The House of the Seven Gables

Chapter 1 opens with the narrator describing a house in “one of our New England towns” (5). The house has seven gables and is known as the “Pyncheon house,” located on Pyncheon Street, with a wide elm in front, which everyone calls “the Pyncheon elm.” The narrator states that the house has always seemed sentient, not only from the outside but also from within. The narrator then provides a brief history of how the house came to be.

Pyncheon Street used to be Maule’s Lane, which was a cow path in the 1600s that ran in front of the cottage of Matthew Maule. Maule built his cottage in this spot—then far away from the town—because of a nearby spring of soft water, rare on this Massachusetts peninsula where the Puritans first lived. After 30 or 40 years, though, the town encroached on the cottage, and the property became desirable to Colonel Pyncheon, who asserted rights to the land and an adjoining tract of land. Pyncheon was determined, but so was Maule, who defended this bit of land that he had “hewn out of the primeval forest, to be his garden-ground and homestead” (7).

Maule was later accused of witchcraft. Colonel Pyncheon was among those pushing harder for these executions, and he was particularly vehement about Maule. Pyncheon watched the hanging of Maule from horseback, and right before he was executed, Maule pointed his finger at Pyncheon, declaring, “God will give him blood to drink!” (8). Both history and “fireside tradition,” the narrator insists, have preserved these exact words. The narrator desires that the reader should learn from the terrors of the witchcraft trials not to trust figures invested with power.

After Maule is killed, Pyncheon tears down his house and hires Maule’s son to build what will become the house of the seven gables. To celebrate the finished construction of the house, Pyncheon throws a party. He does not show up to greet his guests, however, so they break into his dressing room, where they find him dead at his desk, with blood in his beard and on his shirt. Some of the guests thought they saw someone fleeing the scene, but no one is certain of what they saw.

For the next 150 years, the Pyncheons own and live in the house. The colonel had purchased a huge tract of land in Maine, but his family is never able to claim it, though they keep trying. In the generation before the novel begins, one of the Pyncheons, Uncle Jaffrey, is allegedly killed by his nephew Clifford, who is convicted and imprisoned. Another nephew of Uncle Jaffrey becomes a judge and builds a house on the outskirts of town. The inheritance of the uncle goes almost entirely to this nephew, Judge Pyncheon (Cousin Jaffrey), with his niece, Hepzibah, receiving rights to live in the house of the seven gables. The only other Pyncheons remaining are the judge’s son, who is traveling in Europe, and a 17-year-old girl, the daughter of one of the judge’s cousins.

Unlike the Pyncheons, the Maules are unclear of their family history and legacy, and many of them do not even know that they are of Maule descent. The townspeople believe that the Maules may have supernatural powers inherited from Matthew.

The chapter concludes by returning to another description of the physical house and its surroundings.

The narrator introduces the reader to Hepzibah Pyncheon as she wakes up in the morning. Hepzibah looks to people as if she has a permanent scowl, but it is only the result of her constant squinting due to near-sightedness. In fact, she is very tender-hearted.

As she is getting ready for the day, she repeatedly looks at a miniature portrait that she sighs over. This is not a portrait of her former lover, as she has never had a lover. As the sun rises, she heads downstairs, where a map of the Maine property the Pyncheons believe they should own hangs alongside a portrait of Colonel Pyncheon.

Hepzibah is becoming increasingly agitated as the sun rises. She has decided to reopen the little shop on the front gable, which a relative had run years ago. Hepzibah is desperate for income, so she has cleaned up the shop and has purchased small items, such as toys and gingerbread, to sell. She sets up her shop, but she is nervous and often stumbles about, knocking over her goods. After many delays, she finally forces herself to open the shop. She then runs into the living room, crying.

Mr. Holgrave, who rents a room in the house and is a daguerreotypist, is Hepzibah’s first customer. He comes into the shop early in the morning to congratulate her and assures her that she is courageous. He tries to buy some biscuits, but Hepzibah refuses to take his money and gives him the biscuits for free. Next, a schoolboy drops in and tries to buy some gingerbread, but Hepzibah again refuses his money. He comes back later in the day, though, and she does charge him, feeling a flush of exhilaration in gaining her first actual sale.

The exhilaration does not last, though, and she overhears two men talking about her and her scowl. Many people drop into the shop during the day, but most of them are disappointed, as Hepzibah has not stocked what people want, such as yeast and root beer.

Toward the end of the day, she sees a wealthy young woman walking down the street and is briefly but deeply irritated by her presence, wondering how much of the world is required to maintain such ethereal delicacy. Hepzibah asks God for forgiveness for her thoughts regarding this woman, wondering if the shop will ruin her morally and religiously without bringing in much income at all.

Judge Pyncheon walks by the shop and pauses to take a look at it, but he does not go in. Though there is nothing exceptional about his clothing or his cane, he has an air of respectability about him, and his clothing seems to fit him perfectly.

An older man referred to as “Uncle Venner” by the townspeople, who makes his living by doing small jobs, stops in to provide encouragement to Hepzibah. He has just seen Judge Pyncheon and intimates that Hepzibah’s dire state is tied to the judge, her cousin. Hepzibah assures him, however, that her state of affairs is not her cousin’s fault. She and Uncle Venner get along well.

By the end of the day, Hepzibah has made a little money, but she has also given away a lot of her merchandise. A young woman arrives at the front (not shop) door. It is Phoebe, the daughter of Hepzibah’s cousin in the countryside. Hepzibah decides that Phoebe can stay for one night only.