Stylistically, the main similarity between these pieces is
that both Pope and Bunyan are giving a nod to the epic tradition. Bunyan's work centers
on the character Christian's epic journey to get to the Celestial City and the obstacles
he faces on the way; the work is a religious allegory of a Christian life and being
saved. The Rape of the Lock employs features of the epic, such as
the epic catalogue (in describing Belinda's toilet) and climaxes with a great battle (a
card game) and a trip to the underworld (Belinda's
swoon/sickness).
A major difference, however, is the tone
underlying each work. Bunyan intended his work, as obvious and even hackneyed it might
seem to us, to be taken as didactic and completely serious. Readers of The
Pilgrim's Progress were supposed to come away from the tale with an idea of
how to live a Christian life and subsequently follow its model. The Rape of
the Lock, however, was written for a different purpose: to satirize the petty
affairs of the upper classes. As a result, readers of the Rape
were not supposed to actually believe that the card game between the noblemen is
seriously comparable to a battle in war; rather, the extreme exaggeration brings out the
frivolity and unimportance of aristocratic intrigue.
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