The Life and Death of Mr. Badman: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Life and Death of Mr. Badman" is a narrative that explores the life of a character named Mr. Badman, portrayed as the embodiment of evil. This work serves as a companion to "The Pilgrim's Progress" and presents a dialogue between Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Attentive, who discuss the consequences of Mr. Badman's unrepentant life. The analysis of major characters reveals Mr. Badman as a figure whose sinful behavior begins in childhood and escalates into complete moral corruption, providing a cautionary tale about the dangers of heedless living. Mr. Wiseman plays a crucial role as the narrator, offering sermons and moral lessons through the recounting of Mr. Badman's misdeeds. In contrast, Mr. Attentive serves as the engaged listener who reflects upon these stories and their implications for his own life. The author also directly addresses the "Courteous Reader," inviting them to introspectively examine their own choices in light of Mr. Badman's fate. This work ultimately encourages readers to consider the moral dimensions of their own lives and the potential consequences of their actions.
The Life and Death of Mr. Badman: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: John Bunyan
First published: 1680
Genre: Novel
Locale: Unspecified
Plot: Religious
Time: Anytime
Mr. Badman, a sinner lately dead and the subject of a dialogue that makes up this story, which is, in a sense, a companion piece to the author's The Pilgrim's Progress. The very epitome of evil, Mr. Badman is used, in a conversation between Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Attentive, as a model of what happens to the unrepentent sinner as he makes his heedless way through life. His evil-doing begins while he is yet a child; one sin begets another until the sinner's corruption is complete. The author expects his reader to rejoice in the punishment Mr. Badman so richly deserves.
Mr. Wiseman, the author's spokesman, who relates to Mr. Attentive the story of the late Mr. Badman's evil life. Each sinful episode related by Mr. Wiseman brings forth from him or his listener a kind of sermon or the recitation of a series of edifying examples designed to prove the author's point to his readers.
Mr. Attentive, the listener to, and commentator on, Mr. Wiseman's account of Mr. Badman's wicked career.
Courteous Reader, who is addressed by the author as a probable sinner. He is asked seriously to consider Mr. Badman's life and to decide whether or not he is following him on the road to destruction.