Hawthorne’s Puritanism in The House of the Seven Gables

常青+魏蕊+卢晓敏+刘晓希

Abstract：Impacted by the family background and social trend， Hawthorne frequently got perplexed. At the same time， he also criticized the extremism in traditional Puritanism and insisted on a more tolerant attitude towards the dissidents. So Hawthorne established his own Puritanism，which is based on the traditional Puritanism and influenced by Transcendentalism and personal experience. As a result， Hawthornes fictions are filled with his own concept of Puritanism and The House of the Seven Gablesreveals his Puritanism as can be seen from the characters and the use of symbolism.Key words：Nathaniel Hawthorne Puritanism the House of the Seven GablesNathaniel Hawthorne， born on the fourth of July in 1804，ranks with Herman Melville， HenryJames，and Mark Twain among the best nineteenth-century American male novelists.Born in Salem，Massachusetts，he was rooted in a strong local traditional religion， Puritanism， from the date of his birth；meanwhile，it was the period of American Renaissance when Transcendentalism prevailed，which poured new spiritual strength into him.So Hawthorne was“deeply rooted by traditional Puritanism，he was influenced by Transcendentalism，Mysticism as well as democratic thought at the same time”（Zhang Jing，2005）.

Hawthorne's Puritanism， which means his inheritance of traditional Puritanism and influence of Transcendentalism and personal life，or explained in Parrington's words that“he created his own Puritanism， fantastic and unreal”（Person，2008），was fully reflected in The House of the Seven Gables.As Hawthorne wrote in the letter to Fields，he“shall try hard to pour some setting sunshine over it” （Hawthorne， 1999）.That indicates that Hawthornes Puritanism has been formed when he wrote The House of the Seven Gables，which can be indicated by characters and the use of symbolism.

一、Hawthornes Puritanism reflected by the characters

In the House of the Seven Gables， there are five main characters，four from the Pyncheon family and one from the Maule family.All of them are endowed by Hawthorne with unique characteristic，but there is a similarity among them which reflects Hawthornes Puritanism. The three characters，Hepzibah Pyncheon，Clifford Pyncheom and Judge Pyncheon，are more effective than others.

1.Hepzibah Pyncheon

Hepzibah Pyncheon，a poor lady of the successive Pyncheons，is the most impressive character in this novel.To some extent，this character indicatesHawthorne himself，which can be proved by her attitude towards fitting up a shop and her ancestor，Colonel Pyncheon.

Hawthornes Puritanism can be found in Hepzibahs attitude towards her ancestor.The attitude towards their ancestors，both pride and shame，shows that Hawthornes Puritan doctrine of Innate Depravity， which means that all human beings were born with sin.Man inherited the sin from Adam and Eve.

2.Clifford Pyncheom and Judge Pyncheon

As the two male successors of Pyncheon family，they both inherited the sin committed by Colonel Pyncheon.They both had the cursed evil and original sin. But their characteristicswere conflict.Clifford was very sensible and feeble-minded while Judge Pyncheon was unscrupulous and relentless. Both Clifford and Judge Pyncheon had the original sin which inherited from their ancestor and cursed by the Matthew Maule. Because according to Hawthorne's Puritanism，“the wrong-doing of one generation lives into the successive ones，and，divesting itself of every temporary advantage，becomes a pure and uncontrollable mischief”.

二、Hawthornes Puritanism indicated by the useof Symbolism

In The House of the Seven Gables， almost all the settings，natural objects and characters have their own symbolic implications.

1.The symbolism of the house

Since the seventeenth century，the curse of the old wizard Maule was put around this house，and then this house had been existing as“a symbol of evil to its inhabitants”（Dong Lan，1997），the descendents of the Puritan Colonel Pyncheon，the founder of the house.In the House of the Seven Gables，the house was described as“a rusty wooden house， with even actually peaked gables，facing towards various points of the compass”（Hawthorne，1991）.Besides that the number seven Hawthorne adopted also indicated some religious implication， since the numeral was bestowed with certain religious or spiritual meanings in the western culture. Seven could easily attracted attention towards the seven deadly sins， namely，pride，envy，wrath，sloth，greed，glutton and lust.

2.The symbolism of minor objects

In The House of the Seven Gables， there are so many symbolic implications of integral features which can show Hawthornes thought.Apart from the house，some other minor objects here are also great implications to demonstrate the writers Puritanism.

Maine's Well is just the symbol of the cursed Pyncheon family.Originally，it was“a natural spring of soft and pleasant water”，but after the old Colonel Pyncheon completed the construction of this house of the seven gables，the Well“entirely lost the deliciousness of its pristine quality”and becomes blackish and evil.

The Chanticleer family was the group that was said to be“pure specimen of a breed transmitted down as an heirloom in the Pyncheon family”.Symbolically，the crest of the hens was oddly and wickedly similar with Hepzibah's peculiar turban.Thus the hens here symbolized the life of this old house.Later，this hen family was flourishing as a result of the new dwelling place，and then the fate of the old cursed family changed dramatically.It is obvious that Hawthorne describes in this novel is not sin itself but the past influence upon the people inside and outside of this House.

三、Conclusion

Inthe House of the Seven Gables，nearly all the description of characters，plots and the structure of the novel imply ambiguous symbolic.The gloomy atmosphere runs through the whole novel，reflecting the unique writing and thought style of Nathaniel Hawthorne.Impacted by the traditional Puritanism，Transcendentalism and his personal experience，Hawthorne unavoidably established his own concept of Puritanism.As for the heritage of the traditional Puritanism，Hawthorne stresses the evil and sin in human nature，and believes that man was born with sin and innate depravity.As for absorbing the doctrine of Transcendentalism，Hawthorne stresses that individuals have their own values and holy spirits and highly speaks of the individualism and self-reliance to gain happiness through their own efforts. As for his personal experience，he stresses more tolerant attitude towards dissidents.

References：

[1]Hawthorne，N.The Hawthorne Treasury： Complete Novels and Selected Tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne.New York：Random House，Inc.，1999.

[2]Hawthorne，N.The House of the Seven Gables.New York：Oxford University Press，1991.

[3]Person，L.S.The Cambridge Introduction to Nathaniel Hawthorne.Shanghai：Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press，2008.

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