Who is Hepzibah Pyncheon?

Hepzibah is an elderly Pyncheon spinster whose scowl hides gentleness. Impoverished, she opens a cent-shop in the house’s gabled wing while caring for returning brother Clifford and resenting wealthy Judge Jaffrey. She embodies class decline — aristocratic habits without income — and inherited guilt’s daily weight.

Students often reduce her to comic grimace; Hawthorne gives her dignity in shop chapters and devotion to Clifford. Link Hepzibah to decay-and-the-cent-shop and appearance-vs-reality when her kindness contradicts her face.