THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES Chapter 12 The Daguerreotypist

Tonight we peel back the moss-grown layers of Nathaniel Hawthorne's gothic masterpiece, The House of the Seven Gables, to examine a most peculiar resident in Chapter 12, "The Daguerreotypist."  While the shattered Clifford seeks rest, dreaming of a childhood long lost, Phœbe finds herself drawn into the company of the enigmatic Holgrave—a man whose past is a kaleidoscope of identities, ranging from a traveling peddler of cologne-water to a public lecturer on Mesmerism. Though he speaks of a bright future, Holgrave is obsessed with the odious and abominable Past, which he likens to a giant's dead body weighing upon the living and freezing the heart with its white, immitigable face. He gazes upon the Pyncheon legacy with the cold eye of a surgeon, suggesting that the very walls of the house, crystallized with the discontent and anguish of generations, should be purified with fire until only ashes remain. As the late sunbeams gild the seven gables, the artist prepares to reveal a family legend he has penned, leaving us to wonder: is this young man a friend to the household, or a visionary seeking to finally bury the dead?. Credits Narration and Production by Gizelle Erickson Executive Producer Jon Hagadorn Music: Thanks to Sound Gallery By Dmitry Taras "Scary Horror Music" LibriVox recording read by: Mark F. Smith