"The truth is as I say! Furthermore, the original perpetrator and father of this mischief appears to have perpetuated himself, and still walks the street - at least, his very image, in mind and body - with the fairest prospect of transmitting to posterity as rich and as wretched an inheritance as he received! Do you remember the daguerreotype, and its resemblance to the old portrait" (Hawthorne 190)?
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables is a novel centered around family tradition and age-old superstition. Through time, it appears that the current generation closely resembles its golden ancestor, at least in one case. Just like Phoebe in the novel, people might not catch or be taken off-guard by the quote above from Holgrave, the daguerreotypist, who has remained an omniscient friend to the ancestral Pyncheon family. In reality, Holgrave is comparing the greed of a current family descendant to the greed of the family's grand ancestor.
In the current family generation, most seem to greatly differ from their grand ancestor. However, Judge Pyncheon seems to have fallen into his greed and pride, just as the first Pyncheon descendant. Holgrave is telling Phoebe that the Judge is just a reflection of the of the grand, greedy ancestor. It was because of him the House was cursed, and it's because of the Judge the family name remains cursed. Judge Pyncheon buries himself in his inheritance, ignorant of his House's rot. Evidence is clear of Holgrave's comparison when he compares his daguerreotype of the Judge to the antique painting of the grand ancestor. The Judge robs while the House sobs.
Word Count: 200
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