English Literature I

John Bunyan

He was from Bedford, north of London, and was alive between 1628-1688.

He went to a grammar school and didn’t go to university.

His mom and sister died early in his life and his dad remarried 3 times; he fought during the civil war but he was summoned by the parliamentary army as a Roundhead, he served in Ireland too and when he came back he worked in his family’s shop as a tinker.

He was part of a protestant family but was not passionate about religion, but in his life there was a moment of conversion when he met John Gifford, a baptist.

Baptists thought that people should not be baptized during the beginning of the life of a child but when they are actually capable of choosing if they want to get baptized or not. So people should always be baptized when they’re an adult.

In 1660 he started preaching and in 1661 was arrested until 1672.

During this period of time he wrote a lot, especially about religion.

He wrote:

- Grace abounding: it is a spiritual autobiography

of the moment of his conversion. In this book we have all his thoughts and how he was tempted by God to convert, how God talked to him etc. He had visions of God, angels and biblical figures. The Pilgrim's Progress was written when he was in prison, the book is divided in two parts, published in two different moments. (we only do part 1) When he was in prison, one day he had a dream and he reproduced the idea of the dream in the form of a book. The entire book 1 is presented as a dream sequence narrated by an omniscient narrator, who already knows everything about the story. It is a religious work, with a Baptist background. The fact that men are depraved is the center of the story. This was his most popular work, an immediate best-seller. The language is simple and informal. The Pilgrim's Progress is a Christian allegory which means that on one hand, the book tells a story of a man leaving the City of Destruction to the Celestial city. On the other hand, it tells about the generallife of everyman and how one should strive for a better pious Christian life away from sins.
Part 1 is about the protagonist of the novel, Christian, who starts his journey to the celestial city and through the path he meets people.
Part 2 is about Christian's wife, he had a family that he leaves at the beginning of the novel. So in book 2 Christian's wife, Christiana, starts the journey herself. She doesn't do her journey all alone but becomes part of a group of Christians. Part 2 is about a kind of a group journey, not a solo experience.
Christian and Christiana are two proper names but also represent religious faith.
= Allegory
It is still an allegory but it is more realistic in terms of the journey.
Criticism said: Part I is better than Part 2.
We're only gonna study Part I.
- What's an allegory?
Usually it's formed of images, signs, representations that allude to some universal truths, abstract meanings such as morality, religion, politics, theology etc.

Images that are used in an allegory are arbitrary, you can choose to represent an abstract concept anyway you want. Allegories are formed by a system of images which are connected, it's a system of signs.

Examples: Divine Comedy (Dante); Animal Farm (George Orwell).

Style:

The apology is in poetry, written in rhyme couplets. He uses poetry here and in other little moments in the poem itself.

PLOT

Selection 0 - Author's Apology - Similitudes and metaphors

When Bunyan began to write he didn't expect the book in "such a mood", he was writing about Christian's life when he "fell into an Allegory". He didn't expect to show this book to anybody, writing was just an activity for the spare time. Bunyan's apology takes the form of a long poem, with similitudes, metaphors and many references to the bible.

It is not an apology as an admission of wrongdoing but an attempt to defend one's ideas or method. In particular, he defended his

Il suo metodo allegorico viene difeso nonostante le scuse per l'uso eccessivo di allegorie, essendo lui protestante. Il personaggio "Goodwill" indica la strada e li esorta a continuare. Nella città della Distruzione viveva un uomo di nome "Graceless". Sezione 1 - Il pellegrinaggio di Christian. La città rappresenta il mondo intero così com'è, con tutti i suoi peccati, corruzione e dolori. Conduceva una vita ignorante come tutti gli altri, ma un giorno prese in mano un libro, la Bibbia, e leggendola e imparandola divenne Cristiano, questo era il suo nuovo nome. Sua moglie si chiamava Christina e la coppia aveva quattro figli. Continuando a leggere, sentì un peso sulla schiena e si rese conto che quel peso lo avrebbe fatto affondare nell'Inferno. Era insopportabile, quindi cercò aiuto per trovare sollievo e incontrò Evangelista che lo indirizzò verso la Porta Malvagia. Christian non riesce a vedere questa Porta Malvagia, ma riesce a vedere una luce, quindi...

Evangelist directs him to the shining light. He told Christian to go there so he could deliver his burden. When Christian went home he told everything to his wife, and told her that they have to leave to go to the Wicked Gate but she and their children mock him. He is sad but determined, so he leaves home and goes alone towards the shining light. During the Journey he falls into the Slough of Despond. It is a swamp in which the pilgrim falls and all his doubts, fears, temptations become so heavy that they often drown in the mud of the swamp. Christian fights against all this and eventually another pilgrim helps him to get out of the swamp. Section 2- Worldly Wiseman. Christian continues his journey and soon meets Mr. Worldly Wiseman. There's something wrong with this character because something 'worldly' cannot be referred to God, as it is something negative. He persuades Christian to seek another way to remove his burden, he says that Christian should visit the Village of

Morality where he will get help from Mr.Legality and his son. Christian decides to take this advice, near that place he meets Evangelist who exposes Mr.Worldly Wiseman, Legality and his son for the frauds they are, as they often try to misdirect pilgrims from choosing the right path.

Section 3 - The wicked gate. As he approaches the Wicked Gate, Beelzebub's archers fire arrows at him from the Beelzebub castle. The gatekeeper Goodwill of Wicked Gate saves him and shows him the King's Highway that he needs to follow. In this case, Goodwill represents Jesus who directs Christian to the 'place of deliverance'.

Moving forward, Christian reaches the House of Interpreter, where he is shown some emblems showing pictures of Christian's life and death.

Finally, Christian reaches the 'place of deliverance' where he gets rid of the burden of his sins. As soon as he gets rid of the burden of his 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. The Celestial city allegorically represents Heaven and now, Christian has a new motive to reach Heaven. He meets two men near the Hill that were trying to bypass the Hill named Danger and destruction, but they perish while proving that they are false christians. Christian though, succeeded. As he reaches the top, he falls asleep. When he wakes up, he meets Mistrust and Timorous and they inform him about the great lions of the Palace Beautiful. Soon, they meet a porter named Watchful, and as they reach the beautiful palace, Watchful informs them all that they are chained and being watched to test their faith. Christian is afraid of lions but with the help of Watchful while the other two die.

Section 4 - Fight with Apollyon. Christian spends three days there and leaves after they give him new clothes and Armour of God that will help him fight against a dragon-like demon named Apollyon. Christian fights for over Half a day in the Valley.

of Humiliation; Apollyon is the Lord of the city of Destruction. Christian manages to stab Apollyon with his two edged sword allegorically representing the bible; Apollyon flies away. Christian then reaches the Valley of the shadow of Death and hears a voice reciting the 23rd Psalm of his book. Later on, he learns that that voice was of another pilgrim named Faithful, who becomes his friend. They continue their journey together.

Section 5 - Vanity Fair

Together, they reach Vanity Fair; 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 though, successfully avoid and ignore any goods of the Vanity Fair. Both of them are arrested by the soldiers of Beelzebub for disrespecting their God and disdaining the goods of the fair. Faithful is executed by burning at the stake as a martyr and, as he dies, he is taken to the Celestial City. As Christian thinks about the loss of Faithful, a resident

Section 7 - Doubting castle

Soon a rainstorm engulfs them and they are forced to spend the night in the shadow of trees. As the morning sun arises, they are captured by Giant Despair and his wife. Giant despair takes them to the Doubting Castle where they are tortured, beaten, starved. He wanted them to commit suicide (which is really bad if you're Christian because it won't allow you to paradise). Soon Christian realizes that he has a key called Promise that can help him in opening up all the gates of Doubting Castle so they can escape. Using the Key, they successfully escape. This key represents the promises of the gospel; the promise of eternal life and the assurance of salvation in Christ.

Section 8 - Land of Beulah and Celestial City

They keep walking and 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..

As they reach the gates of the Celestial City, they show their passports to the gatekeepers and then they're welcomed into the Celestial City.

The journey of the pilgrims reaches its heavenly end.

Characters of 'Pilgrim's progress'

Christian; Husband and father stricken by spiritual crisis. Christian is told by a messenger to leave his doomed city and begin a journey of progress toward spiritual achievement.

Evangelist; The messenger carrying the Gospel, or word of Christ, to Christian. Evangelist spurs Christian on his journey to the Celestial City.

Worldly Wiseman; A reasonable and practical man whom Christian encounters early in his journey. Worldly Wiseman tries unsuccessfully to urge Christian to give up his religious foolishness and live a contented secular life.

Apollyon; Fierce monster with fish-like scales, representing Satan. Apollyon engages in a battle with Christian, but Christian ultimately defeats him.