SOURCE: Stranahan, Brainerd P. “Bunyan's Satire and Its Biblical Sources.” In Bunyan in Our Time, edited by Robert G. Collmer, pp. 35-60. Kent, Ohio: The Kent State University Press, 1989.

In the following essay, Stranhan examines Bunyan's use of satire in The Pilgrim's Progress, contending that characters, scenes, and language in Bunyan's work were heavily influenced by Scripture.

Recently Brean S. Hammond has argued, “In an elastic sense of the term, most of The Pilgrim's Progress is satirical; indeed satire of a kind is the staple diet of the prose.”¹ His essay calls attention to a neglected aspect of John Bunyan's most celebrated work: few commentators portray its author as seeking to reform human conduct through the power of laughter and ridicule. Sometimes they appear uncertain about whether such effects are indeed present; A. Richard Dutton, for example, remarks on the early behavior of Christian's neighbors: “[O]ne might...