THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES: - Shodhganga

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Oct 17, 2013 ... Iqbal 83. Chapter-IV. Plurality of Meaning in. The House of Seven Gables. As the people of the colonies became more numerous and more.
Iqbal 83 Chapter-IV Plurality of Meaning in The House of Seven Gables As the people of the colonies became more numerous and

more

prosperous, they began to acquire a new outlook. Belief in the need for hereditary class distinctions and

for authoritarian

government

became weaker, and men began to acquire faith in the capacity of the average man and in his right to freedom and economic

opportunity.

This growth of democratic sentiments was strongest in the newly settled regions of the back country. Along the eastern seaboard, on the other hand, traditional European attitudes were more deeply rooted, and wealthy families continued to

defend

aristocratic

principles. The

resultant conflict between the new spirit of democracy and

the

traditional belief in aristocracy was one of the main factors

in

American political development both before and after the revolution. (Parkes 58) The House of Seven Gables [1851] is a historical document of a transitional phase in mid 19th century America. This text captures the social and political changes in New England after the revolution. Apparently, it seems to be a tale of the glorious past and an inherited curse of an aristocratic Pyncheon family of New England as the author writes, “that the wrong- doing of one generation lives into the successive ones, and, divesting itself of every temporary advantage,’’ (preface to The House of Seven Gables)

Iqbal 84 but it is not simply a story of a curse. The tale originates in the history of the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 17th century and it has an influential bearing on the 19th century democratic America. This tale traces the succeeding generations of Maules and Pyncheons from the 17th century to the 19th century America and their entwined fate. The focus of the present reading of this text is not the theme of perpetuation of evil from generation to generation and the way it becomes an alienating force for its characters. The aim of the present thesis is to present this novel as an important social and political discourse, registering its cultural presence among other discourses of the 19th century. The novel seems attuned to contemporary America of Hawthorne’s time, making significant use of the growing class conflict, decline of nobility and emergence of democratic ideology, mesmerism, questions pertaining to gender role, and growing assertion on the power of individualism. It also provides the author with an opportunity to salvage his political commitments. Hawthorne’s personal commitments and democratic credo shaped this text and helped to disseminate the same ideology through this discourse. In the preface to the novel, Hawthorne explained the difference between a novel proper and romance. He defined this text as “Romance” without any fidelity facts. However, his treatment of the tale was not in accordance to what he professed in the preface. He wrote here: The personages of the tales –though they give themselves out to be of ancient stability and considerable prominence –are really of the author’s own making, or, at all events, of his own mixing; their virtues

Iqbal 85 can shed no luster, nor their defects rebound, in the remotest degree, to the discredit of the venerable town of which they profess to be inhabitants. He would be glad, therefore, if-especially in the quarter to which he alludes –the book may be read strictly as romance, having a great deal more to do with the clouds overhead than with any portion of the actual soil of the County of Essex.( Lenox, January 27, 1851) It was a deliberate attempt on the part of the writer to suppress any possibility of reconstruction of an ideology, the episteme of the time which he breathed. He consciously tried to disown any possible allegiance to a particular political thought. But, in spite of this denial, Hawthorne draws a lively and vivid picture of Salem Street with its hawkers, peddlers, butchers, and bankers etc. He has placed this novel in contemporary America, with its rail road, omnibuses, and telegraphic invention and captured the nerve of the commercial America with its changing facets. His gimlet eyes do not fail to notice the torrent of change with political processions and public manouevring for enticing the commoner in the wake of the upcoming election of governorship in the new democratic regime. In this increasingly commercial America of the 19th century, republicanism and plebeianism were on forefront and gentility receded to the background. Issues of common men gained momentum while elite and ruling classes were confined to their own respective spheres, brooding over their glorious past which vanished.

Iqbal 86 [I] The House of Seven Gables attempts to establish a link between the 17th century feudal culture and the 19th century classless society in America through Hawthorne’s study of the consecutive generations of Pyncheons and Maules. Hawthorne has deliberately etched a contrast between aristocratic Pyncheon family of New England and the principles of the rising democracy. The democratic principles are projected through the characters of Holgrave, uncle Veneer, and Phoebe. In the 19th century America, the aggrandizement of Plebeian classes swept away the societal paradigm of hierarchy. The novel projects Hawthorne’s continuing preoccupation with the colonial past of New England and its constant influence on his characters grounded in pre revolutionary ideals of English aristocracy amid the social and political upheaval in the 19th century. The central character of the novel Hepzibah Pyncheon is an aristocratic hucksteress. She is a lone inhabitant of the house of Seven Gables, built by her forefather Colonel Pyncheon. This house represents past values and traditions which are facing serious threat in the new social infrastructure. Hepzibah is a spinster but a proud matriarch who is conscious of her duty and responsibility to maintain the continuity of her family lineage and heritage. The proper maintenance of her ancestral house is beyond her improvised means still she agglutinates to the ancestral house tenaciously. She is a symbol of hollowed and fallen gentility who foolishly upholds its values in the world, voicing the creed of equality. The ancestral values that have molded Hepzibah’s life allow her to see herself as the guardian of the house of seven gables, and a respiratory of Pyncheon family’s lore and tradition. Her life is

Iqbal 87 circumscribed by a code of decorum, sense of decency and propriety, governed by the aristocratic ideology. Her preoccupation with the past forces her to live at the margins of Salem’s social life without any social contact and financial support. Hepzibah is a convincing portrait of a genteel poor, who is too aristocratic to go into trade and too proud to accept the acts of charity. In spite of her isolation and poverty, she is rigidly conscious of her pedigree hence, becomes insignificant in a world drifting towards technological advancement and material accumulation. She avoids confronting changes in the modern world therefore, loses her place on both social and psychological fronts. She is slow to realize that without money her values are impotent in this growing materialistic world. The aristocratic values emphasize the excellence and privileges of a few and leads to a hazardous and isolated existence, cut off from united Struggle of the social life. Hepzibah’s life style is indicative of a deteriorating effect of the social snobbery, implicit in an aristocratic way of life. With the arrival of her only brother Clifford from prison, she is left with no other option but to earn her bread. Thereafter, she speculates about commercial trading with the world to sustain herself and her brother. In an unprecedented move to support her, she opens a cent shop in the family mansion for business transaction. It is a turning point in the history of the nobility as it marks the end of an epoch; the beginning of another. A cent shop is a modern equivalent of a corner confectionary. Hepzibah keeps “penny toys” and “ginger bread” for sale on her shop’s counter. The patrician lady is transformed into a plebeian woman to meet the challenges in new times. It is a correct move in the democratic era where individual talent is valued not inherited names. This

Iqbal 88 departure from antiquated aristocracy towards freedom and democracy is hailed by her tenant, the new man Holgrave: I look upon this as one of the fortunate days of your life. It ends an epoch, and begins one. Hitherto, the life-blood has been gradually chilling in your veins, as you sat aloof, within your circle of gentility, while the rest of the world was fighting out its battle with one kind of necessity or another. Henceforth, you will at least have the sense of healthy and natural effort for a purpose, and of lending your strength-be it great or small-to the united struggle of mankind. This is success –all the success that anybody meets with! (HSG 43-44) Hepzibah’s neighbor Uncle Veneer is a practical Yankee with acute common sense. His character is governed by a realistic ideology. He had lived through the time of revolution and his practical wisdom encapsulates the social transformation from monarchy to republicanism in these words, ‘‘those old gentlemen that grew up before the Revolution used to put on grand airs. In my young days, the great man of the town was commonly called king; and his wife, not queen, to be sure, but lady. Now –a-days, a man would not dare to be called king, if he feels himself a little above common folks, he only stoops

so much

the lower to them’’( HSG

57). The vision of

equalitarian society is not welcomed by those who have enjoyed the privilege of hierarchy in the past, for e.g. Hepzibah. Hawthorne displays his sympathies for Hepzibah’s predicament by exploring her concept of gentility, ‘‘A lady who had fed herself from childhood with the shadowy food of aristocratic reminiscences and whose religion it was that a lady’s

Iqbal 89 hand soils itself irremediably by doing aught for its bread-this born lady,... ”(HSG 38). She does not want to soil her hand by manual work and desires to keep her hand “white and delicate” amid Laissez-faire economic philosophy. This philosophy emphasizes on the general well being of every individual. She appears to be a misfit in the present state of society and seems to linger in the borrowed time of hierarchal privileges. The displacement of the feudal civilization has led to compulsive readjustment in the community; hence, it becomes obligatory for Hebzibah to face reality. Her business transaction furnishes her with an opportunity to surrender her condescending approach to commonalty. But the raging battle in her heart and soul at this new move and her nervousness at the shop counter communicate her failure to grasp the lessons of the egalitarian community. She longs desperately to die and to be buried in the family tomb with her ancestors, instead of confronting the world which, ‘‘is too chill and hard,-and I am too old, and too feeble, and too hopeless!’’(HSG43). She retains her old stateliness and craves for the special treatment like a “lady”. She recoils from expressions of sympathy and says wistfully, ‘‘I was born a lady, and have always lived one –no matter in what narrowness of means, always a lady!’’(HSG 44) There are various instances of her so called generosity or rather social snobbery scattered all over the novel. She sells biscuits to her tenant Holgrave but refuses to take money. Her aristocratic upbringing does not allow her to accept money from a friend for providing him with food. She desperately desires to clutch on to her old status by shutting her eyes from the changes sweeping all around, ‘‘Let me be a lady little longer’’ (HSG 44).

Iqbal 90 She generously returns money of a child who gives it to her when she sells “Jim crow” [ginger bread] to him. These episodes reflect her sense of superiority which she is not able to suppress. Her pride to belong to gentility is a hurdle in a successful business transaction. Like a selfish individual, she zealously safeguards the interest of her family and denies new trends and mores. Her old gentility is, ‘‘contumaciously squeamish at sight of the copper coin...’’ (HSG 48). She feels as if the sordid stain of the copper coin will never be washed away from her palm. Her lady like sensibilities are seriously infringed upon by the familiar tone of people who address her as their equal or even inferior. She repudiates the sentiments of democracy through her inward dislike of those people by whose penny she hopes to sustain herself. She unconsciously flatters herself with the idea - that there would be a gleam or a halo of some kind about her person - which will insure an obeisance to her sterling gentility. She had always looked down upon “‘the lower class” and always regarded them with pitying complacence while enjoying her unquestionable superiority. Like a corrosive disease, her arrogance ate away her normal bond with humanity and it ostracized her from the rest of the humanity. Her helplessness and inner conflict is highlighted by a scowl on her face which is a result of her near sightedness but it gives her a harsh look. Hepzibah’s old friend Uncle Veneer gives her practical advice in the salesmanship to get success in the world full of polished exterior, cultivated grace, and glossy packaging. He insists on making her presentable, ‘‘Put on a bright face for your customers, and smile pleasantly as you hand them what they ask for! A stale article, if you dip it in a good, warm, sunny smile, will go off better than fresh one that you’ve scowled upon!’’(HSG59).

Iqbal 91 Even after painfully debunking her old idea of nobility, she is far from feeling parity with the common masses. She feels miserable that her commercial transaction, which is such a breathless episode in the history of Pyncheon nobility, is merely another insignificant episode in the life of a common man in New England. Her inflated ego is pricked by the casual attitude of people towards her fall. The comment of the two men from the labor class, Dixey and his friend represents the attitude of the community towards her fall. They find her “sour tempered” hence, incapable of succeeding in that “overdone” business. Dixey compares her with his wife and in a preemptory statement announces Hepzibah’s prospective failure in the business. They find nothing remarkably singular in her fate. Monetary requirements have compelled aristocratic families towards commercial speculation in those changing times as has been stated in the novel, “. . . we might point to several little shops of a similar description; some of them in houses as ancient as that of the seven gables; and one or two, it may be, where a decayed gentlewoman stands behind the counter, as grim an image of family pride as Miss Hepzibah Pyncheon herself ’’ (HSG 40). Amid the clarion call for an alternative regime, Hawthorne knew that Hepzibah was not an exclusive study of an unfortunate soul whose hereditary glory had diminished in the changed time. Hawthorne called the country “republican” and pointed out at the transitional phase of the time by referring to the “fluctuating waves of our social life”. The American Revolution was decisive both for American political development and its social evolution. Nelson Manfred Blake wrote about this time: . . . Socially the revolution weakened the old aristocracy and laid the basis for readjustment of classes. Thousands of the gentry fled the

Iqbal 92 country; those who remained were forced to share prestige with new men, thrust up in the social upheaval. Landholding was disrupted by confistications and new laws of inheritance... New opportunities were opened for the merchants and speculators. Artisan and journeymen became discontented with their traditional status. Old institutions and modes of thoughts were widely challenged. (124) The novel suggests the recognition of economical and historical progress as democratic principles advanced and aristocratic lineage declined. Common man was no longer under the influence of hereditary name and wealth. Hepzibah was hurt by these changes which were a very antipode to her abstract idea of elite society. She was clueless with regard to the “new notions” and nor did she wish to comprehend them. . . . by the slight and idle effect that her setting up shop –an event of such breathless interest to herself - appeared to have upon the public, of which these two men were the nearest representatives. A glance; a passing word or two; coarse laugh, and she was doubtless forgotten, before they turned the corner! They cared nothing for her dignity, and just as little for her degradation. (HSG 46) Many 19th century genteel practices reflected an aspiration towards a life of leisure and luxury as had been enjoyed by the English aristocracy. Women were involved in the roles which evolved within the cult of domesticity. They were charged with the role of enacting these prescribed roles. These fallen aristocratic families had a tendency to copy, “the beliefs and way of life of English gentry” (Parkes 61). In New England, where family name and history had strongly influenced one’s place in the

Iqbal 93 social fabric and one’s sense of pride, it was difficult for Hepzibah to abandon those ideals. The title of gentleman and lady were meaningful in the pre revolution era and conferred privileges on those who bore it. But after the revolution, these titles of nobility became meaningless and illusory on the ground of false pretensions of superiority. The revolution in short, had given the American people an independent place in the family of nations. It had given them a changed social order, in which hereditary wealth and privilege counted for less, and human equality for more; in which the standards of culture and manners were temporarily lowered, but those of equality were raised. (Nevins, Commager 111) Hepzibah belongs to the upper class whose superior position was fixed by law and custom in the colonial time. “Early colonial laws forbade any but upper class men to wear silver buttons and any but upper class women and daughters to wear silk dresses’’(Bragdon 23 ). Hepzibah still wears a black silk gown. She is full of pride for being the proprietor of old and invaluable china cups. They are as ancient as the custom itself of tea-drinking. They belonged to her great, great, great grandmother, who was a Davenport of a good family. Hepzibah flaunts her old silver crested tea-spoons, and antique china tea –set to drink tea when her cousin Phoebe arrives at her place. By these possessions, she is flattering herself with ideas of gentility and tells Phoebe with pride, “they were almost the first tea-cups ever seen in the colony” (HSG 68). All the while, when she is busy in perfecting the scheme of her little shop, she still cherishes an unacknowledged idea that some harlequin trick of fortune will

Iqbal 94 intervene in her favor. She thinks about a rich uncle who will suddenly declare her as his heiress or the great claim to the heritage of Waldo County may finally be decided in favor of Pyncheon. All these fantasies of miraculous rescue through arrival of a mysterious and hidden fortune mark the unreality of her existence. “The Eastern Land Claim, occupying central importance in the plot of Seven Gables, translates the Hawthornes’ never realized right to nine thousand acres in Maine deeded to their ancestor, in 1666, by an Indian Sagamore” (Warren 89). Young reformer Holgrave confronts her with the unreality of her fabricated existence in these words, “These names of gentleman and lady had a meaning, in the past history of the world, and conferred privileges, desirable, or otherwise, on those entitled to bear them. In the present –and still more in the future condition of societythey imply, not privilege, but restriction!’’(HSG 44). Her pride is undemocratic, an aristocratic arrogance which is a sin against democracy. It makes her a pariah in the shifting paradigm of the society. In this transitional phase, plain people had started taking more active interest in politics and insisted, “ that leadership and office holding should no longer be restricted to the wealthier and well educated classes”(Parkes 237). The forces of egalitarian society worked incessantly which gave rise to trading, manufacturing, and a host of other opportunities for the middle class to rise in the world. Hawthorne retained a working class perspective through various means, “He ignored the more aristocratic society of Salem in favor of limited companionship with the less literate but perhaps wiser citizens, especially one William pike, a carpenter’’(Cowie 330). He was not politically but by conviction a democrat. “Between 1789 and 1861 the economic framework of

Iqbal 95 American society was radically altered. The advance of the frontier and the growth of the cities were twin forces working against the continuance of aristocratic privilege and towards increase of political democracy” (Blake 232). Andrew Jackson’s win as the president of the United States in 1828 was instrumental in bringing change in the community. This natural –born leader was a self made man who was orphaned at the age of thirteen. He was without the advantage of wealth and education enjoyed by the earlier presidents. His victory was celebrated as the triumph of a common man. Since his presidency roughly coincided with the various democratic reforms such as manhood suffrage; his election became a symbol of the growing power of the common men in politics. Jackson expressed his ideas in favor of leveling tendencies and declared that everyman was a king in theory. The judges, who were earlier appointed by the governors, were now elected by the common man. The common men took in their own hands the nomination of the state-officials. It was a privilege which was earlier exercised by the members of the legislature. It revealed an aggressive and self- assertive spirit of common men. They suddenly awoke to a consciousness of their rights and their strength for mobilizing political and social infrastructure. At the time of revolution, American political leaders held the democratic contact theory of the government. According to this theory, all political authority or sovereignty belonged to the ordinary men. It emphasized that the Commonalty had the right to elect government of their choice, to select their officers, to carry on the government, and to determine what power their officers should exercise. The father of American constitution, Thomas Jefferson stated the theory of equality and freedom in his “Declaration of Independence” on 4th July 1776. He said:

Iqbal 96 We hold these truths to be self evident. That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights;. . . That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving

their just powers from the

consent of the governed; that,

whenever any form of the government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, . . . .(Baker, Commager 975) Hawthorne was a Jacksonian democrat and a lifelong admirer of Andrew Jackson which was against his family allegiance. His experience in England made him realize the values of egalitarian ideology more forcefully. Hawthorne’s friends Horatio Bridge, Jonathan Cilley and, Franklin Pierce were all Democrats. Hawthorne’s close association with the democratic ideology went into the making of this novel and his preference for the emerging social order. In this novel, he appears more outspoken in his affirmation of democracy and condemnation of an aristocratic society. Jefferson believed like Adams, “that there was a natural aristocracy based on virtue and talents, but there was also, he said, an artificial aristocracy based on wealth and birth alone” (Blake 238).In Jacksonian era there was no title and hereditary class distinction which commanded respect in the eye of people. To win respect from the public, money and personal success were necessary. It was at that time, the concept of Bourgeoisie society was emerging. The lower middle class was quickly becoming middle class through their individual efforts. It was a clear sign of the growth of democracy and the end of feudalism that almost everyone belonged to the middle class.

Iqbal 97 The characters of this novel are the emanations; the active agents of a culture circumambient ideology. Holgrave, Phoebe and Uncle Veneer advocate democratic principles endorsed by the author. Hawthorne has used fiction as a lens through which a certain portrait of his experiences is brought into focus through the characters and happenings. By reading this tale and inner life of Hawthorne’s character, we can reconstruct the original ideology which has given birth to this tale. In spite of Hawthorne’s avowed disingenuousness regarding historical accuracy, his characters are representative of a definite thought structure. These characters reflect the tension and acceptance of the altered ideologies. The setting of the time and place in the novel is such that the characters of the novel emerge as recognizable social, historical, and political figures of 17th and the 19th century. After Jackson’s victory, there emerged a belief that power should be decentralized and the function of the government should be as limited as possible with the maintenance of order, safety, and opportunity. The base of the government should be self respecting individual of moderate means not the affluent class. Everyone should be given equal opportunities according to his abilities and nature. All these issues have been reemphasized through fictional projection of the characters and their destiny in The House of Seven Gables. Hawthorne attempted to make a point that it was the moral necessity for all human beings to establish an original relation to the universe. Thoreau and Emerson demonstrated the same through their philosophy. Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine reiterated that every generation should be allowed to set up its own laws and contracts. As Hall wrote, ‘‘Paine thought that to escape the infelicitous prejudices of the past it was necessary for men to think as though they were the first man who thought’’(166).

Iqbal 98 Hawthorne was able to perceive the progressive movement of the society towards equalitarian ideal. He has juxtaposed Hephzibah’s genteel helplessness against the demurely charming self reliance of her niece Phoebe who is a little offshoot of Pyncheon race in consanguinity with Hepzibah. She is a native of rural New England. In chapter IV, “A Day behind the Counter”, Phoebe emerges as a foil to her aristocratic legacy. She has come to live under Hepzibah’s guardianship after her mother’s second marriage. She appears to be spirited, active, and dynamic within her chosen domestic sphere. She is fresh and unconventional yet orderly and “obedient to common rules” (HSG 61). She knows how to earn her bread because she has ‘‘not been brought up a Pyncheon. A girl learns many things in a New England village’’ (HSG 66). The antithesis between aristocracy and democracy comes to the surface when Hepzibah laments that Phoebe is an excellent shop keeper but not a lady. It is a fair parallel between new Plebeianism and old gentility. Hepzibah’s initial responses to Phoebe are governed by the standards according to which she has lived in the past- establishing a formal distance between them. Phoebe can manage kitchen, run school and shop with equal dexterity. She has no presumptions nor is she conscious of her superior ancestry. Phoebe possesses plebeian capabilities and easily adjusts in the new circumstances. She has already worked as school mistress for the little children in the district school and proves herself a better shopkeeper and housekeeper than her elderly cousin. Even Hepzibah acknowledges and appreciates her ability as a shopkeeper. Phoebe is a descendent of gentility but believes in individual talent and worth. Hepzibah is compliant to her every

Iqbal 99 advice and suggestions to increase the influx of trade and gain profit, “without hazardous outlay of capital” (HSG 70).

[II] Apart from helping to bridge the gap between the labor class and gentility, Phoebe is a model of conformity. She is a self-contained woman without any discordant element in her personality. She can shock no canon of taste and is admirably in keeping with the ideals of conformist society. She never strikes any note of dissonance as it is written, ‘‘it would be preferable to regard phoebe as the example of feminine grace and availability combined in a state of society, if there were any such, where ladies didn’t exist’’( HSG 71). Phoebe’s identity is governed by the way, she is perceived by the male oriented society. She is a reservoir of cultural values and victim of adulation. She has internalized stereotypical forms of female behavior and conducts herself as she is expected to. Amy Schrager Lang opines the same, and says that Phoebe exhibits, ‘‘all the virtues of middle class feminity” (37-38). Minrose Gwin observes, ‘‘since white women

were victims of adulation

rather than violence, they often

internalized

stereotypical forms and attempted in great earnestness to become what they were expected

to be’’(405). Phoebe has unconsciously assimilated the expectations

associated with her gender. Her inner strength makes her fit for the type of role she has to play in the life of her lover Holgrave. She is governed by a set of values where woman’s sense of self and her concepts of success are shaped in accordance with her ability to conform to societal expectations.

Iqbal 100 Phoebe is in love with Holgrave, the tenant of Hephzibah. Hawthorne’s young and energetic character Holgrave becomes a kind of spokesman for the principles of the egalitarian society. He is a young citizen of New America with no hereditary possessions but lively intelligence to his credit. He is not born a gentleman but a protean in his capabilities. He is only twenty two year old but has already worked as country

school

master,

salesman,

editor,

peddler,

dentist,

mesmerist,

and

daguerreotypist, not restricted him to a single craft. Holgrave is comfortable in a society that rewards men and value them for their professional skill and marketable strategies. After the revolution, the apogee of selfsufficient and the self-made man of American mythology was born. It was known as an era of “American boundlessness”. Ethos of manly striving was taking form in the culture at large which had been exemplified through the character of Holgrave. With the emerging economic scenario, Holgrave is willing to try his luck in any profession that promises reward. He is quite modern in his outlook and does not hesitate to make himself presentable as a commodity in the growing materialistic and competitive world. As a transcendentalist and reformer, he has spent some time in the community of Fourierists and his prophetic vision is full of promises for a better future: . . . we are not doomed to creep on forever in the old, bad way, but that, this very now, there are the harbingers aboard of golden era, to be accomplished in his own lifetime. It seemed to Holgrave –as doubtless it has seemed to the hopeful of every century, since the epoch of Adam’s grandchildren–that in this age, more than ever before, the moss- grown and rotten Past is to be torn down, and lifeless institutions to be thrust

Iqbal 101 out of the way, and their dead corpses buried, and everything to begin anew. (HSG144) Holgrave, the daguerreotypist is inspired by the radical doctrine of individualism which is directed against the established order in the government, economics, and religion. His character projects the young New England liberal of 1850. Individual rights were foremost in constitutional thinking at that time. Holgrave internalizes and acts out the conflict men felt in the 19th century America between the aggressive, domineering ideology of Jacksonian democracy and heroism and comparatively selfless- ideal of Christian gentility. He desires to slough off the second hand arrangements of the defunct past and to work out a new relation to the world. It was a prime individual responsibility according to the best theories of democratic individualism and enlightenment, “Jefferson repeatedly declared himself a rebel against the past. He believed that each generation should be allowed to make laws to suit itself and should be free of the public debts incurred by its predecessors. If any act shall be hereafter passed to repeal the present or to narrow its operation, such act will be an infringement of natural rights” (Peterson 112-124). The failure to fulfill this responsibility was sinister to the intellect and the heart. It was the result of democracy which generated self reliance. Holgrave’s works as political and social reformer are closely scrutinized by Hawthorne. The author was critical of any organized philanthropy as it narrowed down one’s perception at the expense of broader human sympathies. Holgrave is radical in his outlook who asserts on the need to reform capitols, state-houses, court –houses, cityhalls, and churches but is not allowed to use his energy for any philanthropic scheme.

Iqbal 102 His energy is diverted within the periphery of conjugal bliss through his marriage with Phoebe. Holgrave is an expert in mesmeric art. His temptation to overpower his lover Phoebe through mesmerism enabled the author to discuss mesmerism, the popular 19th century practice in psychology. Hawthorne was particularly interested to study it in the context of male-female relationship. Mesmerism trod closely on the heels of phrenology. Monsieur Poyen, a French Creole from one of the west India Islands had come to America [Boston] and introduced this new science to the American public. His lectures were succeeded by experiments and the publication of his successful cases. Mesmerism came to America in two waves. The first subsided almost before Hawthorne was born and left without making any noticeable influence. The second wave had begun in the mid 1830s, and reached in an ultra scientific phase with its merger in phrenology and phrenomagnetism in the early 1840s. In both his novels The Blithedale Romance and The House of Seven Gables, Hawthorne borrows heavily from mesmerism. Holgrave narrates the story of Alice which is linked to magnetic art and definitely in the negative light owing to Hawthorne’s dislike for this nefarious art. Alice’s father Gervayse Pyncheon was a greedy man like his ancestor Colonel Pyncheon. He was looking for some document which was essential to establish his claim to a large territory at the eastward. He summoned a carpenter who belonged to the Maule’s ancestry to disclose the secret of the document. He was informed that the day colonel Pyncheon died due to apoplexy in his private room, certain papers belonging to him were spread out on the table. The

Iqbal 103 carpenter’s father was possibly present in the same room at that time because he was doing some work in that room. This carpenter of the present time was looking forward for an opportunity to take his revenge upon Pyncheon family. He came to know that the property on which the house of seven gables was erected originally belonged to his forefather. It was illegally snatched from his ancestors by Colonel Pyncheon through the abuse of his power. The carpenter put a proposal before Gervayse Pyncheon. He asked for the house of seven gables in exchange of the information about the territory. He insisted a meeting with his daughter Alice Pyncheon as that the information regarding the document can be obtained only “ through the clear, crystal medium of a pure virgin intelligence, like that of fair Alice’’(HSG 160). In his greed, Gervayse Pyncheon suppressed his conscience and fatherly affection to enter into this bargain. It led to a mesmeric control of the carpenter over Alice. She appeared to be doing everything in a trance. The same had been mentioned in one of the sketches of Hawthorne, ‘‘The Hall of Fantasy’’ published in 1843 in ‘‘The Pioneer’’, when the narrator and his guide pass out of the “hall” at the end of the sketch, they meet, “the spirit of several persons, who had been sent thither in the magnetic sleep”(294). The most common means of subjugating the will of the somnambulist was through the eyes of the mesmerist. When these mesmerists fastened on their eyes on their victims, they engaged them in a test of mental and spiritual power, the outcome of which was usually beyond the control of a helpless female. The carpenter asked Alice, ‘‘. . . to fix your [her] eyes on mine!”(HSG162). Alice complied with his command without any estimate of the power pitted against her. She was under the triumphant

Iqbal 104 gaze of the carpenter and a dim unattainable distance was created between her and the rest of the world. Neither the loving touch and kisses nor the violent shrieks and jerks could arouse her from that slumber. The carpenter converted her mind into a kind of telescopic medium through which he could obtain a glimpse into the spiritual world. ‘‘The mesmerist’s power over the will of his somnambulist shocked and intrigued the public more than any of the mysterious feats of clairvoyance, telepathy, and psycho kinesis’’ (Taylor 54). When the carpenter waved his hand, she awoke from that trance and forgot all her visionary experiences as well as her real self. Thus afterwards, till the time of her death, she remained a bonded slave of the carpenter. It was not a fanciful idea which Hawthorne was entertaining here but it was based on his first hand experience of this spiritual science as ‘‘Reports of insanity induced by magnetic and spiritualist experiments were common, especially after 1850 ’’ (Taylor 59). The debate at that time was whether one could force his subject to do anything immoral through magnetism. Defenders of mesmerism like John Bovee Dods refuted these allegations and said that it could not be possible that the person could do anything against his/her will but hastened to add, ‘‘ if he will at the same time use physical resistance’’(Taylor 54) against the command of the mesmerist. Alice lacked that power to resist the command of the carpenter. The power of Maule was implicitly sexual because Alice lost her dignity and could never marry afterwards. Maule tested the power of an entrepreneurial manhood that viewed women as commodities to be marketed and displayed in public. The carpenter would say ‘‘Alice laugh!”And even if it was a prayer time or a funeral, Alice would break into a

Iqbal 105 wild and hysterical laughter. ‘‘Alice be sad! ’’-and at the very instant a tear would roll down her cheeks, quenching all the mirth around her. ‘‘Alice dance!’’ and she would dance like a rustic in a state of merry making, with hig paced jig and hop-skip ringadoom. Alice did all without any power for resistance and felt being humiliated, abased and below than a worm (167).Commager and Nevins wrote: Mesmerism vulgarly culminated in an exhibition of what was

called,

absurdly enough ‘psychology’ or ‘biology’ a process of hallucination by which a number of susceptible persons selected by a lecturer from his audience were made to believe and to do the most ridiculous things –to fancy they were swimming, or flying or drinking, at the will of the operator, and to dance, sing, declaim, and do many things they never thought of doing in their normal condition. (417) The heyday of animal magnetism was 1840s, just before the publication of Hawthorne’s The House Seven Gables and The Blithedale Romance. Matthew Maule mesmerized Alice Pyncheon to learn the location of a lost document and Westerwelt in The Blithedale Romance overpowered Priscilla to enhance his theatrical reputation. Dr.Robert H.Collyer was a well known mesmerist in the 1840s. The popular mind was much engrossed in this new science. Hawthorne might have seen Collyer performing in magnetic feats in Boston or Salem and used him as a model for prof. Westerwelt in The Blithedale Romance. Collyer was busy in public lectures on phrenology, mesmerism, phrenomagnetism, and psychography throughout New England from 1839 to 1843. He was successfully engaged in Boston from May through July 1841 and moved to Salem

Iqbal 106 in August. At that time, Hawthorne was at Brook farm, and might have seen Collyer on one of his visits to the city just like Coverdale. Hawthorne had a great distrust for this radical branch of science. It is reflected in his letter to his would be wife Sophia Peabody. Sophia was interested in animal magnetism, which was practiced by one Mrs. Park. She wrote a letter to Hawthorne and expressed her desire to meet Mrs. Park for the treatment of her constant headache which had paralyzed her normal life. Hawthorne did not relish that idea and replied on 18, October, 1841: I am unwilling that a power should be exercised on thee, of which we know neither the origin nor consequence, and the phenomena of which seem rather calculated to bewilder us, than to teach us any truths about the present or future state of

being. If

I possessed such a power over

thee, I should not dare to exercise it; nor can I consent to it exercised

by another. Supposing that

being

this power arises from the

transfusion of one spirit into another, it seems to me that the sacredness of an individual is violated by it ; there would be an intrusion into thy holy of holiest – and the intruder would not be thy husband ! Canst thou think, without shrinking of thy soul of any human being coming into closer communion with thee than I may? -than either nature or my own sense of right would

permit me? I cannot. And

dearest, thou must

remember, too, that thou art now a part of me, and that

surrendering

thyself to the influence of this magnetic lady, thou surrenderest more than thine own moral and spiritual being – allowing that the influence is

Iqbal 107 a moral and spiritual one. And, sweetest, I really do not like the idea of being brought, through thy medium, into such an intimate relation with Mrs. Park! (Taylor 42-43) Hawthorne believed that man’s body is holy of holies “which is strictly his own, into which no one except his creator can enter’’(Brennan 270). He was highly critical of mesmerism and all its related branches in which a power was exercised over man to penetrate his deepest being. He

was aware about the interest of Sophia’s sister

Elizabeth in mesmerism so he wrote to Sophia, “Thy sister Elizabeth would like nothing so much as to proclaim thy spiritual experiences, by

sound of trumpet”

(Taylor 44). His knowledge of the eccentricities in the Peabody family made him aware of the danger to which Sophia was susceptible to. Therefore, in a very straight forward manner, he wrote to Sophia in 1841, “-do not let an earthly effluence from Mrs. Park’s corporeal system bewilder thee, and perhaps contaminate something spiritual and sacred’’ (Taylor 43). Hawthorne equated this intrusion into other’s soul with unpardonable sin. He believed that the unpardonable sin might consist in a want of love and reverence for human soul; in consequence of which, the investigator pried into its dark depths, not with a hope or purpose of making it better, but from cold philosophical curiosity. Prof. Randall Stewart wrote: The exercise of such a (mesmeric) power is fundamentally wrong because it violates the sacredness of personality. Only a person utterly lacking in love and reverence for the human soul, one in whom the intellect has been overdeveloped and emotional nature has undergone

Iqbal 108 atrophy, would be capable of thus preying upon a susceptible nature. In this ‘separation of the intellect from the heart’ and the consequent drying up of human sympathies, Hawthorne finds the unpardonable sin. (qtd in Fick 135) Hawthorne found in mesmerism the 19th century version of witchcraft. There were accusations of sexual immorality against the mesmerists. His uneasy fascination with the sexual implications of magnetic power was noticeable in The Blithedale Romance, “At the bidding of one of these wizards, the maiden, with her lover’s kiss still burning on her lips, would turn from him with icy indifference; the newly made widow would dig up her buried heart out of her young husband’s grave, before the sods had taken root upon it . . . ’’ (556). Hawthorne’s mesmerists were men of strong intellect and ambition and his female characters like Phoebe, Alice, Priscilla, and Zenobia were subjugated by the power of these wizards. His female characters suffered heavily in their bondage especially in reputation, since a sexual threat was pervasively if vague attendant on this subjugation. He could not refrain from warning young females and even married ladies -not to trust themselves alone with practical magnetizers. Mesmerism might be viewed as a dangerous addition to the material medica, much in the way that shock therapy is regarded today (Taylor 59). He viewed mesmerists as one for whom “human character was but soft as wax in their hands; and guilt, or virtue, only the forms into which he should see fit to mould it”(BR 556). He stressed upon the seductive power of the mesmerist over his young female subjects. He cited instances of the miraculous power of one human being over the will and passions of another; insomuch that

Iqbal 109 “settled grief was but a shadow beneath the influence of a man possessing this potency, and the strong love of years melted away like vapor”(B R 555-556). Holgrave refrains from using his hereditary power over Phoebe to subjugate her out of his respect for Phoebe’s free and virgin spirit. He is aware of his power over Phoebe. It is equally dangerous and disastrous as that the carpenter of his legend has acquired and exercised over the ill fated Alice. This power of an individual to get control over other through mesmeric art was exercised more frequently during 1830s and 1840s. Even modern Psychology could not regard it as altogether fabulous. Hawthorne discovered a pervasive desire for the power behind the use of this science in the overwhelmingly materialistic society. People were so devious, selfish, and materialistic that they did not hesitate in using human body and mind as a tool. . . . the mysterious power of the Maules is seem to be what the 1830s and 40s knew as mesmerism or hypnotism. “Modern psychology, it may will endeavor to reduce these alleged necromancies within a system instead of rejecting them as altogether fabulous,” writes Hawthorne of the theory that in the dream world the Maules ruled the Pyncheons. (Warren 95) Holgrave’s initial temptation was strong to seduce Phoebe through his mesmeric art but he resisted that because of his respect for women and their individuality. His integrity never allowed him to violate the inner most of a man and he carried his conscience in all circumstances. It forbade him to control the destiny of Phoebe though

Iqbal 110 she belonged to the Pyncheon lineage, his hereditary rivals. His love for Phoebe was his greatest strength and redeeming power.

[III] By showing Holgrave, a successor of Maule ancestry who was involved in the witchcraft trial of 1691, Hawthorne found an opportunity to discuss about the social, religious, and political motives behind the persecution of the so called witches in the 17th century Boston. Holgrave’s ancestor Matthew Maule is shown a victim of witchcraft delusion in which Phoebe’s ancestor Colonel Pyncheon acted as a judge. Matthew Maule’s name had historical association with the name of an important member of early Salem, Thomas Maule who left an indelible mark through his freeways on the history of the 17th century New England. He was an outspoken Quaker who lived in Salem, Massachusetts during the trials of witchery. He vehemently attacked self –styled church and state elite for their intolerance and fanaticism. Through his writings, historical Maule assaulted the Puritan ministers for the execution of witches. He questioned the reliability of alleged confession of people, who were accused of being witches and doubted the validity of “Spectral evidence”. Maule brought forth his view regarding witchcraft trials in “Truth Maintained and Set Forth in 1695”. He was tried for seditious libel because he accused the ministers of Salem for preaching lies and instructing in the doctrine of the devils. He was whipped for creating national upheaval at the time when even minute disregard for the authoritative opinion was regarded a sin.

Iqbal 111 Maule understood the danger of creating a state where theology monopolized expressions and behaviors. His condemnation of the authority was seen as attack on the Salem government itself. He was arrested but acquitted because evidence against him was insufficient. His acquittal was seen as the triumph of common man against coercive mandate of theocracy. He used his common sense against repressionists to prove him innocent. He objected not to the fact that the Puritans considered themselves the only religious privy to the will of God for he himself exhibited an attitude of superiority on the same matter; but to the arrogance of a theocracy that imposed its interpretation of God’s will on everyone, within its reach(James Edward Maule). More than a century later, Hawthorne used his name for his novel The House of Seven Gables. It was not so important whether the house of seven gables was actually the house of Thomas Maule or not; what mattered that the historical Maule of the 17th century was a commoner who became the conscience of the community during the witchcraft delusion. He was a severe critic of religious persecution and fought for the freedom of expression like Maule’s successor Holgrave in the 19th century. Holgrave’s ancestor Matthew Maule was hanged on the charges of witchery. It highlighted the underlying relation between the two figures -one fictional the other real. Hawthorne’s forefather, John Hathorne was one of those magistrates who presided over the trial. The novel gave Hawthorne a platform to indulge in speculation regarding the truth of his great grandfather who added a significant chapter to American history. The tale of this novel revolves around an aristocratic Pyncheon family which is supposed to be overshadowed by a curse launched against one of its member by a

Iqbal 112 commoner Matthew Maule. The land on which grand and antique mansion seven gables is constructed, belongs to Holgrave’s ancestor Matthew Maule. This property was desirable in the eyes of a prominent man Colonel Pyncheon. He asserted a plausible claim to the ownership of this piece of land; and a large tract of land adjacent to it on the strength of a grant from the legislature. Matthew Maule, though a commoner was not ready to leave what he considered his right to hold. He succeeded in retaining that land for several years and refused to sell it. Colonel Pyncheon was a ruthless and greedy man and he was not ready to give up easily what he desired to obtain. In the late 17th century, the sense of community was beginning to disappear. The people in Salem were not the newly arrived settlers anymore who were willing to live according to the ideals of the community. During the later part of the 17th century individual financial gain was valued higher than common good. There was nothing like making others conditions our own anymore. People were not equal anymore in their struggle to settle down and to survive in an uncivilized environment; instead social distinctions were established so that there were beggars as well as rich merchants. In those days well-off person’s influence had greater hereditary weight. The chronicles showed that the sway of class and wealth had held firmer ground in Salem than any other New England town in that time. The wealthy and powerful Colonel Pyncheon contrived to implicate Maule in sin of religious heresy. He behaved in selfish and ruthless manner as one of the judges of the Salem witchcraft trial and hanged him on charges of witchery. The end of Maule brought a new perspective that how economic motive entered even in the charge of witchcraft. The historian Croce wrote, . . . history consists essentially in seeing the past

Iqbal 113 through the eyes of the present and in the light of its problems, and the main work of the historian is not to record but to evaluate for if he does not evaluate how can he know what is worth recording?(Carr 21-22). Like a historian, Hawthorne studied the event of the past from present perspective and found that the execution of Matthew Maule for sin of witchcraft brought us a lesson from history that: “The influential classes, and those who take upon themselves to be people, are fully liable to all the passionate error that has ever characterized the maddest mob” (HSG 15). Colonel Pyncheon was foremost in those who cried to purge the land from witchcraft. There was an individual acrimony in the zeal with which he sought the condemnation of Matthew Maule. After the death of Maule, Colonel followed his original design and built his house over that piece of land which originally belonged to the executed Maule; and which he was eying since the time Matthew was alive. The factual authenticity to the novel was further established through reference to King William during the construction of the house of the Seven Gables. In the mid 17th century, theocratic rulers became merciless in the persecution of Quakes. The possession of too great power intoxicated their brain. They inflicted cruel bodily and mental sufferings on dissenters without any compunction. Power, if remains unrestrained make a person atrocious; be it the case of colonel Pyncheon of the 17th century or Jaffrey Pyncheon of the 19th century. Once the Puritan establishment was convinced that their rules of polity and conduct were according to biblical guideline; they rigorously followed their course in enforcing the law of conduct as they liked. They did not deter from their course even if it meant harsher punishment which might

Iqbal 114 savor inequity in order to destroy sin, idolatry, and error in every circumstance. In the process as, ‘‘many very human motives played an important part in interpreting the law of God and personal likes and dislikes, hypocrisy, prejudice, and passion got badly mixed with the higher and more spiritual impulses that were actively at work purging the church of its error’’ (Andrews 430-431). Hawthorne’s contemporaries interpreted witchcraft trial as an example of religious hysteria whereas he could see with a modern foresight

how Colonel

Pynchon’s religious conviction easily accommodated his questionable personal motive. He did not act as a man of conscience and integrity in the trial of Maule. Even Matthew Maule could detect his selfish motive and cursed Colonel from the gallows that “God will give him blood to drink” (HSG 16). Hawthorne had read widely in the 17th century history and took information of that period from Cotton Mather’s Wonders of the Invisible World. In this book, Mather recorded his eloquent belief in this phenomenon. Robert Calef’s More Wonders of the Invisible World [1700], which was published in reply to Cotton Mather’s book, a record of the trial of Sarah Good had been given. This trial was held on 30 June 1692. Sarah Good was convicted for conversing with the devil. In her trial, one of the magistrates Noyes, urged her to confess her witchery: “You are a witch, and you know you are!” to this the dying woman replied: ‘‘You are a liar,-I am no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you take away my life, God will give you blood to drink!’’ (Calef 209). In the 17th century, belief in the supernatural element was a normal phenomenon. Judges, clergies, educated class, statesman as well as illiterate folks were

Iqbal 115 convinced about the reality of witches and devils. One of the ancestors of the writer acted as magistrate at those proceedings made Hawthorne’s biographical information important. It is significant to relate the curse of Matthew Maule from the gallows to a curse inflicted upon Hawthorne’s ancestor John Hathorne. He apparently found this idea in his own family annals. According to some historical documents, his witch hunting ancestor incurred a malediction from one of the victims as a result, the prosperity of the race faded away. John Erskine wrote about John Hathorne: ‘‘As a judge he presided at several witchcraft trials, and a curse was laid on him and his blood by one he condemned to die. During his life the family lost the title deed to the land in Maine where afterwards the town of Raymond grew up, and papers were recovered only when the claim had become valueless” ( 183). Hawthorne used both these incidents - inherited curse and a lost deed of land in the present tale. He was a shrewd student of history who knew that the Puritans of the 17th century New England were as aristocratic in their ways as the feudal society of Europe. Hawthorne perceived the sharp cleavage that existed between the various social groups in the 17th century society. In the very beginning of the tale, when Colonel Pyncheon threw a party to celebrate the grand construction of the house of the seven gables, the hereditary class distinction became prominent. There was apparent disparity in the reception and treatment of the classes. Two servants were entrusted with the responsibility to observe the invited guests and direct them to the festive place accordingly. They pointed some of the guests to the neighborhood of the kitchen and ushered others into the statelier rooms. They were hospitable alike to all but still with a scrutinizing regard to the high or low degree of each. This was the 17th century societal

Iqbal 116 spectrum which was oblivious to the principles of egalitarianism. The following lines indicate the root cause of shifting societal paradigm from the 17th century to the 19th century in which the present tale unfolds: Most English men of the early seventeenth century still thought largely in medieval terms, accepting hereditary class distinction and religious intolerance as in accord with the will of God. But the concepts of a fine society were already germinating in English soil. Wherever English men settled in the other parts of the world, they carried with them the seeds of liberty.(Parkes 13)

[IV] In the 19th century, one of the successors of Colonel Pyncheon is Jaffrey Pyncheon who appears to be an atavism of his ancestor in his brutality, avariciousness, and lack of compunction for the weaker section. He uses common men as tools to realize his ambition in the equilateral society. He is politician who appears to be a modern face of old witch hunters. His contemporaneity provides Hawthorne with a context to indulge in speculation regarding professional politicians in the 19th century America. A discourse of history is constituted by multiple consciousnesses hence; it can mean different things to different readers. This novel provides a plurality of perspectives through different characters and different time periods. Apart from past associations, present becomes more vocal in the delineation of a shrewd- political figure of the 19th century America.

Iqbal 117 Jaffrey Pyncheon is a cousin of Hepzibah and Clifford Pyncheon. The study of his character becomes meaningful in the context of the biographical information available on the present author. Hawthorne’s dislike for the professional politician after his unfortunate experience at Salem custom house underlines Jaffrey’s character in negative light. In sketching out the hypocritical character of judge with his calculated smile and purposeful charities; his gradual rise to public eminence, his political ambition of becoming the governor of Massachusetts; Hawthorne was taking revenge upon his political opponents. He intended to raise his finger on his political enemies Daniel Webster, Charles Wentworth Upham, and Horace Conolly; and borrowed heavily from their characters. Jaffrey appears to be a composite creature, having all the grey shades of the political personages. Hawthorne’s tale “The Great Stone face” also offers a brief vignette of the politician. Judge Pyncheon is model civil servant whose zeal for public services is a façade. He is a man of eminent respectability and is acknowledged by church and the state. Except for daguerreotypist, Hepzibah, and his few political opponents, nobody doubts his sincerity in doing public good. He holds offices of trust and is recognized for his charitable works. He is consciously working out on his public image to project himself as an ideal candidate in public eye for the upcoming election for governorship. In this election, he depends on popular opinion for his success. The purity of his character as judge, his faithful public services, his zeal as the president of Bible society, his unquestionable integrity as treasurer of a widows and orphans fund are result of an admirable arrangement of his life. It is a portrait displayed meticulously before the world. His scrupulousness in drawing public attention by bowing his head, a lifting of

Iqbal 118 the hat, a nod, and a motion of the hand, to all irrespective of their class has been questioned. His smile of broad benevolence is his weapon to win favorable opinion of the commoners in the newly emerging democratic set up. He has real estate in town and country; numerous bank accounts; insurance share, United States stock, yet he covets more. He looks forward to weightier public honors. His ambition is a more powerful talisman than the witchcraft. Judge Pyncheon is a portrait of dissonance and discordance. Hawthorne’s contempt for professional politicians is reflected in his comment about politician in the novel The House of Seven Gables, which can not to be ignored: . . . practiced politicians, every man of them, and skilled to adjust those preliminary measures which steal from the people, without its knowledge the power of choosing its own rulers. The popular voice, at the next gubernatorial election, though loud as thunder, will be really but an echo of what these gentlemen shall speak, under their breath, at your friend’s festive board. (215) Hawthorne was embittered by the loss of his political office in the Salem custom House as a surveyor when Zachary Taylor was elected as the president of America. His appointment was cancelled on political grounds. The new president belonged to Whigs who were dominating every sphere at that time. In spite of all the assurance of the new government that qualified people would not be removed from their office position, he became the centre of party struggle. He was ousted from office on 8th june1849 for his association with members of democratic republic. Captain Allen Putman became the new surveyor. Hawthorne defended his appointment by saying that

Iqbal 119 his selection was not politically motivated and he never acted as politician since his appointment. He even wrote a letter to clarify that he made local democrats angry by not helping them from his post. He pleaded in vain that his fate should not be left in the hands of the politicians whom he considered “thick skulled” and “no- hearted ruffians” (Mellow 293). It had been affirmed in other sources that Mr. Charles Wentworth Upham served as a model for Jeffery Pyncheon. This was done by Hawthorne to take revenge upon him for his inimical influence in removing him from the Salem custom House. Upham was an influential Whig and a member of Congress who through his intrigue helped in Hawthorne’s removal from the office. In view of high local support for Hawthorne, Upham and other Whigs intensified their assault on him. Charles Wentworth Upham, the former-minister turned politician was the chief villain in the whole episode, “who has proved himself a liar and a most consummate hypocrite for he always professed himself the warmest friend ’’ (Mellow 294). Soon after his removal from the custom house, Hawthorne was occupied by one vengeful thought to settle his score with him. After knowing Upham’s role in the whole episode, he wrote to Horace Mann, his wife’s brother –in –law about Mr. Upham that ‘‘I shall do my best to kill and scalp him in the public prints; and I think I shall succeed’’ (Mellow 302). Hawthorne gave only surprisingly oblique remark regarding Upham who was also a priest. He wrote, ‘‘that stubborn fidelity with which a man’s friends-and especially a clergyman’s –will sometimes uphold his character; when proofs, clear as mid –day sun shines, on the scarlet letter, establish him a false and sin stained creature of the dust’’ (Mellow 307).

Iqbal 120 Notwithstanding some external differences between the character of Upham and Judge Pyncheon, Hawthorne found their moral basis identical. Hawthorne’s view regarding the matter was brought before the wide audience through his introduction to The Scarlet Letter, entitled as “The Custom House”. Hawthorne wrote about his political enemies as “slang whangers’’ and “Vole distributors” (Mellow 293). Hawthorne came to know that his friend Horace Conolly betrayed him by joining hands with his political enemies. He was very close to Hawthorne in the past but started to attend Whigs political causes after eyeing political opportunity on the other side. All these episodes embittered his perception of professional politicians. Throughout that period of political manoeuvring, he maintained a calm posture of aggrieved innocence as one who was thoroughly wronged by the politicians yet who could not prove his innocence. Hawthorne confessed: . . . it stirs up a little of the devil within me to find myself hunted by these political bloodhounds. If they succeed in getting me out of office, I will surely immolate one or two of them. Not that poor monster of a Conolly, whom I desire only to bury in oblivion... But, if there be among them (as there must be, if they succeed ) some men who claim a higher position and ought to know better. I may perhaps select a victim, and let fall one little drop of venom on his heart, that shall make him writhe before the grin of the multitude for a considerable time to come. (Mellow 293-294). As a shrewd politician Hawthorne anticipated his dismissal since Zachary Taylor was elected the president of America. He even wrote a letter to his friend a

Iqbal 121 prominent Whig and lawyer George Hillard to use his influence and forestall a move by Salem’s Whigs against him. In spite of all his clarification against the charges leveled against him and all his attempts to generate favorable public opinion, he was removed from the office. He wrote: I do detest all offices; all, at least, that are held on a political tenure, and I want nothing to do with politicians. Their hearts wither away, and die out of their bodies. Their consciences are turned to India- rubber, or to some substance as black as that and which will stretch as much. One thing, if no more, I have gained by

my Custom-house experience –to

know a politician. It is a knowledge which no previous thought or power of sympathy could have taught me; because the animals or the machine, rather, is not in nature. (James 65-66) The character of the judge in the present novel is an American materialist. We see the principles of aristocracy and democracy are in conflict in the American society of the 19th century in the fortunes and aspirations of Jaffrey Pyncheon. Jaffrey has attended splendid banquets and has poured out his eloquence as the guest of honor, “to ears yet echoing with Webster’s mighty organ tones” (HSG 214). Reference to Daniel Webster in the novel cannot be ignored. Daniel Webster was a senator from Massachusetts Bay Colony. Various critics found in the character of the judge, a few traits suggesting Daniel Webster for whom money and respectability were everything. Like him, judge is also a public figure. Jeffrey is a financial magnet who has amassed great wealth yet covets for more. Webster was the greatest orator of his day who was well known for his eloquence. Hawthorne praised Webster for his charismatic

Iqbal 122 personality who was a marvelously gifted statesman but he was wary of certain traits in his character and defined his life as “vague and empty” (Mellow 292). Hawthorne registered his dark suspicions regarding a flaw in Webster’s character by writing, “that whatever he might choose to say, his auditors had no choice but to believe him; wrong looked right, and right like wrong”( Mellow 292). Hawthorne’s contemporary R.W Emerson said about Webster that, “The word liberty in the mouth of Mr. Webster sounds like the word love in the mouth of a courtezan” ( Mellow 292). Jaffrey Pyncheon has headed many magnificent banquets like Webster in the course of his eminent political career. He is a great and eloquent speaker like Webster. He studied law and served a part of two terms in Congress. He was a distinguished figure in both the branches of the state legislature. He is well publicized in the newspaper as, the Christian, the good citizen, and the gentleman. Jaffrey’s repeated offer of luxury to his cousin Hepzibah and Clifford are refuted by Hepzibah because she suspects his motive and finds him having, “a heart of iron”. It is not without significance that the ruthless and unscrupulous Jaffrey implicates Clifford Pyncheon in a crime that he has not committed. Clifford is persecuted for the murder of his uncle in spite of being innocent. At the time of his uncle’s death he was present in the chamber. It gave an opportunity to Jaffrey to manipulate the situation and evidences in such a way that he was presumed guilty of a murder. His uncle died because of apoplectic stroke but the judge twisted the fact to project it as murder to suit his selfish end. In spite of being innocent, Clifford suffered like Hawthorne in the hands of professional politicians.

Iqbal 123 This case of an innocent being implicated had also another historical association. Hawthorne would have been definitely familiar with “The White Murder Case” through his reading of Felt’s Annals of Salem. In 1681, Nicholas Manning the brother of Hawthorne’s great, great maternal uncle Thomas Manning was accused by his wife for incest with his two sisters- Anstis Manning and Margaret Manning Polfery. After the accusation Nicholas Manning fled into the forest, and returned after eight years. His sisters were convicted and fined on the testimony of two servants. Here are the excerpts from the Annals: “1681, March 29. Two females, for incest, are sentenced to be imprisoned a night, whipped, or pay 5£, and to stand or sit, during the services of the next lecture day, on a high stool, in the middle alley of Salem meeting-house, having a paper on their heads with their crime written in capital letters (Tuttleton).The sisters were unjustly punished for a crime in which they had no role. Jaffrey was instrumental in proving Clifford a murderer and later on he used his political influence to release him from prison. At this juncture, the judge appeared to be his greatest well wisher yet he secured his release with a sinister motive. He was eager to know the whereabouts of the incalculable wealth of his uncle Jaffrey. He was convinced that Clifford knew about some map or documents which would guide him to unexplored territory and a vast treasure of wealth, which was his uncle’s property. His uncle was supposed to be immensely rich. It was his eccentricity to invest in distant and foreign lands under other names than his own, which was familiar to capitalists only. According to his last testament, all his property was bequeathed to the judge. But Jaffrey’s wayward ways compelled his uncle to transfer the ownership to Clifford. After his uncle’s death, Judge changed his uncle’s second will by supplying

Iqbal 124 the older testament in place of the new. Still he was not satisfied with the amount, he received. He was assured that a large amount was still unknown and Clifford knew about it. Judge Pyncheon threatens Clifford to send him to a public asylum by proving him insane, if he does not share the secret with him. Hepzibah confronts Jaffrey, and asks‘‘. . . why should you do this cruel, cruel thing? So mad a thing, that knows not whether to call it wicked! Alas, cousin Jaffrey, this hard and grasping spirit has run in our blood these two hundred years! you are but doing over again, in another shape, what your ancestors before you did, and sending down to your posterity the curse inherited from him ’’ (HSG 188). The mental illness of Clifford and a threat of confinement by Jaffrey Pyncheon brought to the surface, one of the cruelest abuses of the 19th century. It was the treatment of the mentally ill as criminals. This drew the attention of so many reformers, especially a school teacher from Massachusetts, Dorthea Dix. She visited a jail in 1841 and proceeded to visit nearly all the jails in her native state in a short period. In 1842, she wrote a report to present it to the legislature. It described the conditions of those who were mentally ill and were imprisoned in jail. She persuaded the state legislature to provide more humane treatment for the feeble minded. Their miserable condition improved after her effort. She wrote, “I proceed, gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the present state of the insane persons confided within this common wealth in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens! Chained, naked, beaten with rods, and clashed into obedience ...” (Commager and Nevins 420). Just before, Jaffrey was going to attend a dinner with some political friends; he died due to hammohreage owing to a familial trait. This dinner was very important for

Iqbal 125 him as his candidature for the upcoming gubernatorial election was going to be declared. After the death of Jaffrey, Holgrave showed the document for which Jaffrey contrived Clifford’s imprisonment. While constructing the seven gables, the son of executed Maule carved a recess in the wall and concealed the document in it. It was the Indian deed, a folded sheet of parchment signed by several Indian saga mores. This document was essential for Pyncheon to claim the right over the whole eastern territory. They discovered it only after it lost its significance. It was what, ‘‘Pyncheon sought in vain, while it was valuable; and now that they find the treasure, it has long been worthless” (HSG 247). It was a fate similar to the fate of Hathornes who lost the title deed to the land in Maine during Judge Hathorne’s life, “where afterwards the town of Raymond grew up, and the papers were recovered only when the claim had become valueless” (Erskine 183).

[V] The critical crux of the novel opens for the readers at the end. Hepzibah, Clifford, and Phoebe decide to leave the old mansion which stands for spurious values. They go to the country seat which, “suggested comfort, refinement, and hospitality...” (Leopold and Link 558). The Aftermath of the revolution was a turbulent phase in American history. There was decisive changes for American political development and social evolution, “Old institutions and modes of thought were widely challenged” (Blake 124). It weakened the foundation of old social order and, “laid the basis for readjustment of classes. Thousands of the gentry fled to the country” (Blake 124) like

Iqbal 126 the characters of the present novel. Hence, in their migration to country from town, there was nothing new. It was an expected move in that turbulent time, yet it focused on the escapist nature of Hepzibah who after all did not learn the lessons of republicanism. Those who stayed in the city were forced to share prestige with new men, thrust up in the social upheaval. Instead of confronting the wave of change and adjusting in new social order, Hepzibah preferred to snug in a country seat. The focal point of the novelist in the concluding chapter is the inner transformation of the character of Holgrave. The proclamation of Emerson regarding the reformers becomes significant here: They mix the fire of the moral sentiment with personal and party heats, with measureless exaggerations, and the blindness that prefers some darling measure to justice and truth. Those, who are urging with most ardor, what are called the greatest benefits of mankind, are narrow, self pleasing, conceited men, and affect us as the insane do.( Leopold and Link 325-326) These public pronouncements of Emerson, who was the leading figure of the transcendental movement, concurred with Hawthorne’s apprehension regarding reformers.

Hawthorne ridiculed the reformer’s lack of conscience at the cost of

conscientiousness. He believed that as long as a man’s heart was corrupt, little could be accomplished by a change of beliefs or institutions. In spite of Hawthorne’s avowed dislike for the reformers, he saved Holgrave from his bitter virulence. His ambivalence towards the character of Holgrave was the result of his respect for Holgrave’s faith in democratic ideology and individual dignity; his egalitarian principles; and his faith in

Iqbal 127 the worth of common man. Hawthorne’s underlying desire to change his radicalism and reformist outlook was displayed through Holgrave’s association with the conformist Phoebe. This change in Holgrave was unexpected and shocking even for Phoebe who was earlier appalled by his lawless energy. Holgrave sacrifices his radical ideas in favor of conventional relation under the mesmeric power of love. He tells Phoebe. “You are my only possibility of happiness!’’ (HSG 240) and tells her, “You will make me strive to follow you, where it is pathless” (HSG 240). The alteration in his radical outlook is visible in these words of Holgrave: The happy man inevitably confines himself within ancient limits. I have a presentiment that, hereafter, it will be my lot to set out trees to make fences,- perhaps, even, in due time, to build a house for another generation,-in a word, to conform myself to laws, and the peaceful practice of society. Your poise will be more

powerful than any

oscillating tendency of mine. (HSG 240) The same man, who earlier desires to overthrow the entire establishment of the society, now wants to conform to the laws of society. It refers to an internal transformation pre-requisite for any kind of change in the society rather than any coercive mandate of external law. Holgrave looks forward to Phoebe’s assistance and guidance. ‘‘You must be both strong and wise! For I am all astray, and need your counsel. It may be, you can suggest the one right thing to do’’ (HSG 236). Hawthorne redefines Holgrave and depicts an inner transformation of his heart by showing him non-vengeful towards Pyncheon unlike his ancestors. It reveals Hawthorne’s longing

Iqbal 128 for an internal change in man and repudiation of radical principles that inspire any reform movement. Hawthorne finds that the revolutionary temper jeopardizes peaceful existence in society. Holgrave proves himself a good human being by resisting his erotic power which can give him mastery over Phoebe’s free spirit. His union with the conventional Phoebe served two ends. Apart from the aforesaid goal, it

also resolved the possibility of any enmity in the future between

Pyncheons and Maules through their marriage. The ending of the tale had a close association with the author’s ancestral history, “but it was not until 1838 that Nathaniel Hawthorne was told the story of Philip English. The daughter of Philip English was supposed to have married one of John Hathorne’s sons. If this were true, then the blood of curser and accursed had mingled in the second generation’’ (Turner 21), the same had been projected at the end of tale The House of Seven Gables through the union of Holgrave and Phoebe.

Iqbal 129 Works Cited: 1. Andrews, Charles. M. The Colonial Period of American History.Vol.1.New Haven: Yale University Press, 1934.Print. 2. Barker, Eugene C, and Henry Steele Commager. Our Nation. New York: Row, Peterson and Company, 1952.Print. 3. Blake, Nelson Manfred. A Short History of American Life. New York: MC Hill Book Company, 1952. Print. 4. Bragdon, Henry W, and Samuel P. Mc Cutchen History of a Free people. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1981. Print. 5. Brennan, Robert Edward. The Image of His Maker. Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Company, 1948. Print. 6. Calef, Robert. More Wonders of invisible World. Salem Reprint, 1823.USA: Kessinger Publishing, March 2010. Print. 7. Carr, E.H.What is History? Ed. R W Davies. 2nd ed. London: Penguin Books: 1961. Print. 8. Commager, Henry Steele, and Allan Nevins, eds. The Heritage of America. Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1949. Print. 9. Cowie, Alexender. The Rise of American Novel. New York: American Book Company, 1948. Print. 10. Erskine, John. Leading American Novelists. New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1966. Print. 11. Fick, Leonard, J. The Light Beyond. Westminster: The Newman Press, 1955. Print.

Iqbal 130 12. Fiske, John. New France and New England. Boston: Houghton, Miffin, and Company, 1902. Print. 13. Gwin, Minrose C. Black and White Women of the Old South: The Peculiar Sisterhood in American Literature. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1985. Print. 14. Hall, Lawrence sergeant. Critic of the Society. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1944. Print. 15. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The House of Seven Gables. New York: The World Popular Classics, Books, Inc, 1951. Print. 16. - - -. “The Hall of Fantasy.” The Complete Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Newyork: Double day and company, 1959. Print. 17. - - -. The Scarlet Letter. London: Penguin Books, 1994. Print. 18. James, Henry. Hawthorne. London: Macmillan & co., Ltd., 1879. Print. 19. Lang, Amy Schrager. The Syntax of Class: Writing Inequality in Nineteenth Century America. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. Print. 20. Leopold, Richard W, and Arthur S. Link, eds. Problems in American History. New York: Prentice Hall, 1954. Print. 21. Maule, James Edward. Better than Hundred Witches Should Live. Published by James Edward Maule. Web. 17 Oct..2008. www.jembook.com,Rev.ed. 22. Mellow, James R. Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Times. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980. Print. 23. Nevins, Allan, and Henry Steele Commager, eds. A Short History of United States.5th ed. Newyork: Alfred. A. Knopf, 1968. Print.

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24. Parkes, Henry Bamford. The United States of America –A History. Rev.2nd ed. Calcutta: Scientific Book Agency, 1967. Print. 25. Pearson, Norman Holmes. The Blithedale Romance in The Complete Novels and Selected tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne. New York: The Modern Library, 1937. Print. 26. Peterson, Merrill D.“Jefferson and Religious Freedom.” The Atlantic Monthly. 274.6 (Dec 1994): 112-124.Print. 27. Stewart, Randall. Nathaniel Hawthorne-A Biography. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1948. Print. 28. Taylor, Stoehr. Hawthorne’s Mad Scientist. Hamden: Archon Books, 1978. Print. 29. Turner, Arlin. Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. Print. 30. Tuttleton, James. “Hawthorne’s “Secret.” [Jan 1985] Web. 2nd Apr. 2011. www.newcriterion.com. 31. Warren, Austin. Rage for Order. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1948. Print. 32. All references of Thomas Maule from Maule Family Newsletter, vol.8.2, (Mar 1988) Web. 17th Oct 2008. maulefamily.com.