How we cite our quotes: Paragraph (P#) or Line (Line #)
Quote #7
Thus one died to make Testimony to the Truth, and another rises out of his ashes to be a Companion with Christian in his Pilgrimage. (P525)
This stand-apart statement, which, in the text, seems spoken more by the narrator than any character, directly states why the beloved Faithful had to die. This quote states it, but you might feel inclined to reserve judgment yourself. Why exactly is the suffering of one person necessary for the conversion of another?
Quote #8
"Well, towards evening the Giant goes down into the Dungeon again, to see if his prisoners had taken his counsel; but when he came there he found them alive, and truly, alive was all; for now, what for want of Bread and Water, and by reason of the Wounds they received when he beat them, they could do little but breathe: But, I say, he found them alive; at which he fell into a grievous rage, and told them that seeing they disobeyed his counsel, it should be worse with them than if they had never been born." (P620)
Bunyan's highly symbolic writing tends to skimp on details. He's just not concerned with describing things in a realistic way. When he does get descriptive on you, though, it's a good time to pay attention and think about why. Why does he explain the suffering and debilitation of the pilgrims so precisely here? What does it mean that Despair's beatings should have made them almost unable to move?
Quote #9
The Shepherds then answered, Did you not see a little below these Mountains a Stile, that led into a Meadow, on the left hand of this way? They answered, Yes. Then said the Shepherds, From that Stile there goes a path that leads directly to Doubting Castle, which is kept by Giant Despair; and these men (pointing to them among the Tombs) came once on Pilgrimage, as you do now, even till they came to that same Stile; and because the right way was rough in that place, they chose to go out of it into that Meadow, and there were taken by Giant Despair, and cast into Doubting Castle; where, after they had been awhile kept in the Dungeon, he at last did put out their eyes, and led them among those Tombs, where he has left them to wander to this very day, that the saying of the Wise Man might be fulfilled, He that wandereth out of the way of understanding, shall remain in the congregation of the dead. Then Christian and Hopeful looked upon one another, with tears gushing out, but yet said nothing to the Shepherds. (P643)
A narrow escape indeed. Looking down with the shepherds onto the tombs, Christian and Hopeful are shown the image of what might have become of themselves. The suffering of these souls is particularly poignant because of their ignorance—first of what they were getting themselves into by taking the meadow, and second, because of their blindness. This is one of the keenest lessons Bunyan gives in how a seemingly simple mistake can lead to serious and painful consequences.