y released from prison; their devilish cousin Judge
Jaffrey, a man fixated upon his own greed; and their distant cousin Phoebe, the sunny
country girl that will be their redemption. Also, the last surviving descendant of the
Maule lineage, the handsome Holgrave Maule, resides at the house.
In a compilation by F.O. Matthiessen, it is stated that the "main theme was not the
original curse on the house, but the curse that the Pyncheons have continued to bring
upon themselves". It is not Maule's death which needs avenging, but the anguish caused
by the Pyncheon family's greed. "Lust for wealth has held the Pyncheon' in its inflexible
grasp". What Hawthorne saw handed down through the generations were not material
unrealities such as gold and family position, but inescapable traits of character (145).
Even in the modern times of the novel, the family is ruled by greed and pride.
The characters are haunted by their own selfish desires; the sin of the past is reborn
through the greed of the family. Only the light-hearted "flower" Phoebe Pyncheon is
untouched by the family's inescapable destiny. And while Hepzibah and Clifford
Pyncheon suffer from illusions of grandeur, they lack the strength of will to achieve their
Hepzibah and Clifford, the "child-like" inhabitants of the house, suffer from the
"iron will" of Jaffrey's hunger for more wealth to add to his already abundant supply.
Jaffrey even subjected his own kindred to the harsh hell of prison and destitution just for
the inheritance of an elderly uncle. Even though approaching old age, Jaffrey would still
persecute his cousins for a wealth that would only pass momentarily through his hand
before his own death. He is the reincarnated villain from the past, come to continue the
curse of a bygone generation in a modern day setting. "[His] guilt is never r...