“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is a wonderful and longest major poem by the famous English romantic poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He is different from other poets because of the technic of using supernaturalism in his work. In this poem, he has explained the misdeed of an ancient mariner and the punishment he got from nature after committing the crime. We can find an allegory of crime, punishment, and redemption through the conversation between the mariner and the wedding guest.
Crime: At the beginning of this poem, the old mariner holds the hand of the wedding guests and tells the story of his committing a crime. The old mariner tells that his voyage was with two hundred crews and how faced the stormy, rough, and cold weather in the ocean while sailing to the south. At that moment, an Albatross came to their ship and the stormy weather turned into favorable weather. Every crew was seeing the Albatross as a sign of good fortune. But the ancient mariner killed the Albatross without any reason. This was the crime of the mariner. The Albatross was a part of nature and also an innocent creature who saved them from their misery. After killing the Albatross weather was good but after some time the wind stopped blowing and their ship stuck at the bottom of the ocean. Their drinking water ran out and their throats were so dry that they were not able to speak. Every crew started blaming the ancient mariner for their misery and they hung the dead body of the Albatross on his neck. By killing the Albatross, the ancient mariner committed the crime against nature.
Punishment: The ancient mariner was not only the person who got punishment by nature but also his crew got punished. Normally the crews seemed not to be guilty but they were also guilty. When the ancient mariner killed the Albatross and the weather was favorable they appreciated the mariner. But when the weather got worse the crews only convicted the mariner. So they were guilty because of their biased nature. They faced severe punishment for their crime. Every supernatural incident was started with the death of that Albatross. A ghostly ship came near to their ship with two supernatural characters, life, and life in death. These two supernatural characters were playing dice games and the life in death won. It took the lives of all the crews except the mariner. The mariner was the only living person left on their ship. He was stuck in the ship at the bottom of the ocean for seven days and seven nights. He looked at the sky and tried to pray but he could not. He was surrounded by the dead bodies of his mates and the dead Albatross was tied with his neck. This was the miserable punishment he and his crew got from nature.
Redemption: The ancient mariner was in suffering and he was finding the way of redemption from his miserable curse. But the redemption only came when he felt changed. He started to observe the beautiful natural environment around him with a blessing view. He saw some beautiful slimy snakes swimming in the ocean around himself. It was a moonlit night. When the snakes were swimming it was making tiny waves on water and those waves were reflecting the golden lights of the moon. That scene was very beautiful. The mariner's heart filled up with happiness watching the beauty of those snakes' movement. The natural beauty enchanted him so much that he blessed those snakes in his unconscious mind. His curse broke down and the dead body of the Albatross automatically fell down into the ocean from his neck. Angels came and those dead crews were alive again. The weather became favorable again. They started to sail the ship towards the mariner’s home. The mariners met the pilot, his boy, and hermit and this is how the mariner got redemption. Though he got redemption it doesn’t seem like actual redemption. Because he feels some kind of spiritual power forces him to tell the story repeatedly to people.
At the conclusion, we can realize that the poem indicates both protective and devastating forms of nature using various supernatural elements. ST Coleridge wonderfully presented super-naturalism through this poem. So we can say “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is an allegory of crime, punishment, and redemption.
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the rime of the ancient mariner is an allegory of crime punishment and redemption
an allegory of crime punishment and redemption in the rime of the ancient mariner