Appreciation of Pilgrim's Progress Works

Pilgrim's Progress is the most successful religious fable in English works. Its main purpose is to make people follow the principles of Christianity and get salvation by constantly overcoming their own weaknesses and external evils.

Pilgrim's progress roughly corresponds to the main plots of the Old Testament and the New Testament. For example, from the pilgrimage of Christians, we can see the arduous course of Israel's search for salvation in the Bible. What Bunyan showed was exactly what many priests preached at that time: human beings lost themselves and needed redemption. Only by repenting their sins and believing in Jesus can they be saved. This also reflects the Christian doctrine of redemption: the Christian road to redemption is actually a spiritual road. On this road, a person's soul has to go through confessing sins, eliminating evils and promoting goodness, suppressing desires, believing in God and loving others, and finally reaching a state of pure bliss.

The naming of characters in Pilgrim's Progress is also strongly religious. Looking at the names of the characters in Pilgrim's Progress, we can feel the strong religious atmosphere emanating from it. For example, the protagonist's four children are named Matthew, Samuel, Jacob and Yue Se. All these names can be seen from the odd scripture: one of the 65,438+02 disciples of Christ Jesus was named Matthew, and Samuel was an outstanding prophet of Israel. The younger brother of Christ Jesus was named James, and he was also one of the leaders of the early Christian church. His son's name is Yue Se, the eleventh son of Jacob. The book also mentions the watchmen of the palace of wealth-vigilance, because the author borrowed two sentences: "Be vigilant and wait for the day when the Lord Jesus comes again" and "Be vigilant and don't be tempted by heresy". The characters mentioned in the book are all praised by God in the Bible, and their characteristics and symbolic characters are satisfied by God. In addition, the names of some villains in Pilgrim's Progress are all hated by God, such as Abelon, arrogance and arrogance, and their fate has also failed.

The naming and structural features of place names in Pilgrim's Progress also have a strong religious color, reflecting the religious thought of Christ. When the hero sincerely repents and prays, he is inspired by the gospel and leads his family to leave the "city of destruction" and go to the "Mount Zion" where Christ Jesus lives, in order to get salvation and eternal life. In Pilgrim's Progress, the place where the hero wants to go is the place where God lives-"Mount Zion", which is also an eternal paradise. When the hero goes through all kinds of hardships and finally reaches Xi 'an Temple, he gets "water-eternal life", which also symbolizes the realization of lofty and sacred eternal life believed in Christian thought.

It is worth noting that although Pilgrim's Progress is largely a religious fable, which mainly embodies the theological thought of Puritanism during the Reformation, there is no narrow sectarianism, and nothing can make it unique to a certain sect. Nothing makes a Catholic feel uncomfortable except a few lines about the Pope. Only extreme Anglicans will feel the need to make some cuts. This also explains why Pilgrim's Progress is mainly to promote Protestant ideas about redemption, but it can be recognized and welcomed by not only Puritans.

But Pilgrim's Progress is not only a religious fable, but also has profound historical implications, which alludes to the historical reality of the society at that time, such as the most obvious flashy market. In his description of the flashy market, Bunyan showed us the scene of London during the Restoration and the feudal bourgeois society at that time. Everything can be bought and sold here, including land, honor, title, desire, happiness, even life and so on. Deception and murder are normal here. "Christians" and "loyalty" were punished for pursuing truth and despising fame and fortune (which reminds us that Bunyan was arrested and imprisoned many times for preaching). Bunyan condensed the secular society at that time into a market. It is a society where economic interests and material interests are paramount and everything can be measured and operated by the economic behavior of buying and selling. Pilgrim's Progress shows the complicated British society during the Restoration period, Bunyan's views on the social history at that time, and also reflects the plight of Christians in that society. On the one hand, it is piety to Puritanism, on the other hand, it is selfishness and moral degeneration in the secular world.

As a fable, Pilgrim's Progress is still instructive and enlightening to modern people, except for religious and historical implications. People can get a lot of inspiration from books, which is also very useful to solve many problems we face today. "Christian" embarked on a journey to heaven, and we saw that he was faced with the choice of continuing or giving up every step to heaven. This also reminds us that in our current life journey, we are always faced with the same choices as Christians. Through the discussion of "Christian" and his companions "loyalty" and "hope", readers will also get many suggestions and lessons on how to avoid evil. Pilgrim's Progress describes some scenes and many characters on English rural roads in a realistic way, such as atheists, young ignorant people, sophisticated wise men, flatterers, money lovers and chatterboxes. They represent both abstract concepts and flesh and blood. Bunyan wrote their actions and conversations very vividly and concretely. In the aspect of developing characters' personalities, we should start with daily chores and how to write them. When people who are unhappy or treacherous are helpless or helpless, they think that courage and understanding are crucial. Therefore, Bunyan can be regarded as the pioneer of English realistic novels.

Dialogue is widely used in Pilgrim's Progress. Bernard Shaw once praised Bunyan's simplicity, vividness and directness to the microphone. Not only that, the language of each character in the book has its own characteristics, and dialogue has become a symbol to distinguish each character. For example, Obedience wanted to follow Christians to heaven, but once he met with difficulties, he wavered and turned back. "Stubbornness" means being so sure that whatever you say will be accepted by others, thinking that you don't need other people's help or any guidance. The simple and straightforward language of "Christian" shows that he is a determined and indomitable person. At the same time, Bunyan not only uses dialogue to express the external actions of the characters, but also shows their inner activities. For example, the inner struggle and hesitation of the "Christian" in The Valley of the Shadow of Death is expressed through his inner dialogue.

In addition to the use of literary fables, Pilgrim's Progress is also characterized by the use of dreams. Bunyan put the journey of "Christians" in the framework of dreams. The narrator "I" in the book walked in the wilderness and came to a place … I lay down and slept there … and had a dream. In Pilgrim's Progress, dreams and fables complement each other, both of which guide readers to gain more religious, philosophical and life significance from the journey of "Christians" and explore reality in many ways. To some extent, dreams are more realistic than reality, because dreams have the ability of transformation and can guide people to understand reality from a new and deeper level. In the process of narration, Bunyan constantly reminds readers that this is a dream, hoping that readers can come to this world that combines eternity with reality with him. Within the framework of dreams, the narrator keeps saying, "I saw …". "Look" is also an important metaphor in the book. There are two levels of "seeing" in the book: one is the tangible world and the other is the intangible world. Whether we can see the invisible world of truth through this tangible real world is a major issue related to whether the characters in the book can be saved. "Christians" saw what others could not see, so they decided to travel far and seek salvation in heaven. It is this ability to see the invisible world of truth that enables Christians to withstand all kinds of difficulties and obstacles and finally achieve their goals. In Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan relies on this visual metaphor to distinguish those who can only see what is in front of them from those who can see the truth through faith. Bunyan also hinted that readers should not be limited to the literal meaning of the book, but should read the deep meaning from it.

Pilgrim's Progress is perhaps the most vital fable, which provided a model for similar works later. The use of fables in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress fully illustrates the metaphorical and symbolic functions of literary language, which often makes it have profound meaning beyond the superficial meaning. What Bunyan's language creates is not only a real world, but also a world beyond time and space, because the supernatural is a necessary part of dream stories. Metaphor can not only express people's intuitive understanding, but also express higher metaphysical thoughts. The allegorical language in Pilgrim's Progress can not only clearly explain the meaning of reality, but also make us more deeply aware of the complexity behind the real world. For Bunyan, these symbolic fables enable him to conceal and express the truth at the same time, which requires readers to obtain deeper meaning through various interpretations of literal meaning.

In addition to the use of fables and dreams, the realistic style, structural arrangement, wonderful dialogue and concise style of Pilgrim's Progress are also the embodiment of its literariness and the reasons for its enduring. Many critics have noticed the realistic color of personified characters and fictional scenes in the book. Different from Dante's Divine Comedy, Bunyan's fable is a real person, not a typed character. Although they have such names as meekness, sophistication, compassion and ignorance, they were born in real life. These names express their personality to a certain extent, but they do not have the function of explaining all aspects of personality. All kinds of people that Christians met on the road were people that Bunyan could meet in any market and on any road in Britain at that time. Bunyan accurately grasped the language of ordinary people at that time, accurately described their behavior and appearance, and more importantly, showed their inner feelings and spiritual life. The scene described in the novel is also a true portrayal of reality. The countryside and fields described in the book are no different from those in the restoration period of England, and reproduce the scene of the English countryside at that time. Bunyan doesn't need to look for desperate pools, rich palaces and flashy markets from outside his life experience. They're in Bedford. In many ways, the Christian journey is what Bedford people have experienced. This realism, this closeness to reality, is the powerful vitality of the novel.

The structural arrangement of Pilgrim's Progress is also worthy of attention. In the pilgrimage of Christians, temptation and help, hardship and gain correspond. The trials and setbacks experienced by Christians at various stages are in balance with the lessons, friendship, understanding and joy they have received. At the same time, the external actions and internal thinking of the characters are also in harmony. For example, in a happy place, beautiful scenery corresponds to the happiness and order of "Christians" life. The inner spiritual realm of "Christians" is projected into the external natural environment. Nature and supernatural, the inner spirit of characters and the external geographical environment echo each other.

Before Pilgrim's Progress, there were many religious stories describing Christians' spiritual journey to heaven, but what surpassed them was that his simple and plain writing style brought the abstract things in the stories to life. Bunyan's familiarity with the Bible and his understanding of life in rural areas and other provinces make Pilgrim's Progress appear frequently not only in the language of the Bible, but also in some rural spoken languages. What Bunyan wrote was exactly the language he heard, many of which are still used in spoken and informal languages, and nothing is strange to modern people. Some usages no longer exist in Britain, but they are still used in some parts of the United States. Simplicity of writing is one of the greatest charms of Banyan language.