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To the contemporaries of John Bunyan The
Pilgrim's Progress was a novel, a fairy tale, and an
adventure romance. To a modern reader it is above all an allegory in
which the author expands the metaphor of life as a journey to
allegorize the life of a Protestant Christian.
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The Pilgrim's Progress tells
of the flight of a Christian from the City of Destruction. As he is
fleeing from home with the burden of his sins upon his back, he falls
into the Slough (a deep ditch) of Despond, but frees himself with the
assistance of Help, passes through a little wicket-gate, and so begins
his journey to the Celestial City. He loses his burden at he Cross,
fights with Apollyon in the Valley of Humiliation, is terrified in the
Valley of the Shadow of Death, suffers in Vanity Fair, is almost
overcome in Doubting Castle by Giant Despair, but at last reaches the
Delectable Mountains and the Land of Beulah. He then crosses the River
of Death and is received into the Celestial City. In the course of his
long journey or pilgrimage, Christian meets Pliable, Mr. Worldly-Wise,
Talkative, Lord Hategood, Mr. Facing-both-ways, and others, all
allegorical character, but very real. |
