Hello and welcome to the Discourse. The Pilgrim’s Progress is a Christian allegory which means that at one hand, the book tells a story of a man leaving the City of Destruction to the Celestial City of Heaven, at another hand, it tells about the general life of everyman and how one should strive for a better pious Christian life away from sins. It is a two-part book. Book 1 was published in the year 1678 and Book 2 was published in 1684.
The full title of Book 1 is The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come. John Bunyan was in jail when he wrote this book. One day when he was sleeping in jail, he saw a dream and he reproduced the idea of that dream in form of a book. The opening line of The Pilgrim’s Progress is ‘As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain place where was a den, and laid me down in that place to sleep; and as I slept, I dreamed a dream ’. The den in this sentence symbolizes the imprisonment where Bunyan was jailed. The entire book 1 is presented as dream sequences narrated by an omniscient narrator, a narrator who already knows everything about the story, characters, and events, and just letting the readers know.
Summary of Book 1
In the City of Destruction, there lived a man who was born with the name Graceless. The city stands as a symbol of the entire world as it is, with all of its sins, corruption, and sorrows. Like other people, Graceless was also leading an ignorant life while engaging in all sorts of sins and suffering the consequences. One day, he got hold of a book (Bible) and as he read and learned it, he became Christian and that became his new name. His wife is Christina and the couple has two children. As he continued reading his book, he realized a certain burden on his back that he felt was difficult to keep but couldn’t reduce. He realized that this burden will cause him to sink into Hell. It was so unbearable that he sought help to get relief. He got help from another man named Evangelist who directed him to the Wicket Gate. Christian fails to see the Wicket Gate which is at a distance, so, Evangelist directs him to the shining light that Christian can see. Evangelist tells him to go to the Wicket Gate where Christian could deliver his burden.
Christian returns to his home and tells everything to his wife Christina. He tells her that he is leaving home to go to the Wicket Gate and she must also accompany him. However, Christina and their children mock Christian and discourage him from going to the Wicket Gate. Christian feels sad but he is determined. He leaves his home, wife, and children and goes towards the Shining Light. Two of his neighbors, Obstinate and Pliable run before him to get him back to his home and Christina. However, they fail to persuade Christian to return. Obstinate returns disgusted while Christian manages to persuade Pliable to accompany him on his pilgrimage. Pliable decides to go with Christian hoping to take advantage of the Paradise that Christian claims lie at the end of his journey.
During their journey towards the shining light representing the Wicket Gate, they fall into the Slough of Despond. It is a boggy-mire-like swamp in which when pilgrims fall, their doubts, fears, temptations, lusts, shames, guilts, and sins of their past become so heavy that they often drown in the mud of the swamp. Both Pliable and Christian struggle in the swamp and Pliable decides to get back to the bank and he abandons Christian. Christian continues to struggle against doubts, fears, temptations, lusts, shames, guilts, and sins and he is helped out by another pilgrim named Help who pulls him out of the swamp. Help says that the mud of the swamp is made of decadence, scum, and filth of sin, but the ground is good at the narrow Wicket Gate.
Christian continues his journey towards the Wicket Gate which allegorically represents Christ. Soon he meets Mr. Worldly Wiseman who extols the virtue of secular ethics and persuades Christian to seek another way to get rid of his burden. He says that Christian should visit the Village of Morality where he will get help from Mr. Legality and his son Civility in getting rid of his burden. Christian has already observed the difficulties of his journey so he decides to take the advice of Mr. Worldly Wise and goes towards the Village of Morality. Near Mount Sinai, Christian again meets Evangelist who exposes Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Legality and Civility for the frauds they are. Christian sees that the home of Legality is hanging over the road and threatens anyone trying to pass the road. The mountain is also flashing with fire. Evangelist says that they often try to misdirect pilgrims from choosing the right path. Christian understands his fault and returns to his path towards the Wicket Gate. As he approaches the Wicket Gate, Beelzebub’s archers fire arrows at him from the Beelzebub castle near the Wicket Gate. The Gatekeeper Goodwill of Wicket Gate saves him and shows "straight and narrow" King's Highway that he needs to follow further. Goodwill represents Jesus who directs Christian to the ‘place of deliverance.’
As Christian moves forward, he reaches the House of Interpreter where he is shown some emblems showing pictures and tableaux of Christian life and faith. Finally, Christian reaches the ‘place of Deliverance’ (allegorically the cross of Cavalry and sepulcher of Christ and Christian gets rid of the burden of his sins. As soon as he releases the burden of sins, three angels appear in front of him and offer him the greeting of peace, new garments, and a scroll as a passport into the Celestial City. Celestial City allegorically represents Heaven and now, Christian has a new motive to reach Heaven. As he proceeds, he meets three men named Simple, Sloth, and Presumption. Christian, now being freed from his burden, tries to help them. However, none of the three heeds to his advice. As Christian continues his journey and reaches the Hill of Difficulties, he again meets two men named Formality and Hypocrisy. All the three reaches near the Hill and as they try to cross the two bypass to the Hill named Danger and Destruction, Formality and Hypocrisy perish while proving that they are false Christians. Christian successfully crosses the bypasses and continues further uphill. As he reaches atop the Hill, he feels tired and falls asleep. While asleep, he loses his scroll and when he wakes up, he is forced to back down and bring the scroll back. When he returns back to the top of the Hill of Difficulty, he meets two weak pilgrims named Mistrust and Timorous. They inform him about the great lions of the Palace Beautiful. Soon they meet a porter named Watchful. As they reach Palace Beautiful, Watchful informs that all of them are chained and are being observed to test their faith. Christian is frightful of lions and tries to avoid them with help of Watchful while Mistrust and Timorous succumb. Palace Beautiful is a place made by God for the rest of the pilgrims. Christian spends three days here and leaves after getting new clothes and Armour of God that will further help him fight against a dragon-like demon named Apollyon. Christian fights against Apollyon for over half a day in the Valley of Humiliation. Apollyon is the Lord and God of the City of Destruction. At last, Christian manages to stab and wound Apollyon with his two-edged sword allegorically representing the Bible. Wounded Apollyon then spreads his wings and flies away.
Christian continues his journey and reaches the Valley of the Shadow of Death. As Christian faces the intense gloom, terror, and demons of the Valley of the Shadow of Death, he hears a voice reciting the Twenty Third Psalm of his book. Later on, he learns that this voice was of another pilgrim named Faithful who becomes his friend. He continues his journey and reaches the exit of the Valley as the sun rises. Just outside the valley, he meets another pilgrim named Faithful. Just like Christian, Faithful was also a former resident of the City of Destruction. Together, they continue their journey and reach Vanity Fair. It is a place made by Beelzebub to lure the pilgrims. The place has everything tasteful and entertaining corrupted with all sorts of sins attractively. Faithful, and Christian successfully avoid any deterrence and ignore the goods of Vanity Fair. Both of them soon is arrested by the soldiers of Beelzebub for attacking their King, disrespecting their God, and disdain for the business and goods of the Fair. Faithful is executed by burning at the stake as a martyr. As he dies, a celestial chariot appears and takes him away to the Celestial City. Christian still has a long way to reach there. As Christian moans about the loss of Faithful, a resident of Vanity Fair named Hopeful takes his side and accompanies him on his journey.
As Christian and Hopeful proceed, a false pilgrim named By-Ends and his friends start following them to take advantage. Christian and Hopeful reach the mountain Lucre where the owner of the mountain and its silver mines named Demas offers them all the silver of his mines. Christian realizes the trickery of Demas and they decide to avoid the mines. However, the false pilgrim By-Ends and his friend get in the lure and perish in the mines of Lucre.
Christian and Hopeful travel further on the rough, stony stretch of road and soon they see an easier, green By-Path meadow. They decide to leave the road and travel through the meadow. Soon a rainstorm engulfs them and they are forced to spend the night in the shadows of trees. As the morning sun arises they are captured by Giant Despair and his wife Giantess Diffidence. Giant Despair takes them to his Doubting Castle where they are tortured, beaten, and starved. The Giant and Giantess want them to commit suicide as a result of the torture. Christian and Hopeful resist and continue to suffer their ordeal. Soon Christian realizes that he has a key called Promise that can help him in opening up all the gates of Doubting Castle so that they can escape. Using the key and Giant’s weakness against sunlight, they escape the Doubting Castle.
As they move further, they reach the Delectable Mountains where they meet some shepherds who show them the wonders of Immanuel’s Land. They are also cautioned against sinning by the sights of Hill Error also known as Mountain Caution. The shepherds offer them their perspective glasses by using which, Christian and Hopeful manage to see the Celestial City from the top of Mount Clear. The shepherds then pay farewell while cautioning Hopeful and Christian against Flatterer and the Enchanted Ground. As Christian and Hopeful leave the Delectable Mountains, they reach a crossroad and wonder which way to proceed. A man dressed in white cloth appears before them and they mistake him as the ‘shining one.’ The man leads them to a path and soon they find themselves trapped in a net. Then Christian realizes that the man must be the Flatterer. The real shining one (Angel) then appears and rescues them. The Angel punishes them for following Flatterer and shows them the right path.
As Christian and Hopeful proceed on the right path, they meet a man named Atheist. He says that Heaven and God do not exist. Christian and Hopeful remember the shepherds and the sight of the Celestial City they saw through their telescope and ignore him. As they proceed, they meet another man named Wanton Professor who is chained by the ropes of seven demons. He takes them to the Lake of Fire (Hell). Seeing this, Christian remembers another man whom he met whose name was Little Faith. His all belongings were stolen by thieves and he was forced to suffer despondency. However, he managed to save his scroll and jewels that he kept safe throughout the journey.
As Christian and Hopeful proceed, they meet a boy named Ignorance. Hopeful and Christian try to convince him to follow the right path and accept God. But Ignorance believes that his own good deeds will take him to the Celestial City and he does not need to follow the path of Hopeful and Christian. Ignorance continues on his own path and crosses the River of Death on the ferry boat of Vain Hope while avoiding the dangers of the river by wading across it. As soon as he reaches the Gate of Celestial City, the shining ones appear and ask for the passport that he didn’t have because he didn’t come through the Wicket Gate and Kings Highway. The Lord of the Celestial City orders the angels to take Ignorance to one of the by-ways to Hell and throw him in.
As Christian and Hopeful observe all this, they get involved in a deep discourse over the nature of their salvation and manage to overcome the dangers of Enchanted Ground about which the shepherds had warned them. After crossing the Enchanted Ground, they reach the Land of Beulah where they prepare themselves to cross the dreadful River of Death on foot to Mount Zion from where they could reach the Gates of Celestial City. Christian suffers while wading through the River of Death because of his past sins and is about to be drowned. However, Hopeful helps him in reaching the other bank. As they reach the gates of Celestial City, they show their passports to the Gatekeepers, and then they are welcomed into the Celestial City. Thus, the journey of the pilgrims reaches its heavenly end.
Second Book
The second book of the Pilgrim’s Progress talks about Christina, her children, and the maiden Mercy. Christian’s wife realizes her mistake in not following her husband and decides to proceed on the pilgrimage with her son. A maiden Mercy accompanies them. All of them go through the same difficulties of the journey that were mentioned in book 1. However, they make an additional stoppage at Gaius’ Inn. Furthermore, this second set of Pilgrims takes a longer time because the four sons of Christina get married during the journey and their spouses accompany them. At the House of Interpreter, these pilgrims get the help of Greatheart, a servant of the Interpreter who guides them to the Celestial City. Greatheart kills four demons on the path namely Giant Grim, Giant Maul, Giant Slay-Good, and Giant Despair, and participates in the slaying of a monster called Legion that terrorizes the city of Vanity Fair.
So this is it about The Pilgrim’s Progress. We will continue to discuss the history of English Literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards.
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