Classics of Christian Literature
WORKSHEET #5
30 points
Answer each in a minimum of 100 words each, for up
to 5 points each
1. Explore the role of dreaming and sleeping in The Pilgrim’s Progress.
A good essay will note from the very beginning the critical difference between dreaming
and sleeping. Dreaming, for Bunyan, is about seeing God's truth and communicating
directly with God. Throughout the text, he reminds the reader that all of this he knows to
be true precisely because he dreamed it. The fact that a dream happens only in a person's
mind highlights the importance of the internal and personal aspect of pilgrimage. Bunyan
also draws from the historical Christian tradition of dreaming, especially prevalent in the
Old Testament. Bunyan describes sleeping, on the other hand, as blindness to God's truth.
Christian loses his mark of election when he falls asleep, and other pilgrims that are
asleep miss out on God's message. Bunyan describes pilgrims as awakening to the truth.
This shift from sleeping to waking marks a transition between worlds and consciousness.
2. Describe and Comment on the prisons that Bunyan depicts.
Firstly, the essay should note that Bunyan wrote much of Pilgrim's Progress while he
was in prison. That physical imprisonment served to reveal to Bunyan his own spiritual
imprisonment, and he employs this same tactic in his allegory. Usually, the prisons in the
text highlight some kind or personal limitation or fetter of the world that still weighs on
the pilgrims. What is perhaps most notable about these different prisons is the way the
characters escape from them. Faithful escapes from prison by martyrdom, for instance.
He is liberated from the world when he is punished for his faith, and after his death,
moves into his eternal life. Christian escapes from the prison in Vanity by means of
divine intervention. His escape with Hopeful from the Doubting Castle is not much
different. He remembers (by the grace of God, we are to assume) that he has the key in
his bosom (which is to say, in his heart) to escape. On a broader level, the whole narrative
is about escaping the prison of the temporal world for the kingdom of God.
3. Assess the way that Bunyan communicates theology and other religious truth in The
Pilgrim’s Progress.
A good essay will delve into the multiple layers of theological communication in the
book. First, there are the scriptural allusions and direct quotations that appear throughout
the book. Given the importance of reading the Bible to the puritans, the frequency with
which Bunyan invokes biblical texts is not surprising. Second, theologists take the written
word very seriously, and there is no room for error in the communication of this
Professor Christopher Ullman -- Christian Life College – email: christianlifecollege.edu – phone 847-259-1840 ext.
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Classics of Christian Literature
information. For that reason, when Bunyan has a particular theological truth to
communicate, he does so directly. Often, he groups his information in threes (a
significant number in Christianity, which believes in a triune God). Another way that
Bunyan marks the different register of truths, theological or doctrinal or otherwise, is by
switching into verse. After each allegorical incident, one of the pilgrims sings something,
and through these songs, Bunyan is able to impart and summarize certain truths.
4. Explore and comment on the role of women and the way Bunyan employs gender
roles in The Pilgrim’s Progress.
The essay has a lot of material to draw from in the text. Firstly, there is a marked
difference between the married women (with the exception of Christiana) in Bunyan's
work and the damsels. The married women, (particularly Christiana's neighbors) are
unenlightened and distract from Christian's work. On the other hand, the unmarried
women, like those at the Beautiful Palace, are teachers and beacons of light and truth.
These women are learned in matters of faith. Secondly, the essay should explore the
tension between women as educated leaders capable of religious truth and women as
weak followers. A large focus should be placed on the relationship between Christiana
and her husband and Christiana and Mr. Great-Heart, who is her spiritual guide and
protector. This essay will be strongest if informed by the historical role of women in the
Puritan Church, which was rather complicated and sometimes contradictory.
5. Consider the role of materialism in The Pilgrim’s Progress.
Bunyan and other Puritan leaders of his time were particularly critical of what they saw
as an excessively material world. Quite generally, Bunyan's prose tends to disparage the
material and consumer world and exalt the spiritual and interior aspects of life. Puritan
churches were mostly unadorned, and their leaders placed a great focus reading the Bible,
as opposed to participating in elaborate rituals. Bearing all this in mind, it is interesting to
note the material way in which Bunyan describes the pilgrims and the theological truths
that attend them. For instance, drawing on scripture, Bunyan describes the Celestial City
as encrusted in pearls and gems. Moreover, when Hopeful and Christian arrive there, they
are given glorious and sumptuous white robes. A good essay will explore this tension
between these schools of thought and say something about the nature and limitations of
allegory.
6. Many of Bunyan’s characters are very one-dimensional (as evidenced by their
names). Do you think his characters would benefit from development? Or would
that detract from the structure of the allegory?
The names of Bunyan's characters indicate what kind of people they are without any need
for explanation. Real people, on the other hand, are quite complex, particularly with
regard to the interplay of their vices and virtues, a fact with which Bunyan would have
been intimately familiar. A good essay on this topic might explore the balance between
Professor Christopher Ullman -- Christian Life College – email: christianlifecollege.edu – phone 847-259-1840 ext.
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Classics of Christian Literature
single character traits and the sheer volume of characters that Bunyan includes in the text.
That line of reasoning might hold that Bunyan introduces almost two hundred characters
over the course of the novel in order to cover the widest swath possible of humanity. An
assessment of whether or not this is effective should be included in the discussion,
particularly when considering Bunyan's intent.
Professor Christopher Ullman -- Christian Life College – email: christianlifecollege.edu – phone 847-259-1840 ext.
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