“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” As A Tale of Crime And Punishment

The Ancient Mariner is Coleridge’s masterpiece in which the author has presented the story in the supernatural atmosphere. However, it appears to be honest and convincing.

The Ancient Mariner is essentially a story of crime and punishment. The poem is divided into seven sections, and each section describes a new stage in the development of the story.

The First Stanza Begins with A Crime

The first stanza tells us about the crime. Coleridge makes the shooting of the bird Albatross significant in two ways. First, he does not explicitly mention why the Mariner kills the Albatross. The Mariner may have killed the bird in a mood of anger, or it may be an act of near frivolity.

Whatever be the cause, it shows the essential irrationality of the crime, which may be due to the perversity of will. Secondly, this is a crime against nature, against the saved relationship between the guest and the host.

By killing the bird, which was hailed in God’s name, the Mariner breaks the sacred code of life. In Mariner’s action, we see the magnitude of his crime against humanity at the ordered system of the world.

The Mariner’s Crime Brings Punishment And Suffering

In the second section, the Mariner begins to suffer the punishment for his actions, and Coleridge vividly describes the Mariner’s helpless condition in a hopeless world.

The ship does not move, and the sailors are tormenting by thirst while the only moving things around the Mariner are the slimy creatures on the sea and the deadly fire which dances at night.

Coleridge portrays immediate results of the crime in the image of a universe dying of thirst and constantly visited by mysterious phantoms.

The Guilt of Crime Surrounds The Mariner

The third section shows how the guilty soul becomes conscious of its actions. It suffers terrible isolation in a lonely world. The Mariner first realizes the consequences of his action when he sees the phantom ship, which decides his doom.

“The night-near life in death was she Who thicks man’s blood with old.”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The night in which the Mariner’s companions die one by one symbolizes the darkness in the soul when it suddenly finds itself alone and robbed of familial ties. Mariner’s companions fall dead one by one cursing him for his crime.

The Mariner’s Lonliness Becomes Intense

The Mariner’s loneliness is described with greater intensity in the fourth section. The guilty soul is cut off not nearly from human interaction but the consoling friendship of Nature. The Mariner is indeed in a precarious ‘plight,’ and he is alone on the ship surrounded by the dead bodies of his shipmate.

Coleridge gives a vivid account of the Mariner’s helplessness and utter loneliness in the following lines,

Alone, Alone all, all alone

Alone on a wide, wide sea!

And never a saint took pity on

My Soul is in agony

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

The above is the accurate description of a soul cut off from familiar surroundings and the human community.

The Albatross, which hanks in the Mariner’s neck, symbolizes his crime. Then begins the process of Mariner’s moral revival. When the Mariner quite unconsciously blesses the water snakes, he begins to re-establish relations with the world of God’s creation.

The Revival of The Mariner’s Soul

In the fifth section, the process of the soul’s revival continues. The ship begins to move, and the heavenly spirits wave the Mariner. The Mariner hears heavenly music, which comforts him.

Before it restores the Mariner, he must establish a relationship with Man and God, and he begins to do so. When the Mariner hears the heavenly music, he is on his way to attaining salvation.

The Mariner’s Soul Struggles Again

In the sixth section, however, the process of revival is impeded. The faces of Mariner’s comrades haunt him, and it feels that some fearful power persuades him of vengeance.

Through his haunting memories and fears, Coleridge describes the Mariner’s remorse, and this sense of remorse brings repentance in the mind of Mariner.

This section closes with the vision of divine spirits ready to greet the Mariner. The forgiveness of God is extended to the most hearted sinner if they are ready to receive it.

The Mariner Achieve’s Salvation At Last

In the seventh section, the Mariner’s suffering comes to an end, and he is restored to the place among the living man. Although the Mariner achieves his salvation, the punishment of life in death is still at work.

Since the Mariner has committed a hideous crime, he will never be the same man again. There is a need for confession, and by forcing others to listen to his story, the Mariner can regain some human affection which his crime has taken away from him.

Bottom Line

The Ancient Mariner is a story of crime, punishment, and redemption of a guilty soul. Coleridge’s presentation of the theme of guilt and redemption in a musical language and supernatural sitting gives a depth of meaning and a new significance to the poem.

It is not merely a fairy tale; it is brought close to life with its fundamental issues of life and the moral problems for the whole of humanity.

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