In my mind, I see it as, there is not just one person to blame for what happened between the Maule and Pyncheon families. I think that it is a result of both sides not doing what was right. Reading through The House of the Seven Gables, we see that the curse, which Matthew Maule declared before his death, was not a real curse. When the Colonel dies, the people who witnessed the event now place a higher power on the final words of Matthew Maule, giving them the aura of prophecy. In the book, Mr. Holgrave suspects that Matthew Maule was not a witch. Rather, he knew the Pyncheon family had a genetic tendency towards strokes, along with the symptoms of “bloody neck”. With this information and careful wording, people saw Maule as someone who…show more content… Like many of us, they found that living in their sin is comfortable. Many times people would much rather live a comfortable lie, than live out a harsh truth. It is not pleasant having to take responsibility for your choices, but it will help you grow. Throughout this story, the Seven Deadly Sins are present in the characters. Each person in this story struggles with one of those sins. The author shows us the character flaws that many people really struggle with. But as a whole, when looking at the Pyncheon family and all of the Seven Deadly Sins, I believe they struggled a lot with greed and pride. Up until this point, they had everything handed to them on a silver platter. They believed they did not have to do anything to try and improve their situation until it was an absolute necessity. They were also never content with what they had, they always needed more. We see an example of this excessive greed in Judge Pyncheon when he let this greed control his life. Throughout his life, he spent all his effort to find the “missing piece” of his inheritance. He already owned a nice house and had plenty of money to live comfortably for the rest of his life, but he chose to let his greed stop him from enjoying what he already…show more content… It displays a fantastic example of what a little amount of sin can snowball into if left unchecked. It shows that all it takes is one bad decision to affect others for generations. For example, the mistake of Cliffords' Great-Great-Uncle caused both Clifford and Hepzibah to miss out on the thrill of life. Thanks to the poor choices made by their ancestor, they have lived their lives in solitude. They have become a haggard old man and old woman who are stuck in a self-inflicted prison. Their entire lives have been dampened by the greed of a single person who was so intent on getting whatever he wanted. If only one person had decided to stand for what was right and point out the faults of the wealthy Colonel, a lot of fear and hurt could have been