The House of the Seven Gables shows Phoebe's conversation of others to domestic values. Pyncheons and Maules alike give up their corrupted values to embrace the domestic values represented by Phoebe. Hepzibah and Clifford become more active and less self-centered; Holgrave gives up manipulation for participation. The daguerreotypist does so not only when he declines to mesmerize Phoebe but also when he takes an active role to assist Clifford. Remaining with the corpse of the Judge, he takes the deads man’s picture as evidence to help prove Clifford’s innocence. Only after Holgrave’s previous refusal to assist the troubled Pyncheons is overcome does he declare his love for Phoebe. Having embraced the domestic virtues of love and active concern, he can now embrace the domestic life. These transformed characters that surround Phoebe, including Uncle Venner, form the new family unit …show more content…
Sophia Hawthorne wrote to her mother that the final three chapters held “unspeakable grace and beauty… throwing back upon the sterner tragedy of the commencement an ethereal light, and a dear home-loveliness and satisfaction.” Even Herman Melville, who was hardly a domestic advocate, admitted, “The marriage of Phoebe with the daguerreotypist is a fine stroke, because of his turning out to be a Maule.”
Reading the novel in a domestic light clarifies the conclusion in one sense, but does it affect our appreciation for the work as a whole? Hyatt H. Waggoner points out that while perhaps Hawthorne did not intend the ending to be ironic, the modern reader has difficulty taking it as seriously for two reasons. First, we bring to our reading a stubborn skepticism directed toward Hawthorne’s idea of the redemptive power of married love. Second, because Hawthorne believes so strongly in this ideology, he spends too little time developing Holgrave’s and Phoebe's