After reading · Section 6

Section 6The Fair of Vanity

Reading boundary Start: Now, when they were got almost quite out of this wilderness, Stop after: For, though they kill'd thee, thou art yet alive.

Summary

Evangelist rejoins Christian and Faithful and warns that enemies in the approaching town will threaten their lives. Vanity Fair sells every kind of worldly desire. The pilgrims’ foreign clothes and speech, refusal to inspect the goods, and declaration that they “buy the truth” provoke mockery, violence, display in a cage, questioning, and imprisonment. Their mild response wins some observers and deepens the town’s division.

Faithful is tried before Lord Hate-good. Envy, Superstition, and Pickthank accuse him; Faithful answers that custom and worship must agree with God’s Word. A viciously named jury convicts him, and he is tortured and killed before a chariot carries him upward. Christian remains imprisoned, then escapes when providence overrules the crowd. His closing song declares Faithful alive despite his killers.

Who’s who

Lord Hate-good — The hostile judge presiding over Faithful’s trial.
Envy, Superstition, and Pickthank — Witnesses who turn conviction into criminal charges.
The jury — Twelve allegorically named townsmen whose vices disclose their verdict.