An allegory is an illustration of a spiritual or abstract meaning through concrete or material form. They are composed of symbols and metaphors. In the Pilgrim’s progress by John Bunyan, an allegory is potrayed through his characters. The protagonist's name is Christian and he struggles to get away from a swamp or bog. He has tattered clogs and is carrying a heavy burden on his back. The blog in the story is a metaphor for hardships and destructions (Bunyan 10). The heavy burdens in Christian show the troubles, sorrows and hardships that he has in his life. When he loses the burden on his back, it symbolizes freedom from sins that he has been carrying.
When Christian gets home to his family, they see that he is distracted. They inquire from him what the problem is. He responds by saying that the city in which they live is destined to be destroyed, as he has learned from the book. The destruction will be from the fire from heaven, and he does not have a clue of how he is going to escape the fire. In this case, city of destruction is Christian’s home, a representation of the world as described in the Bible in Isaiah 19:18.
Evangelist is another character in the story who helps Christian. Evangelist puts Christian on the path to the celestial city where he will be able to seek the light. By so doing, he tells him that the only way that he can escape the fire and destruction of the fire from heaven is by choosing to follow the light, and at a further gate he will receive instructions. Finding the light in this story means finding salvation (Bunyan 121). Christian is not even persuaded by the cries of his family not to leave them behind as he has set his mind to seek salvation, at whatever cost. The celestial city in the story is the desired place or what Christian calls heaven, where he cannot be destroyed by fire. The bible states that the dwelling place of God is heaven, when a person receives salvation and is not tainted with the sin, he or she will get to see the kingdom of God, which is heaven, or in the case of pilgrims progress to the celestial city.
The two men pursue and persuade him to go back home. However, obstinate is unable to persuade him and returns home. Paliable, on the other hand, accompanies pliable after he is intrigued by the descriptions of heavenly glory. Paliable asks whether Christians think that the words of the book are true, and he answers yes, and he cannot lie. Christian, after finishing the conversion, tumble into a bog called the slough of despond. This in the spiritual or biblical sense means of falling into sins and the feeling of guilt. Paliable does make it out of the slough of despond but Christian is helped by a traveler's name help after a very long struggle.
As Christian goes on with the journey, he encounters a man by the name Mr. World Wiseman. As the name suggests, the man is worldly but at the same time wise. However, he convinces Christian that the advice he was given by Evangelist was long and the journey full of perils. He informs him that he has been through much simpler ways that will lead to him freeing his burdens. However, they have to visit a man named Legality in a village called morality (Bunyan 270). The reader gets to know the biblical allegory at this point, where the Holy Bible says that the way to receive the kingdom of God is narrow and is full of danger. However, those who are patient enough will receive the kingdom of God. After getting to the hilltop, he meets with Evangelist who reprimands him for being led astray by Wiseman.
The biblical allegory at this point is that there are people in the world as the bible says, that will lead the Christians astray as they do not want them to receive the kingdom of God. However, the priests and Evangelists are there to help people to follow the right way and guide them to in knowing God and receiving the Kingdom of God. The bible says that the road to the seeing the kingdom is narrow and before people get to know him, they will have to go through many trials and temptations as was in the case of Christian when he fell into the bog.
The Day of Judgment is described in the story where the author states that those who do not seek the path of the light will be condemned to hell. The story has a biblical allegory in the sense that according to the Christian teaching, people who do not seek out God, and do not follow the right path will be condemned to burn in the eternal fire as they will not be in the holy book.
Work cited
Bunyan, John. Pilgrim's Progress in Modern English. 8th ed. Florida, U.S.A: Accessible Publishing System, 2010. Print.
