In an attempt to write a more cheerful novel than his brooding Scarlet Letter in a time when optimism was the only quality shared by all, Hawthorne writes, what i critics today call it a contrived ending for his House of Seven Gables. When all seems darkest, when the curse of the past points its bloody dagger at the new generation and all hope has failed, Hawthorne steps in to become his own savior, designing wings for his beloved characters so they can fly towards a fairytale ending. Hawthorne becomes his Deus ex machina, leaving stardust in his eyes and the dry taste of disgust in the mouths of his critics. Why would Hawthorne do this after the critical success of The Scarlet Letter? In a letter to his publisher, James T. Fields, Hawthorne wrote: "[The House of Seven Gables] darkens terribly towards the end, but I will do my best to shed some setting sun on it." This letter shows Hawthorne's conscious choice to force a happy ending to his story. Critics give three reasons for allowing this forced change, 1) Hawthorne's conflict as a writer, 2) the lure of the market, and 3) failed language and brazenness on the part of the author. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay While writing The House of the Seven Gables, Hawthorne discovered a conflict between the writer he wanted to be and the writer he had become. The book had gotten out of his control "darkens terribly towards the close" from what Hawthorne had intended. At the beginning of writing House of the Seven Gables, Hawthorne wrote in a letter: "I think it a work more characteristic of my mind, and more appropriate and natural to me, than The Scarlet Letter; but for this very reason, it is likely to interest the audience.” Here Hawthorne is apparently less interested in the audience than in the fidelity of his own temperament. Nina Baym wrote: “Hawthorne disliked his inability to participate in the hopeful temperament of his times. He wanted to be a writer of happy books. He had struggled, unsuccessfully, to lighten the darkness of The Scarlet Letter. He was sure that his readers would not like such a dark story. When he liked it, he persisted in his discomfort, stating that such a dark story was neither healthy nor natural" (172). Baym shows how more than just reader response has been involved since The Scarlet Letter became successful. Apparently, a censor interior, rather than the desire to please his audience, directed him to be a writer of happy stories, and judged him wanting when he did not. Many critics disagree with this interpretation of the cheerful ending of Hawthorne. They point out that, despite the moderate success of The Scarlet Letter, he was still in financial difficulty and knew all too well that his reputation for squalor was an obstacle to acceptance by a wider audience. Michael T. Gilmore wrote : “Hawthorne evidently overlooked his own warnings about the evils of wealth. The happy ending of The House of Seven Gables may arise less from authorial oversight than from market demands. By ending his book as he did, Hawthorne gave in to the world's wish that all would be well in the stories and it would repay him" (172). Forced by the pressures of the literary market to cheer up his stories for his readers, Hawthorne had become as the character he hated most in The House of the Seven Gables, Jaffrey Pyncheon In chapter 18, the angry taunt of Jaffery's corpse, we readers can 1981, 261