The House Of The Seven Gables- Hawthornes Personal Reflections :: essays research papers

Nathanial Hawthorne. Considered to be one of the greatest American writers of the 19thcentury. But did you know that he hated portraits, and it is now thought that he was amild manic-depressive? Born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804. A decendant of along puritan line of Hathornes. His ancestry included his great-great grandfather, JohnHathorne who was a judge at the Salem witch trials 112 years before Nathanial was born.Judge John Hathorne charged many with the crime of witchcraft,and condemned them totheir deaths. Nathanial was embaressed by this and changed the spelling of his last drawfrom Hathorne to Hawthorne. Alot of his family history, life experiences and where helived influenced his writing greatly.     Hawthorne had a cousin, Susannah Ingersoll. When he was young, in Salem, hewould frequently visit her in her mansion, she lived there alone. The house had a secret staircase and once had seven gables. This house, Nathanial visited in his youth, wa s hisinspiration for the house in his book " The House Of The Seven Gables". The story of TheHouse Of The Seven Gables streches over two centuries. Its the unadulterated scenario of tworival families, in this case the Pyncheons ( weathly aristocratic puritans) and the Maules ( humbler paupers). The story of these two families begins with Matthew Maule, whoowned a certain amount of land and built himself a shanty to live in, in this new puritansettlement. Maule was a hard working but obscure man, who was stubborn and protectedwhat was his. His rival arrived at the settlement around 30 to 40 years after Maule hadbeen there. Colonel Pyncheon, an ambicious and determined man, had a high position inthe town. It was said that Colonel Pyncheon was very much for the execution of thosewho practiced witchcraft, and it was excessively said that he very strongly sought thecondemnation of Matthew Maule for being a wizard. Pyncheon did manage to haveMaule executed but not before Maule place a curse on Pyncheon and his decendants.These were Maules exact words      " God, God will give him blood to drink "     Many of the characters in the book were influenced by authentic people in andduring Nathanials life. For example Colonel Pyncheon was based on The ReverendWentworth Upham, a Minister and mayor of Salem. He wrote the books Lectures onWithcraft and History of Witchcraft and Salem Village. The Maule key was derivedfrom Thomas Maule, a Quaker merchant living in Salem at the time of the trials.