# The House of the Seven Gables — Character guide

> Key figures in The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

- [Clifford Pyncheon](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/clifford_pyncheon.md): A sensitive, elderly man who returns to the family home after a long imprisonment.
- [Hepzibah Pyncheon](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/hepzibah_pyncheon.md): The reclusive, impoverished spinster who opens a shop to support herself and Clifford.
- [Phoebe Pyncheon](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/phoebe_pyncheon.md): A cheerful, practical young cousin who brings light and order to the gloomy house.
- [Holgrave](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/holgrave.md): A young daguerreotypist and reformer who boards at the Pyncheon house.
- [Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/judge_jaffrey_pyncheon.md): The wealthy, hypocritical cousin who covets the family fortune and torments Clifford.
- [Matthew Maule](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/matthew_maule.md): The executed wizard whose curse haunts the Pyncheon family across generations.
- [Alice Pyncheon](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/alice_pyncheon.md): A beautiful, proud Pyncheon heiress from the past who was humbled by a Maule.
- [Uncle Venner](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/uncle_venner.md): An elderly, philosophical neighbor who befriends the Pyncheon household.
- [Colonel Pyncheon](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/colonel_pyncheon.md): The ruthless Puritan founder of the Pyncheon family fortune and house.
- [Ned Higgins](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/ned_higgins.md): A young boy who is Hepzibah's first customer at her shop.
- [Dixey](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/dixey.md): A local man who comments on Hepzibah's shop and the Pyncheon family.
- [Scipio](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/scipio.md): A Black servant in the Pyncheon household during Colonel Pyncheon's time.
- [Mrs. Gubbins](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/mrs_gubbins.md): A neighbor who visits Hepzibah's shop and gossips.
- [Old Maid Pyncheon](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/old_maid_pyncheon.md): A deceased elderly Pyncheon relative who left a small inheritance to Hepzibah.
- [Chanticleer](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/chanticleer.md): A rooster kept by Uncle Venner, often heard crowing in the garden.
- [Jim Crow](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters/jim_crow.md): A Black street musician briefly seen near the Pyncheon house.

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_house_of_the_seven_gables_se/characters