The Ancient Mariner’s Mindset Progression Essay
Henri Sayag
Have you ever undergone a hard journey to end up learning something as simple as consequences. Consequences are inevitable and the ancient mariner did not understand that. In the epic poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the protagonist, the ancient mariner, tells the story of how he learned from his mistakes in order to fear consequences and reckless actions. The mariner in this epic sea journey travels across the seas to the South Pole where he is stranded in a land of ice and no life. The mariner evolves from one who disrespects nature and has no sense of consequences to become one that has learned to fear consequences through nature. Through harsh and torturous encounters the mariner is molded into a person who fears nature and is cautious with their actions.
At the beginning of the rime, the mariner starts out as one who is repulsed by nature and has no perception of consequences. The ship and its crew is blown south to the pole to an ice sea where he meets an albatross; they rejoice and celebrate for it is a good sign and soon after a good wind came and while they journeyed north. The albatross follows the mariner and his crew often coming for food or play. Coleridge writes, “With my cross-bow/ I shot the ALBATROSS” (page 7). The mariner heedless, oblivious of the consequences, shoots the albatross for no apparent reason and certainly with no justification. After doing so the wind dies off and his companions see the loss of the Albatross as its cause. After uselessly murdering the Albatross, the mariner suffers the chastisement that he deserves.
After killing the albatross, the new-found wind dissipates and the mariner sees his sin’s result and they come across life and death and death’s ship. Coleridge writes, “One after one, by the star-dogged Moon,/Too quick for groan or sigh,/Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,/And cursed me with his eye.” (page 11) The mariner is now suffering and understanding the consequences of his dreadful sin; murdering the albatross and the consequences was eternal guilt. The mariner after suffering so much finally understands his failure and all he did wrong.
The mariner, after reflecting on and recognizing his mistake of misjudging consequences and all his failures, learns from his mistakes and adapts. Close to death, lost at sea he resees through a different mind and eye the colorful fluorescent sea creatures he had found repugnant long before. The mariner says, “O happy living things! No tongue/ Their beauty might declare: /A spring of love gushed from my heart,/ And I blessed them unaware” (page 13). Here the mariner at the end of his long voyage reflects and understands nature's consequences and importance and finally learns from his journey.
Through the mariner’s journey, he learns about consequences through nature and the challenges it puts him through. At the start of the mariner’s journey, he is oblivious to consequences and shoots the albatross. Later in the poem, the mariner sees his action’s consequences when the ship of Life-in-Death and Death comes and kills the mariner’s companions. Then in the final section of the poem, the mariner learns from his mistakes and acts in a better way trying to teach others what he learned so difficultly. The mariner at the end of his arduous journey understands consequences and nature’s significance.
