Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The House of the Seven Gables"

Paper Summary:

This essay examines the binary opposition evident in the characters in Nathaniel Hawthorne's story, "The House of the Seven Gables". The paper explains that Hawthorn'es message, that posterity would benefit more from a strong set of plebeian values and ideals than from patrician inherited gold, was conveyed through his structured use of binary opposition in his characters.

From the Paper:

"With the Revolutionary War only sixty-eight years removed, aristocratic thinking is being challenged by the new democratic mind-set. During this turbulent, yet exciting, growth spurt in American history, Nathaniel Hawthorne publishes The House of the Seven Gables (1851). His masterful use of binary characters subtlety argues for the wholesomeness of plebeian democratic values rather than keeping the patrician aristocratic power structure. Hawthorne creates several characters that are in binary opposition to one another. Among other themes, these characters represent the theme of the rise of the plebeian over the ashes of the patrician."

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