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| The Pilgrim\'s Progress | |
 First edition title page | |
| Author | John Bunyan |
|---|---|
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | |
| Publication date | 1678 |
| Pages | 191 |
| ISBN | NA |
The Pilgrim\'s Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come by John Bunyan (published February, 1678) is a Christian allegory. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of English literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print.John Bunyan, The Pilgrim\'s Progress, W.R. Owens, ed., Oxford World\'s Classics, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), xiii: "... the book has never been out of print. It has been published in innumerable editions, and has been translated into over 200 languages."
Contents |
Bunyan began the work while in the Bedfordshire county gaol (jail) for violations of the Conventicle Act, which prohibited the holding of religious services outside the auspices of the established Church of England. Earlier scholars like John Brown believe The Pilgrim\'s Progress was begun in Bunyan\'s second shorter imprisonment for six months in 1675,John Brown, John Bunyan: His Life, Times and Work, (1885, revised edition 1928) but more recent scholars like Roger Sharrock believe that it was begun during Bunyan\'s initial, more lengthy imprisonment from 1660-1672 right after he had written his spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of SinnersJohn Bunyan, The Pilgrim\'s Progress, edited with an introduction by Roger Sharrock, (Harmondsworth: Penguins Books, Ltd., 1965), 10, 59, 94, 326-27, 375.
The English text comprises 108,260 words and is divided into two parts, each reading as a continuous narrative with no chapter divisions. After the first edition of 1678 an expanded edition, with additions written after Bunyan was freed, appeared in 1679. The Second Part appeared in 1684. There were eleven editions of the first part in John Bunyan\'s lifetime, published in successive years from 1678 to 1685 and in 1688, and there were two editions of the second part, published in 1684 and 1686.
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On his way to the Wicket Gate, Christian is diverted by Mr. Worldly Wiseman into seeking deliverance from his burden through the Law, supposedly with the help of a Mr. Legality and his son Civility in the village of Morality, rather than through Christ, allegorically by way of the Wicket Gate. Evangelist meets the wayward Christian where he has stopped before a life-threatening mountain, Mount Sinai, on the way to Legality\'s home. Evangelist shows Christian that he had sinned by turning out of his way, but he assures him that he will be welcomed at the Wicket Gate if he should turn around and go there, which Christian does.
At the Wicket Gate begins the "straight and narrow" King\'s Highway, and Christian is directed onto it by the gatekeeper Good Will. In the Second Part, Good-will is shown to be Jesus himself.Go to section 1.2.3.1 Mr. Sagacity leaves the author To Christian\'s query about relief from his burden, Good Will directs him forward to "the place of deliverance."A marginal note indicates, "There is no deliverance from the guilt and burden of sin, but by the death and blood of Christ", cf. Sharrock, page 59.
Christian makes his way from there to the House of the Interpreter, where he is shown pictures and tableaux that portray or dramatize aspects of the Christian faith and life. Roger Sharrock denotes them "emblems.""Many of the pictures in the House of the Interpreter seem to be derived from emblem books or to be created in the manner and spirit of the emblem. ... Usually each emblem occupied a page, and consisted of an allegorical picture at the top with underneath it a device or motto, a short Latin verse, and a poem explaining the allegory. Bunyan himself wrote an emblem book, A Book for Boys and Girls (1688) ...", cf. Sharrock, p. 375.
From the House of the Interpreter, Christian finally reaches the "place of deliverance" (allegorically, the cross of Calvary and the open sepulcher of Christ), where the "straps" that bound Christian\'s burden to him break, and it rolls away into the open sepulcher. This event happens relatively early in the narrative: the immediate need of Christian at the beginning of the story being quickly remedied. After Christian is relieved of his burden, he is greeted by three shining ones, who give him the greeting of peace, new garments, and a scroll as a passport into the Celestial City—these are allegorical figures indicative of Christian Baptism.
Atop the Hill of Difficulty, Christian makes his first stop for the night at the House Beautiful, which is an allegory of the local Christian congregation. Christian spends three days here, and leaves clothed with armour (Eph. 6:11-18)"the whole armour (panoply) of God", which stands him in good stead in his battle against Apollyon in the Valley of Humiliation. This battle lasts "over half a day" until Christian manages to wound Apollyon with his two-edged sword(Heb. 4:12)"the whole armour (panoply) of God". "And with that Apollyon spread his dragon wings and sped away."
As night falls Christian enters the Valley of the Shadow of Death. When he is in the middle of the valley amidst the gloom and terror he hears the words of the Twenty-third Psalm, spoken possibly by his friend Faithful:Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. (Psalms 23:4.)As he leaves this valley the sun rises on a new day.
Just outside the Valley of the Shadow of Death he meets Faithful, also a former resident of the City of Destruction, who accompanies him to Vanity Fair, where both are arrested and detained because of their disdain for the wares and business of the fair. Faithful is put on trial, and executed as a martyr. Hopeful, a resident of Vanity, takes Faithful\'s place to be Christian\'s companion for the rest of the way.
Along a rough stretch of road, Christian and Hopeful leave the highway to travel on the easier By-Path Meadow, where a rainstorm forces them to spend the night. In the morning they are captured by Giant Despair, who takes them to his Doubting Castle, where they are imprisoned, beaten and starved. The giant wants them to commit suicide, but they endure the ordeal until Christian realizes that a key he has, called Promise, will open all the doors and gates of Doubting Castle. Using the key, they escape.
The Delectable Mountains form the next stage of Christian and Hopeful\'s journey, where the shepherds show them some of the wonders of the place also known as "Immanuel\'s Land".
On the way, Christian and Hopeful meet a lad named Ignorance, who has the vain hope of entering the Celestial City even though he believes in work\'s righteousness. A ferryman named Vain Hope ferries Ignorance across the River of Death, only for Ignorance to be turned away from the gates of Celestial City and cast into hell.
Christian and Hopeful make it through the dangerous Enchanted Ground into the Land of Beulah, where they ready themselves to cross the River of Death on foot to Mount Zion and the Celestial City. Christian has a rough time of it, but Hopeful helps him over; and they are welcomed into the Celestial City.
The Second Part of The Pilgrim\'s Progress presents the pilgrimage of Christian\'s wife, Christiana; their sons; and the maiden, Mercy. They visit the same stopping places that Christian visited, with the addition of Gaius\' Inn between the Valley of the Shadow of Death and Vanity Fair; but they take a longer time in order to accommodate marriage and childbirth for the four sons and their wives. The hero of the story is Greatheart, the servant of the Interpreter, who is a pilgrim\'s guide to the Celestial City. He kills four giants and participates in the slaying of a monster that terrorizes the city of Vanity.
The passage of years in this second pilgrimage better allegorizes the journey of the Christian life. By using heroines, Bunyan, in the Second Part, illustrates the idea that women as well as men can be brave pilgrims.
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Alexander M. Witherspoon, professor of English at Yale University, writes in a prefatory essay:Part II, which appeared in 1684, is much more than a mere sequel to or repetition of the earlier volume. It clarifies and reinforces and justifies the story of Part I. The beam of Bunyan\'s spotlight is broadened to include Christian\'s family and other, men, women, and children; the incidents and accidents of everyday life are more numerous, the joys of the pilgrimage tend to outweigh the hardships; and to the faith and hope of Part I is added in abundant measure that greatest of virtues, charity. The two parts of The Pilgrim\'s Progress in reality constitute a whole, and the whole is, without doubt, the most influential religious book ever written in the English language.John Bunyan, The Pilgrim\'s Progress, (New York: Pocket Books, Inc., 1957), vi.This is exemplified by the frailness of the pilgrims of the Second Part in contrast to those of the First: women, children, and physically and mentally challenged individuals. When Christiana\'s party leaves Gaius\'s Inn and Mr. Feeblemind lingers in order to be left behind he is encouraged to accompany the party by Greatheart:
But brother ... I have it in commission, to comfort the feeble-minded, and to support the weak. You must needs go along with us; we will wait for you, we will lend you our help, we will deny ourselves of some things, both opinionative and practical, for your sake; we will not enter into doubtful disputations before you, we will be made all things to you, rather than you shall be left behind.
When the pilgrims end up in the Land of Beulah, they cross over the River of Death by appointment. As a matter of importance to Christians of Bunyan\'s persuasion reflected in the narrative of The Pilgrim\'s Progress, the last words of the pilgrims as they cross over the river are recorded. The four sons of Christian and their families do not cross, but remain for the support of the church in that place.
Christian enters the Wicket Gate, opened by Goodwill. Engraving from a 1778 edition printed in England.
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The allegory of this book has antecedents in a large number of Christian devotional works that speak of the soul\'s path to Heaven, from the Lyke-Wake Dirge forward. Bunyan\'s allegory stands out above his predecessors because of his simple and effective, if somewhat naïve, prose style, steeped in Biblical texts and cadences. He confesses his own naïveté in the verse prologue to the book:
John Bunyan himself wrote a popular hymn that encourages a hearer to become a pilgrim like Christian: All Who Would Valiant Be.
Because of the widespread longtime popularity of "The Pilgrim\'s Progress", Christian\'s hazards — whether originally from Bunyan or borrowed by him from the Bible — the "Slough of Despond", the "Hill Difficulty", "Valley of the Shadow of Death", "Doubting Castle", and the "Enchanted Ground", his temptations (the wares of "Vanity Fair" and the pleasantness of "By-Path Meadow"), his foes ("Apollyon" and "Giant Despair"), and the helpful stopping places he visits (the "House of the Interpreter", the "House Beautiful", the "Delectable Mountains", and the "Land of Beulah") have become commonly used phrases proverbial in English. For example, "One has one\'s own Slough of Despond to trudge through."
The Pilgrim\'s Progress\' explicitly Protestant theology also made it much more popular than its predecessors. Finally, Bunyan\'s gifts and plain style breathe life into the abstractions of the anthropomorphized temptations and abstractions that Christian encounters and with whom he converses on his course to Heaven. Samuel Johnson said that "this is the great merit of the book, that the most cultivated man cannot find anything to praise more highly, and the child knows nothing more amusing." Three years after its publication (1681), it was reprinted in colonial America, and was widely read in the Puritan colonies. It went through eleven editions during the remainder of Bunyan\'s lifetime (1678-1688).
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The Third Part of the Pilgrim\'s Progress
The book was the basis of an opera by Ralph Vaughan Williams, premiered in 1951; see The Pilgrim\'s Progress (opera). It was also the basis of a condensed radio adaptation starring John Gielgud, including, as background music, several excerpts from Vaughan Williams\'s orchestral works. This radio version, originally presented in 1942, was newly recorded by Hyperion Records in 1990, in a performance conducted by Matthew Best. It again starred Gielgud, and featured Richard Pasco and Ursula Howells.
English composer Ernest Austin set the whole story as a huge narrative tone poem for solo organ, with optional 6-part choir and narrator, lasting approximately 2½ hours.
In 1847 William Makepeace Thackeray entitiled his work Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero with the Vanity Fair of Pilgrim\'s Progress in mind.
In Mark Twain\'s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry Finn mentions The Pilgrim\'s Progress as he describes the works of literature in the Grangerfords\' library. Twain uses this to satirize the Protestant southern aristocracy.
E. E. Cummings also makes numerous references to it in his prose work, The Enormous Room.
"The Celestial Railroad", a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, recreates Christian\'s journey in Hawthorne\'s time. Progressive thinkers have replaced the footpath by a railroad, and pilgrims may now travel under steam power. The journey is considerably faster, but somewhat more questionable...
John Buchan was an admirer of Bunyan, and Pilgrim\'s Progress features significantly in his third Richard Hannay novel, Mr Standfast, which also takes its title from one of Bunyan\'s characters.
Alan Moore in his League of Extraordinary Gentlemen enlists The Pilgrim\'s Progress protagonist, Christian, as a member of the earliest version of this group, Prospero\'s Men. This group disbanded in 1690 after Christian found his "heavenly country" and departed this world.
In Louisa May Alcott\'s Little Women, whose protagonist Jo reads it at the outset of the novel, and tries to follow the good example of Bunyan\'s Christian.
C. S. Lewis wrote a book inspired by The Pilgrim\'s Progress called The Pilgrim\'s Regress, in which a character named John follows a vision to escape from The Landlord, a less friendly version of The Owner in Pilgrim\'s Regress. It is an allegory of C. S. Lewis\' own jouney from a religious childhood to a pagan adulthood in which he rediscovers his Christian God.
Henry Williamson\'s The Patriot\'s Progress references the title of The Pilgrim\'s Progress and the symbolic nature of John Bunyan\'s work. The protagonist of the semi-autobiographical novel is John Bullock, the quintessential English soldier during World War I.
The character of Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-5: The Children\'s Crusade, by Kurt Vonnegut, is a clear homage to a similar journey to enlightenment experienced by Christian, although Billy\'s is a journey which leads him to an existential acceptance of life and of a fatalist human condition. Vonnegut\'s parallel to The Pilgrim\'s Progress is deliberate and evident in Billy\'s surname.
Director Todd Fietkau is making a pilgrim\'s progress and it should be out in 2009.
The novel was made into a film in 1912; see Pilgrim\'s Progress (1912 film). Another film version was made in 1977 by Ken Anderson films, starring Liam Neeson in the title role. A sequel Christiana followed in 1979.
In 1985 Yorkshire Television produced a 129-minute 9-part serial presentation of The Pilgrim\'s Progress with animated stills by Alan Parry and narrated by Paul Copley entitled Dangerous Journey.
In 1950 an hour-long animated version was made by Baptista Films. This version was edited down to 35 minutes and re-released with new music in 1978. As of 2007 the original version is difficult to find, but the 1978 has been released on both VHS and DVD. A Brief History of Christian Films: 1918-2002
A 2006 computer animation version was made, directed and narrated by Scott Cawthon.
The novel is frequently alluded to in the video game Deus Ex: Invisible War. Saman, a significant character, utilizes its allegories to create purpose in his speech; "Young enemy, thy name is Pliable... you bend your ear to the Worldly Wiseman, to continue the archaic analogy.". If the player makes the choice to side with the Templar faction at the end of the game, after the cinematic, the quote appears, taken from both the novel and Proverbs 21:16 - "He that wandereth out of the way of understanding, shall remain in the congregation of the dead." Curiously, the player\'s actions towards the Templar faction are not entirely unlike the struggle of Christian throughout the Pilgrim\'s Progress.
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