 Hello friends, welcome to arpittakarva.com India's finest online coaching for English Literature. Today we are going to talk about one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature, the Pilgrim's Progress. So let's begin. Friends, the Pilgrim's Progress from this world true that which is to come is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It was written when Bunyan was arrested due to his Puritan beliefs after the restoration of Charles II and was put into prison. The entire book has been developed as a dream sequence narrated by a narrator having infinite awareness, understanding and insight. The book is divided into two parts and the main character around whose dreams the work has been written is a man named Christian who suffers a bit of crisis of faith. The burden of his sins are such that he seeks God's redemption. It's then he receives a visit from a fairy godfather character named evangelist. This guy encourages Christian to leave his hometown called the city of destruction which is nothing else but this world and seek God's redemption in the celestial city that is which is to come on the top of Mount Zion. Christian leaves his home, his wife and children as they refuse to join him on this journey. Starting with this journey, in the next section we'll talk about Christian's travel and the different places he visits and the different people he meets all along. However, being an allegory, every place and every person in this work reflects a more superior and larger idea. Friends, Pilgrim's Progress is one of the best examples of clear, forceful and idiomatic English. You must remember that it is a mixture or a blend of mythology as well as fiction. So now friends, roll up your sleeves as we are going for a long ride across the places where Christian travels in his dreams. As already told above, the city of destruction was Christian's home, the starting point of this dreamy note. Now the first obstacle that Christian encounters is the slaw of despond which was a miserable swamp like place. Fares and doubts, discouraging apprehensions and sinful thoughts are to be found here. In the first part, Christian falls into it and sinks further under the weight or you can say the burden of his sins. While he's there, he meets a man whose name is Mr. Worldly Wise Man. Who is nothing like the three wise men Christian read about in the story of the birth of Jesus. In fact, he tries to discourage Christian from moving towards the celestial city and encourages him to stay in the village of morality and forget about pursuing religion. However, Christian enters by way of the wicked gate, mounts the hill of difficulty and reaches a palace called the house beautiful which serves as a rest stop for pilgrims. Now here a group of four sisters examine his conscience and give him supplies for his future journey. Now friends, on his way down, he enters the valley of humiliation and faces more difficulties. Now it is here that Christian battles Apollion and wins after a long dreadful fight. Christian continues through the value of shadow of death before being reunited with his old friend Faithful. So you see that usually in our life, maybe we face these things difficulty, humiliation, faithfulness etc. So they have been personified as humans and places. So this is his journey and that's why it is so famous. So let's continue our journey. Now next Christian heads towards the wall of salvation where he thinks he sees the cross and the tomb where Lord Jesus died. The site throws him to his knees and he gradually falls asleep. However, while he is asleep, he loses the certificate meant to serve as an entrance ticket into the celestial city. However, he continues his quest. Evangelist warns Christian and Faithful against entering the town of Vanity famous for its year-long carnival called the Vanity Fair where people are tempted to abandon their religious journeys. So despite the warning, both Christian and Faithful enter the town. They both get beaten and are eventually imprisoned. They face trial for their religious faith for speaking the language of the Bible and their rejection of the legal and moral codes of the town. While Faithful is tortured and killed and is sent directly to the celestial city as a martyr, Christian manages to escape the prison and is joined by Hopeful on his journey. Do you see how interesting it is like Faithful has been dead? Now, another friend has joined Hopeful. First, it was Faithful that he died. So, he has another friend who has joined him who is Hopeful. He is still hopeful that he will go to the celestial city. I think it is a very interesting way of writing in which is why this work is so famous. Now moving on, Christian and Hopeful now choose to take a shortcut which lands them in the dungeons of Doubting Castle. Here they are beaten and starved by the giant despair and urged to commit suicide. However, they use a magic key called Promise to escape from the castle. Both continue along the way and reach the delectable mountains. Here they meet a group of shepherds who provide them with a map to avoid traps along the way. Further on the way, the two meet Ignorance, who had taken a shortcut path and believed that he would be allowed entry into heaven without any invitation. Now the three, namely Christian, Hopeful and Ignorance, continue until they pause at a point where the road diverges into two. However, instead of looking at the map given to them by the shepherds, they follow a bad man who leads them into a trap. Now, despite the challenges, they manage to get out and walk through the enchanted ground where they were warned to not fall asleep. To not fall asleep and entertain themselves, all of them discuss their religious visions. While Christian and Hopeful had visions of Jesus Christ, Ignorance relied on his own heart as a reason to gain entry into heaven. Christian and Hopeful reach the river of death, where the depth of the river changes according to the doubt or faith of the person. Where the depth of the river changes according to the doubt or faith of the person that enters it. At first, Christian is faced by doubt and almost drowns into the river. It was Hopeful who kept Christian's head above water in the river of death and rescued him. They both cross the river once, they are confident that the depth has become shallow enough. Hopeful and Christian are received in the celestial city and carried off into the clouds. While Ignorance is denied entry, for he had no invitation or biblical revelation. Hence, in essence, Ignorance discovers the way to hell. But Ignorance does not get entry because he had no biblical revelation, and what is shown to him is the way of hell. What we discussed in the previous section was part one of pilgrim progress. The second part of the pilgrim's progress, it was published in 1684 and it talks about the pilgrimage undertaken by Christian's wife, Christiana and their four sons. Now the family is joined by a neighbour and a guide in this journey, named Mercy and Great Heart respectively. So, having discussed the pilgrim's progress at length, we shall now move on to see how various authors and writers took inspiration and wrote about this work of John Bunyan in a critical manner. So, first of all, John Bunyan's wife, Christiana, took inspiration and wrote about this work of John Bunyan in a critical manner. So, first of all, Charles Dickens' book, Oliver Twist, which was written in 1838, has been subtitled The Parish Boy's Progress. So, this was an inspiration. Next, William Make Peace Thackeray's. In 1848, he wrote a novel, Vanity Fair, which talks about the location in Bunyan's work. So, we talked about a place where there is a festival called Vanity Fair, which is inspired by Vanity Fair. Mark Twain, he gave his 1869 travelogue, The Innocence Abroad, an alternate title called The New Pilgrim's Progress. Then, in Twain's later work, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the main character mentions the pilgrim's progress while describing the works of literature in the Granger Ford's Library. Next was Nathalian Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter. If this one also makes reference to Bunyan's work through a metaphor, comparing the main character's eyes with the fire depicted in the entrance to Hell in the Pilgrim's Progress. Then, in Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, the protagonist Jo and her sisters, they follow the example set by Bunyan's Christian. Then, C.S. Levis wrote a book inspired by the Pilgrim's Progress, which is known as The Pilgrim's Regress. It's an allegory of C.S. Levis's own journey, from a religious childhood to a pagan adulthood, in which he rediscovered his Christian God. Then, we have Sir Walter Scott. He uses Bunyan's Tale in Chapter 32 of his work, The Heart of Midlothian, 1818. To illustrate the relationship between match, wildfire and genie deans. Then, Charlotte Bronte refers to Pilgrim's Progress in most of her novels, including Jane Eyre, Shirley and Willett. So, that's it from my side for this lecture. I'm sure you enjoyed it and I had so much fun discussing this one. So, we'll meet soon in the next lecture. Until the time we meet next, happy learning, keep loving literature and stay tuned to arpitakarwa.com.