A Literary Analysis Of Clifford's Credibility

Aside from being distant, Clifford is shrouded with misfortune that it is partially to blame for the melancholy he feels and expresses. Having growing up in a sort of looming and gloomy house, that had been cursed by Matthew Maule centuries ago. Clifford is no longer the energetic young man he once was anymore when he returns home. When he arrived, in Phoebe's eyes, she “saw an elderly personage, in an old-fashioned dressing-gown of faded damask, and wearing his gray… hair of an unusual length” (103). Living in jail for thirty year, no matter who anyone is, would be very difficult much less someone who thoroughly enjoys beauty and luxury. Matheson expresses that “Clifford is a figure of melancholia, of faded hopes and unsatisfied desires”
(2). Although i would personally say that Hepzibah has pulled through more misery and hardship than Clifford, he very much will not get the chance to show his full potential clearly stated by the narrator at the end of the book and that Matheson further emphasizes.