduction of the middle class.
Holgrave however, represents the complete opposite end of the spectrum
and embodies every aspect of the working class laborer. The Maule family has been
“generally poverty-stricken; always plebeian and obscure; working with
unsuccessful diligence at handicrafts” (Hawthorne 20). As the last remaining
member of the Maule family, Holgrave has followed in his family’s footsteps and is a
member of the lower class. However, just as Hepzibah represents a bridge from
aristocracy towards the middle, Holgrave provides a means of reaching across the
gap from the working-class side. Although he is not a gentleman, he is at least able
to interact with the gentry in a pleasant and seemly manner. His clothes are simple
and inexpensive, but their cleanliness speak to the quality of the person that they
adorn (Hawthorne 33). While Hepzibah and the aristocracy believe in the
steadfastness of ancient things, Holgrave holds the radical belief that growth and
change are the key to a society’s survival. He laments the permanent nature of the
world, crying, “Shall we never, never get rid of this Past!” (Hawthorne 130).
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Holgrave even goes so far as to voice his support for a completely impermanent
society. He states this dream for Phoebe in the novel:
we shall live to see the day, I trust, when no man shall build his house for
posterity…If each generation were allowed and expected to build its own
houses, that single change, comparatively unimportant in itself, would imply
almost every reform which society is now suffering for…It were better that
[our buildings] should crumble to ruin, once in twenty years…as a hint to the
people to examine into and reform the institutions which they symbolize.
(Hawthorne 131)
The past holds nothing of value for the lower classes. It is full of incidents like that
between the original Maule and Pyncheons, of the wealthy taking advantage of the
poor and treating them as second-rate humans. It is this observation that drives
Holgrave in his radical notions. If there is nothing of value in the past, the future
must not be allowed to remain the same. This modified mindset, though carried to
the extreme in Holgrave’s radicalism, is indicative of society’s evolving mindset
regarding class and situation. It is necessary for Holgrave to carry his radical nature
to the extreme, however, because he embodies more than merely himself within the
novel. Alan Trachtenberg describes this situation in his article “Seeing and
Believing:”
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“Holgrave is both himself and not himself, a person and a type, a figure in his
own right and a figure in an ancient, repetitive drama. Indeed, the inner life
of the plot shapes itself around the need Holgrave feels most acutely to
resolve the ambiguity of the identity he shares with the Pyncheons: at once
themselves and copies of ancient originals ‘doing over again some deed of
sin’” (424).
Holgrave, as a representative of the everyman, provides an example of a laborer’s
potential to rise above his situation in a society containing a middle class. Walter
Benn Michaels remarks, “like only a few real-life young men, he rises from
‘penniless youth to great wealth,’ and one might perhaps interpret this rise as
Hawthorne’s ideological intervention on behalf of the openness of American society”
(373). The aristocracy’s power is founded in the past. If a person’s value is instead
determined by the manner in which they contribute to society, their name or title
means nothing. These are the ideas that provide the beginning of the middle class,
characterized by its members’ “industry, prudence, abstinence, and charity” (Hart
554).
At the opening of the novel, Holgrave and Hepzibah represent two opposing
views of society, the wealthy aristocracy and the poor working class. However,
before the novel’s conclusion, both characters undergo a transformation of their
identities that unites them in the middle class. Hepzibah’s is brought on by her being
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forced into work, Holgrave’s comes about through his relationship with Phoebe
Pyncheon. Their ultimate marriage seems to provide a means to “regenerate the
Pyncheon blood line by absorbing Holgrave’s workin-class blood” (Anthony 442).
This marks another aspect of the benefits to a more diverse society. One example of
Holgrave’s new attitude occurs in discussing their new home, the Judge’s mansion.
Holgrave laments the fact that the house is built of impermanent wood rather than
stone. When Phoebe remarks upon the difference between this and his previous
radical views, Holgrave states, “You find me a conservative already! Little did I think
ever to become one. It is especially unpardonable in this dwelling of so much
hereditary misfortune” (Hawthorne 222). Having forsaken his radical views and
adopted an attitude with more mass appeal, Holgrave becomes a much more
universal character. Hepzibah, having experienced the life of a laborer, represents
the manner in which the aristocracy has evolved in order to allow for necessity.
Holgrave, originating from the opposite end of society, meets her in this middle
ground. Once joined, the Pyncheon and Maule families, representative of the two
disparate classes, become a symbol of the blurring lines in society and the formation
of the middle class.
The House of the Seven Gables, while a work of fiction and entertainment, is
an extremely effective social commentary on the topic of social classes. Hawthorne
uses the relationship between the Maule and Pyncheon families to portray the
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evolving class structure of nineteenth century America and its movement away from
a hierarchical system. The Pyncheons represent all of American aristocracy within
the novel while the Maules represent the lower working-class and their respective
struggles are accurate depictions of the obstacles before each of the separate classes
that they represent. Hepzibah Pyncheon must find a means of supporting herself
when her family’s name is no longer sufficient and does so by opening her cent
shop. Holgrave overcomes the limitations placed on his class through his
interactions with the very family that had forced his into poverty. When the two
finally unite on a middle ground, both of the family’s problems melt away and they
move on with the promise of a happy future. The birth of the middle class in
American society is realized in this resolution between the aristocracy and the
laboring class.
Word Count: 2,570
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Works Cited
Anthony, David. “Class, Culture, and the Trouble with White Skin.” The House of the
Seven Gables: The Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Robert S. Levine. New York:
W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. 438-459. Print.
Gatta Jr., John. “Progress and Providence in The House of Seven Gables.” American
Literature 50.1 (1978): 37-48. Web.
Gilmore, Michael T.. “The Artist and the Marketplace in the House of the Seven
Gables.” ELH. 48.1 (1981): 172-189. Web.
Hart, Emma. “Work, family and the Eighteenth-Century History of a Middle Class in
the American South.” Journal of Southern History. 78.3 (2012): 551-578. Web.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The House of the Seven Gables. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, 2006. Print.
James, Henry. “from Hawthorne.” The House of the Seven Gables: The Norton Critical
Edition. Ed. Robert S. Levine. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006.
335-339. Print.
Lang, Amy Schrager. “from Home, in the Better Sense: The Model Woman, the
Middle Class, and the Harmony of Interests.” The House of the Seven Gables:
The Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Robert S. Levine. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, 2006. 460-472. Print.
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Michaels, Walter Benn. “Romance and Real Estate.” The House of the Seven Gables:
The Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Robert S. Levine. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, 2006. 364-385. Print.
Millington, Richard H.. “The Triple Beginning of The House of the Seven Gables.” The
House of the Seven Gables: The Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Robert S. Levine.
New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. 407-418. Print.
Trachtenberg, Alan. “Seeing and Believing.” The House of the Seven Gables: The
Norton Critical Edition. Ed. Robert S. Levine. New York: W.W. Norton &
Company, 2006. 418-437. Print.