The Pilgrim's Progress

The narrator explains that the people of Vanity thought they should “set up a Fair; a Fair wherein should be sold of all sorts of Vanity, and that it should last all the year long” (427). The omnipresent fair represents extreme materialism. The fair is always present in the townspeople’s lives, and its offerings are extreme and overwhelming:

Houses, Lands, Trades, Places, Honours, Preferments, Titles, Countreys, Kingdoms, Lusts, Pleasures, and Delights of all sorts, as Whores, Bauds, Wives, Husbands, Children, Masters, Servants, Lives, Blood, Bodies, Souls, Silver, Gold, Pearls, Precious Stones, and what not (427).

Bunyan’s list illustrates the egregiousness of the fair and reveals a society willing to buy and sell just about anything. A covetous community isn’t on the side of God, so the people of Vanity follow a devil: “Beelzebub, the chief Lord of this Fair” (429). The names of the town’s citizens—Envy, Lord Carnal Delight, Sir Having Greedy, etc.—further the symbolism of the fair.

Significantly, Christian and Faithful don’t want to buy anything at the fair. Their rejection of the fair’s materialism highlights their spirituality and the theme of Human Laws and Customs Versus Christian Devotion. The pilgrims don’t reduce people to merchandise, and they don’t seek worldly status or pleasure; they contrast with the fair’s hedonistic symbology. In Part 2, Bunyan tinkers with Vanity’s symbolism. Contrite tells Mr. Honest that due to Faithful’s martyrdom, the people of Vanity are “much more moderate now then formerly” (988), so there is hope for even egregiously materialistic societies to reform.

In some respects, women and men are equals when it comes to the road to salvation. Christian and Christiana grapple with fear, faith, and hope, and they must persevere through alienation and antagonism. Each is capable of self-awareness and asserting their religious beliefs. Christian pursues his spiritual convictions despite his family’s antagonism, and Christiana stands by her faith in the face of the disapproval of her female neighbors. Mercie too has the power to assert her faith in God. Referring to her knocks at the Wicket Gate, Christiana tells her, “I thought I never heard such knocking in all my Life. I thought you would a come in by violent hand, or a took the Kingdom by storm” (731).

In other areas, the motif of gender indicates that women and men aren’t equal. The women face dangers that the men don’t, like sexual assault. Christian has to battle monsters and outwit giants, but neither he nor the other male pilgrims come across “two very ill-favoured ones” that “began to lay hands upon them” (739). Bunyan portrays women as particularly vulnerable, so he gives them help in the form of a man, Mr. Great-heart, whose presence limits the amount of adversity the women endure. With Mr. Great-heart around, Mercie and Christiana have someone to protect them from monsters, giants, and inhospitable elements. As a motif, gender frequently intersects with the theme of Alienation and Antagonism Versus Self-Awareness and Community. Women’s status in society often makes them more dependent on those around them—particularly the husband or father who provides for them. For that reason, Christian women like Mercie’s sister can find themselves destitute if their friends and family turn against them.