the weight of aristocracy

The centerpiece of The House of Seven Gables is the aristocratic Pyncheon family and the house of the title. The first chapter outlines the history of the Pyncheon family after the colonel “acquired” his desired land at the cost of Matthew Maule’s life. 

Colonel Pyncheon

The patriarch of the Pyncheon family is colonel Pyncheon. Hawthorne describes him as a selfish yet upstanding Puritan focused solely on increasing his power and family fortune. As a descendent of English aristocracy, colonel Pyncheon, upholds class distinctions while reaching out to the lower class. The connection of his mysterious death and Maule’s curse casts a 160-year gloom over the house Pyncheon erected on Maule’s land. 

Now Hawthorne gives the reader an insight—a negative insight—on Colonel Pyncheon, however, humanity in general sees him as a fine, upstanding, honest Puritan.

Pyncheon set the standard for his family. He was proud of the heritage his family had and sought to extend the family power and prominence by attaining a supposed land promise in Maine. His bulwark stand against Maule’s curse and fight for his aristocratic rights passed, though diluted, from generation to generation.

The mysterious death of the Colonel, linked to Maule’s curse, begins the downward, degenerating cycle of the Pyncheons. Slowly, the family fell apart under the weight of the patriarchal aristocracy. 

Hepzibah Pyncheon

Fast-forward from the Colonel 160 years and Hawthorne introduces his readers to Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon, a degenerating aristocrat imprisoned within her molding family home. She is prisoner to no one but herself and the weight of familial aristocracy.

Hepzibah only knows the life of an aristocrat—waited on hand and foot and having every need provided. Hawthorne shows Hepzibah’s aristocracy through a meticulous description of her daily routine. In just a few pages, Hawthorne describes Hepzibah’s leisure-centered, hermit lifestyle.  Yet, his introduction of Hepzibah is so thorough that he has able to introduce Hepzibah’s struggle with the Colonel’s familial standard. 

The Pyncheon family, like the house Hepzibah lives in, has fallen into decay. Hepzibah is poor and destitute. She has attained a border to help make ends meet, but she realizes that she must go a step further. With fear and trembling, Hepzibah realizes she must resist her aristocratic upbringing and become a “common” shop owner. Oh the weight of aristocracy! Hawthorne eloquently addresses the old woman breaks under the weight of aristocracy ash she opens her house and herself to the scornful eyes of a haughty Pyncheon.

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