The House of the Seven Gables · Question
How does The House of the Seven Gables develop the theme of Fate and Free Will?
Answer
The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne develops Fate and Free Will across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
The novel examines whether the Pyncheons are doomed by ancestral fate or can exercise free will to escape their legacy, with Maule's curse and the recurring deaths suggesting a deterministic pattern that is ultimately broken by choice and love.
The curse and inherited guilt suggest a deterministic fate for the Pyncheons, yet individual actions, like the old bachelor's scruples, hint at the possibility of choice.
Evidence in the book
- The Old Pyncheon Family
The curse and inherited guilt suggest a deterministic fate for the Pyncheons, yet individual actions, like the old bachelor's scruples, hint at the possibility of choice.