8 h 39 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What does a life of selfish gain cost the people who must share it?
In John Bunyan’s Life and Death of Mr. Badman, two neighbors talk through the history of a dishonest tradesman. Mr. Wiseman tells the story; Mr. Attentive asks questions and pushes back. Their conversation traces how a child’s bad habits grow into a life devoted to gain and pleasure.
Bad company, a cheated master, business dealings and a marriage built on pretense give their discussion its weight. Badman’s wife has sincere faith, but must live with his character. Through these ordinary relationships, Bunyan explores wrongdoing and judgment from his religious viewpoint, asking how repeated choices shape a person.
What you’ll discover
- Two neighbors in conversation Follow Wiseman’s account as Attentive’s questions keep the moral discussion moving.
- The roots of character Trace Bunyan’s belief that early habits help set the shape of a life.
- A pleasing face See how Badman uses pretense in a marriage that brings his character close to home.
- Temptations behind the trade Enter a picture of ordinary seventeenth-century English life, where business becomes a test of conduct.
- A stern moral portrait Explore Bunyan’s view of judgment through a flawed man who turns away from warning.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you like Bunyan's plain voice, vivid old tales of crime and judgment, sharp pictures of English trade and marriage, and a story told as friendly conversation.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Two neighbors sit down to talk of Badman
- Small childhood sins grow into lasting habits
- Good masters cannot mend a hardened heart
- Badman wastes his start and hunts a wife
- A marriage built on a mask breaks a good woman
- Cheating in trade robs neighbors and ruins the cheat
- Pride and envy leave no room for God
- Good advice meets excuses and scorn
- What the book teaches and how it is told
Who’s who
- Mr. BadmanA tradesman wicked from boyhood, who lies, cheats and mocks religion, and whose life Wiseman recounts from childhood onward.
- Mr. WisemanThe older neighbor who knew Badman from boyhood and tells his life and death while drawing lessons from Scripture and stories.
- Mr. AttentiveThe friendly neighbor who listens, asks questions and wants to learn from Badman's story how not to live.
- Badman's first wifeA godly young woman with a good dowry, deceived into marriage by Badman's false show of faith.
- Badman's fatherA godly parent who tries advice, discipline and a good master to reform his wayward son.
- Badman's three companionsThree young villains who teach him drink, lust and theft and make him their leader.
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- Audiobook
- 8 h 39 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Vita e morte del signor Uomo Malvagio
by John Bunyan · 1680
Two neighbors sit under a tree while one traces Mr. Badman's wicked ways from childhood onward.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
Two neighbors meet on a troubled morning and sit down under a tree. One of them has just watched a man die, and he cannot let it go.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Two neighbors sit down to talk of Badman
The book opens on a morning when Mr. Attentive is troubled about the bad times. Mr. Wiseman agrees that bad people make bad times, then sighs for another reason. The bell has rung for Mr. Badman, and Wiseman fears the man has passed from one death straight into another.
Attentive has time to spare, so the two sit beneath a tree. Wiseman offers to go in order, first the life, then the death, because the life will make the death mean more. He knew Badman from boyhood, and he stood at the bedside at the end. In his note to the reader, Bunyan draws on his own experience and reports he trusts. He hides most names to spare the families.
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What is The Life and Death of Mr. Badman about?
It follows a wicked tradesman from childhood lies and thefts through a false marriage, cheating in trade and illness, as one neighbor tells his story to another. Bunyan uses it to show where a life of sin leads.
Who are Mr. Wiseman and Mr. Attentive?
They are the two neighbors who speak throughout the book. Wiseman, who knew Badman from boyhood, tells the story and gives lessons from Scripture. Attentive asks questions, adds his own tales and draws out the meaning.
Is Mr. Badman a true story?
Bunyan says the events come from things he saw or heard from sources he trusted, with most names hidden. Badman himself is a single figure that stands for many. The book appeared in 1680.
The author
John Bunyan
1628–1688 · English writer and preacher
John Bunyan (1628–1688) was an English writer and preacher. He was born in Elstow, near Bedford, and lived in Bedford. He wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666), The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678 and 1684), The Life and Death of Mr. Badman (1680), and The Holy War (1682). He died in London.
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