The Alchemist - a Pilgrim's Progress
INTRDUCTION
Allegory is a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or
material forms, figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another. In other words
allegory is a story in words or prose, with double meaning. It has a primary or a surface
meaning and it has got a secondary or under the surface meaning. One of the best known
allegory in English language, is John Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress”.
The Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegory of a Christian’s salvation. The most succinct
summary of the action in The Pilgrim’s Progress is probably the extended title of the work:
“The Pilgrim’s Progress from this World to that which is to Come: Delivered under a
Similitude of a Dream”. The novel contains life of Christian written in the manner of a man’s
journey from his native city, The City of Destruction to the Celestial City. The various people
that Christian meets, even the things that happen along the way are the allegorical
representation of the experience of a person who seeks for his eternal salvation. Christian is
any man who leaves everything of his old life behind and starts on his journey.
‘The Pilgrims Progress’ is a masterpiece by the Puritan writer John Bunyan. The work
renders personal and spiritual experience of his earlier work ‘Grace Abounding’ into the more
objective form of universal myths, where all Christians who seek the truth are embodied with
the figure of a solitary man pursuing his pilgrimage. John Bunyan was born in 1628 at Elstow
near Bedford. At a young age (1650 - 54) he went through a spiritual crisis for years. He was
very much attracted to puritan teachings. The spiritual crisis he under went is described in his
‘Grace Abounding’.
With the resolution to convert others and help them in their spiritual problem, Bunyan
joined the nonconformist church in Bedford, in 1653 where he came into
Allegory is a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or
material forms, figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another. In other words
allegory is a story in words or prose, with double meaning. It has a primary or a surface
meaning and it has got a secondary or under the surface meaning. One of the best known
allegory in English language, is John Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress”.
The Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegory of a Christian’s salvation. The most succinct
summary of the action in The Pilgrim’s Progress is probably the extended title of the work:
“The Pilgrim’s Progress from this World to that which is to Come: Delivered under a
Similitude of a Dream”. The novel contains life of Christian written in the manner of a man’s
journey from his native city, The City of Destruction to the Celestial City. The various people
that Christian meets, even the things that happen along the way are the allegorical
representation of the experience of a person who seeks for his eternal salvation. Christian is
any man who leaves everything of his old life behind and starts on his journey.
‘The Pilgrims Progress’ is a masterpiece by the Puritan writer John Bunyan. The work
renders personal and spiritual experience of his earlier work ‘Grace Abounding’ into the more
objective form of universal myths, where all Christians who seek the truth are embodied with
the figure of a solitary man pursuing his pilgrimage. John Bunyan was born in 1628 at Elstow
near Bedford. At a young age (1650 - 54) he went through a spiritual crisis for years. He was
very much attracted to puritan teachings. The spiritual crisis he under went is described in his
‘Grace Abounding’.
With the resolution to convert others and help them in their spiritual problem, Bunyan
joined the nonconformist church in Bedford, in 1653 where he came into