Parable

parable: a brief story from which a lesson may be drawn; Jesus used the parable to teach his followers moral truths. The parable of the Good Samaritan is an example

"There was a message brought one day, from the worshipful Gervayse Pyncheon to young Matthew Maule, the carpenter, desiring his immediate presence at the House of the Seven Gables...He meant to humble Alice, not to kill her, but he had taken a woman's delicate sould into his rde gripe, to play with;-and she was dead!"
                                                                                      -The House of the Seven Gables
                                                                                              by Nathaniel Hawthorne

This parable is a story read by Holgrave to Phoebe. It recounts the saga of a certain Alice Pyncheon. One of the morals of the story is the harmfulness of pride. Gervayse Pyncheon is proud and ends up losing his daughter because of it. Alice Pyncheon is proud and ends up losing her life because of it. Matthew Maule is proud and ends up causing Alice's death because of it. All the pride and thinking of oneself as better than the rest is rewarded with death in one form or another. Hawthorne is telling the reader that peace is found in the equality of people, not in the ranked social classes prevalent at the time.