Symbolism In The Pilgrim's Progress

The Pilgrim’s Progress is a poem written by John Bunyan. In this poem, the author is upfront with his words and does not really attempt to hide anything. Even though the poem is easy to follow, it does have allegory in it. Allegory is, “A work of art, such as a story or painting, in which the characters, images, and/or events act as symbols. The symbolism in an allegory can be interpreted to have a deeper meaning. An author may use allegory to illustrate a moral or spiritual truth, or political or historical situation” (Allegory). The allegory in this poem is about the difficulties of getting to heaven and Bunyan does a great job of illustrating this. Bunyan does not hide his cards, he is an open book and he writes about the many struggles a person deals with while trying to achieve their goals. Bunyan does not try to hide anything, in fact, he openly writes about it, “Turn up my Metaphors, and do not fail / There, if thou seekest them, such things to find / As will be helpful to an honest mind” (Bunyan). Bunyan is stating that if readers look close enough they can

Here is where allegory comes into play again. The name of the hill, Difficulty, is a metaphor for what a person will eventually experience in his or her life. Upon further investigation of the hill, Christian realizes there are two different paths to take, Destruction and Danger (Bunyan). Again, Bunyan is not hiding anything, he is being clear with his intentions and stating life will be difficult and there will be some destruction and danger in it. Christian pushes through because the only alternative would be to turn back to the City of Destruction in which he would “certainly perish there” (Bunyan). Christian’s faith is so strong that he will not let these obstacles stop him from achieving his goal. A person working towards a goal should have the persistence to accomplish what they are