Previous
Irony
Definition of Logos
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is an argument that appeals to... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective speaking or writing). Logos is... read full definition
Logos, along with ethos and pathos, is one of the three "modes of persuasion" in rhetoric (the art of effective... read full definition
Part 2: At Gaius’s Inn
Explanation and Analysis—Gaius's Speech:
When Christiana and her group lodge at Gaius's Inn, the kindly innkeeper gives an impromptu speech praising women's faithfulness, using logos to argue that women are indeed equal to men as disciples of Christ. He says:
[...] I read not, that ever any Man did give unto Christ so much as one Groat, but the Women followed him and ministered to him of their Substance. [...] They were Women that wept when he was going to the Cross, and Women that followed him from the Cross, and that sat by his Sepulchre when he was buried. They were Women that was first with him at his Resurrection-morn, and Women that brought tiding first to his Disciples that he was risen from the Dead. Women therefore are highly favoured, and shew by these things that they are sharers with us in the Grace of Life.
In context, Gaius has been encouraging Christiana to find good Christian wives for her sons. Here, Gaius uses evidence from the Bible to demonstrate that women are honorable and "sharers with [men] in the Grace of Life"—an allusion to the epistle of 1 Peter, where Peter exhorts husbands to treat their wives respectfully because men and women stand as equals before God. To make his argument, Gaius lists ways that women held a prominent place in the earthly life and ministry of Jesus Christ: supporting him in his travels, standing vigil after the crucifixion, and even being the first to announce the news that Christ had risen from the dead. Though Gaius doesn't explain why he's making this argument at the moment, Bunyan seems to be using Gaius's logic to simply acknowledge women's prominence (and even, in some respects, their superiority to men) as followers of Christ, as he does throughout Part 2 of Pilgrim's Progress. In this way, Bunyan bolsters his argument that even if female pilgrims' journeys aren't identical to men's, they are just as worthy of his readers' emulation.
Related Themes:
