- Christian arrives at the gate and is met by Good-Will, the gatekeeper. Christian introduces himself as a sinner from the City of Destruction and is welcomed in the gate.
- Good-Will pulls Christian in sharply at the gate because Beezelbub (Satan) has a castle nearby and will try to kidnap those who come through on the path.
- Christian recounts all of the events on his journey so far to Good-Will. The gatekeeper tells him to be "content to bear" the burden on his back until he comes to "the place of deliverance" where it will fall off by itself (P128). He then takes Christian to the House of the Interpreter.
- The Interpreter welcomes Christian to the House and begins to show him a few images that will enlighten his understanding of the path he's on.
- Image #1: A picture of the Grave Man. In the painting, the man is holding the Bible and looking toward Heaven while the scenes of everyday life are small and in the background.
- The Interpreter shows this to Christian as an image of the only person he should allow to guide him on his way—someone who lives for the next life and is the only one authorized by "the Lord of the Place" to counsel people on the way (P135).
- Image #2: Then, the Interpreter takes Christian into a dusty parlor where a man is sweeping and making all the dust fly up in a cloud. A girl is called in to sprinkle the room with water, which settles the dust and makes the cleaning easier.
- The Interpreter tells Christian that the parlor represents a person's heart. The man kicking up all the dust is the "Law," which is trying to clean up all the sin in the heart. Without the water, which represents "the sweet grace of the Gospel" (P138), however, the law's effort to cleanse us from sin will only confuse and choke us.
- The water cleanses through faith and makes the room "fit for the King of Glory to inhabit" (P139).
- Image #3: In another room, the Interpreter shows Christian two children, Passion (the oldest) and Patience (the youngest). While Patience is willing to wait for what he wants, Passion has to have his way right now and quickly squanders everything he has.
- The Interpreter associates Passion with people who only care for this world and Patience with those who are living for the hereafter. Christian understands from the Interpreter that "the first must give place to last" and that because the patient are willing to wait, their reward will be everlasting (P140).
- Basically, if you eat your veggies first, you'll get dessert forever.
- Image #4: Christian is shown a large blazing fire against a wall and a man throwing water on it. This only encourages the flames. The Interpreter tells Christian that the fire "is the work of grace that is wrought in the heart," while the man with the water is the devil.
- On the other side of the wall a man, who is named as Christ, is feeding the fire with oil. The Interpreter gives this as a symbol of how difficult it can be to see Christ's work on the heart when we are being tempted toward sin.
- The Interpreter takes Christian to the entrance of a great palace guarded by soldiers. Outside there are a bunch of people waiting to enter.
- One strong man asks the gatekeeper to write down his name and launches himself at the guards. After many injuries, the man fights his way in and is welcomed with singing.
- Christian asks to go in as well, but the Interpreter has one last thing to show him. In a dark room, a man sits despondent in a cage. When asked who he is, the man replies "I am what I once was not" (P150). Eek.
- Christian questions the man in the cage, who explains that he once was a "professor" (P152), someone who proclaimed and lived his faith, but now lives locked in despair. Christian tries to show that there is hope since Christ is forgiving, but the man says he is past that.
- Having turned from God for worldly pleasure and profit instead, the man's heart has been "hardened" (P157). While he's tormented by his sins, he cannot repent. The Interpreter tells Christian to take this as a warning and reminder.
- Finally, The Interpreter takes Christian into a room where a man is getting out of bed, shaking. Here, Bunyan actually gives us a dream within a dream as the man (being dreamt of by the narrator of our story) tells what he saw in his dream. What he describes is an image of the judgment day: the sky opening over the earth and the graves opening to give up the dead.
- The dreamer tells how a man with an open book on a cloud calls for the wheat to be separated from the chaff. While the people who are "chaff" are flung into a pit of smoke and fire, those who are "wheat" are gathered up into the clouds.
- The dreamer sees himself left alone and the man on the cloud staring him down. The man tells Christian that he takes this as a symbol of how he is unready for judgment day.
- Christian tells the Interpreter how the images have affected him and is told to remember them clearly on his way. Like that will be hard—these are pretty potent images. We're not going to forget them anytime soon.