Hawthorne, Nathaniel,--1804-1864--Characters

Since its publication, critics and readers have been unsatisfied with the conclusion of The House of the Seven Gables and have viewed it as either inconsistent or a failure. After an analysis of the language, actions, and patterns of imagery in this work, along with The Scarlet Letter and The Blithedale Romance, it had become clear that there is in fact consistency to the conclusion of this text. These patterns suggest Hawthorne's conception of an ultimate hierarchical organization that favors characters who exhibit specific attributes. This organizational pattern can be disrupted through methods of recreating hierarchical order. Such attempts create a false hierarchy, doomed to failure, and corrupt those characters, keeping them from ultimately realizing their true place in the hierarchy. It is only at the end of The House of the Seven Gables that the false hierarchists are punished or redeemed and the naturally hierarchic are ultimately rewarded.