"Cliff Notes - House of Seven Gables" - читать интересную книгу автора (Cliff Notes)

THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES: PHOEBE

Phoebe is a pet name that Nathaniel Hawthorne reserved for
his wife, Sophia, the woman who drew him out of his long
isolation. It has long been thought that he modelled his
character on Sophia as a tribute to her influence in his life.

The name "Phoebe" comes from a Greek word meaning "radiant"
and the Phoebe of The House of the Seven Gables is always
described in images that are sunny, bright, and cheerful. She
dislikes anything that is obscure--a riddle, a mystery, or the
darkness.

When she comes from the country to live with her elderly
cousins at the house of the seven gables, she comes like
sunlight to a dark corner. The hearts of those isolated people
and the house itself are purified by her influence. And when
she leaves for a few days, the house and its inhabitants fall
again into darkness and decay.

Phoebe is not a complicated character, but she has been
called "a special kind of reformer." In chapter after chapter
you see her influencing the other characters in the novel. For
all of them she holds some redemptive power.

In the chapter entitled "May and November" Phoebe is compared
to Hepzibah. They are both women, but their ages, classes,
attitudes, and figures are very different. The aristocrat
meets--and learns from--the plebian. And yet they are both
Pyncheons. How is it that Phoebe has escaped Hepzibah's fate?

In "Clifford and Phoebe" you see her simple character
contrasted with the complex Clifford. In her naturalness, her
femininity, and her beauty, she is a symbol to Clifford of what
he lacked on earth.

And in "Maule's Well," "The Daguerreotypist," "Phoebe's Good
Bye," and in "The Flower of Eden," you see her with Holgrave.
His radical spirit is tempered and finally tamed by the kind and
simple young woman. And when, in the end, Phoebe and Holgrave
marry, it is not merely the union of a Pyncheon and a Maule, but
the union of heart and head.

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THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES: SETTING

The opening pages of The House of the Seven Gables chronicle
the life of the house for almost two hundred years, and begin in
the 1690s--a time of witchhunts. The main action of the story
starts in the 1850s, and takes place over the course of one