One of the most striking features of the Gothic genre is the style of its architectural settings. In the early Gothic period these were often medievalist, involving ancient stone buildings with elaborate 'Gothic' arches, buttresses, passages and crypts. This would become the stage production of the Gothic, replete with props of hidden doors and secret chambers, incomprehensible mazes, talking portraits and trapdoors. (Allen Lloyd-Smith 7)Seven Gables Gothic ElementThe House of the Seven Gables, by Nathanial Hawthorn, is filled with Gothic tropes and elements. Since the story takes place in the Pyncheon house or rather the Maule estate, I will focus on the features of the house, which are Gothic. This is not to say that the story is Gothic solely because of the house, but rather that the house and its properties are the setting for the Gothic events. Parts of the house are described throughout the story, mostly in small junks reminiscent of the past. . The narrator passes the Pyncheon house. He calls it an “antique” and a “weathered building” (11). Right now, the house may not seem so gothic, but rather just an old mansion. However, with a more detailed description of the house it becomes more obvious. The best description of the house is found in the first chapter: It stood there, a little set back from the line of the street, but with pride and not with modesty. Its entire visible exterior was adorned with bizarre figures, conceived in the grotesquery of Gothic fantasy, and drawn or stamped in the glittering plaster, composed of lime, pebbles, and pieces of glass, with which the woodwork of the walls was covered. On each side, the seven gables pointed sharply towards the sky and presented the appearance of an entire fraternity middle of paper ...... discover it, one summer afternoon, while I was idle and dreamed of the house, a long, long time ago. But the mystery eludes me. (328).The secret of the trapdoor as well as the door itself, which is hidden behind a portrait of Colonel Pyncheon, are both Gothic elements. Clifford lost memories while trying to come forward and the judges are fighting to make those memories known. It is found in many Gothic stories. In Gothic novels, evil will follow evil and darkness will fall on the house. As sturdy as the house is, it would appear to be falling into disrepair much more quickly than it actually has. The house, built by the "sorcerer's" son, is strong and capable of standing as long as it holds a secret and a cure. It is only when the curse is broken and the Pyncheon family abandons the property that it takes on the idealized bleak appearance that the narrator paints at the beginning of the story...