The Rime of the Thoughtless Mariner
Henry Brockman
The human mindset is a very fragile thing and can be greatly altered by any challenge that life throws at it. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge describes an ancient mariner who goes on a voyage that results in great consequence and very important learning opportunities for the mariner. At the beginning, the mariner pulls a man trying to go to a wedding aside and entrances him with a story. He begins to tell the man the story of his past voyage. In the story you hear of many different transformations happening to the mariner and those around him. Throughout the poem, the mariner reaches a multitude of intersections and decisions that lead him to start reflecting on his actions and using that to become a better and more thoughtful person.
At the start of the mariner’s story, he shows a reckless and ungrateful attitude to everything around him. After some sailing, the mariner and his crew find themselves in a land of ice and snow. While moving further into this icy part of the sea, an albatross flies up to the crew. It ends up staying with them throughout the icy sea until the mariner randomly shoots it with his crossbow. At this part in the story, the wedding guest and the mariner say, “'God save thee, ancient Mariner!/ From the fiends, that plague thee thus!—/ Why look'st thou so?'—'With my crossbow/ I shot the Albatross’ p. 7).” The concerned wedding guest asks the mariner if he is okay, to which the mariner replies by admitting that he shot the albatross. Back in the mariner's story, When the crew finds out what the mariner did, they are angry with him, but only for a short while. When the wind picks up and carries the ship away from the land of ice and snow the crew says that the albatross was bringing them bad luck, and they forgave the mariner. The crew doing this is actually a bad thing for the mariner because it slows down his emotional growth by allowing him to not feel guilty for his reckless act. Soon after the reckless killing of the albatross, the mariner starts to see the repercussions of his actions, when the wind stops, stranding them in the scorching sun.
While stranded, the mariner starts to recognize and feel the guilt of his actions. The new wind takes the ship to the open water where the sun is extremely hot. As they get there, the wind just mysteriously stops. The crew, all with gullible mindsets, decided to blame the mariner again for killing the albatross. Coleridge writes, while the ship is stopped, “Day after day, day after day,/ We stuck, nor breath nor motion;/ As idle as a painted ship/ Upon a painted ocean”(p. 8-9). This demonstrates the mariner’s consequence and is a very important stepping stone to the mariner learning to think of the repercussions before acting. After finishing his voyage and facing numerous punishments, the mariner arrives back home.
By the end of the journey, the mariner is forced to constantly reflect on his past, due to guilt that can only be relieved by telling his story. The mariner’s story ends with the ship being pushed back home by a supernatural force. Once he gets back he immediately seeks guidance from the local hermit. The hermit listens to the mariner and tries to help. As the mariner is talking to the hermit, he says, "’O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!’/ The Hermit cross'd his brow./ ‘Say quick,’ quoth he, ‘I bid thee say—/ What manner of man art thou?’” (p. 21). After the mariner tells his story, his guilt is relieved but only for a short amount of time. Every once and awhile, the mariner experiences great guilt and has to stop and reflect by telling his story to anyone who will listen. Moving through the overall story, the mariner continues to grow as a person, reflecting on his actions, starting to think before he does things, and sharing his mistakes with others.
Because of the intersections and experiences the mariner has, he ends up becoming a much more grateful and reflective person. At the start, the mariner is reckless and kills animals without thinking. Later he really starts to feel the consequences of his actions and he is finally forced to reflect and become a better person. The story is showing that the mariner has become a better person by realizing what he did wrong and acting differently to never make the same mistake twice, and that is what everybody's mindset should be.
