Growing at Sea
Sophie Parenti
Imagine your soul being eaten away by creatures rising from a rotting ocean beneath you as the water burns blue, green and white, and deathly souls hover around you. This dark and ominous setting reflects the mind of the mariner in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. We learn that the mariner’s stormy thoughts show just how troubled the mariner is and how this reflects his state of mind and soul. This epic poem demonstrates the mariner and his connections with intersection. After each new experience the mariner has a realization about the importance of behavior. The mariner’s character evolves from a self centered and reckless man to a more mature and appreciative individual with more gratitude for God’s creatures.
At the beginning of the ship’s voyage, the mariner demonstrates recklessness and a lack of appreciation towards himself and nature. When the mariner begins to share the details of his journey to the special party guest, he introduces himself, as a character who is self-centered and reckless, in the same way he used to behave. The wedding guest asks, and the mariner responds:, “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 mariner was reckless and had no appreciation towards the beauty around him, as evidenced by the beautiful albatross he shot and killed before realizing that the symbol of life could have in fact guided him and his crew ashore. His foolish behavior not only compromises his voyage but also sets a curse upon him and the ship. As the ship continues at sea, the curse intensifies.
As the mariner's voyage continues, the curse set upon him increases and he struggles to maintain optimism and sanity. He goes so far to give up hope and seeks to be forgiven by God. At this climax, the mariner is faced with a harsh reality: that bad behavior comes at a price. Deathly spirits haunt him and his crew, killing everyone but the mariner. At one point, the mariner encounters a ghostly ship and is so frightened that he merely gives up. Just when he feels helpless, he is saved by God’s creatures and looks up to the sky and begs for forgiveness. The mariner says, “O happy living things! no tongue/ Their beauty might declare:/ A spring of love gush'd from my heart,/ And I bless'd them unaware:/ Sure my kind saint took pity on me,/ And I bless'd them unaware.// The selfsame moment I could pray;/ And from my neck so free/ The Albatross fell off, and sank/ Like lead into the sea”(p.13). The albatros and its death is symbolic of the mariner’s growing self-awareness. The death of the albatross left a large weight on the mariner’s shoulders while he continued his voyage up until he made the realization of his bad behavior. Once he took action for his realization he was able to lift that weight off of him. When the mariner finally realizes that he has not been living a life of virtue, he develops a newfound appreciation for life.
The mariner evolves from a selfish and careless individual by realizing the mistakes he had made and the importance of respecting himself, others, and nature. From this point forward the mariner’s perspective on life changes a lot. He begins to respect the things around him and begins to appreciate all the little things. The mariner explained, “He prayeth best, who loveth best/ All things both great and small;/ For the dear God who loveth us,/ He made and loveth all.” (p.22-23) This quote demonstrates the mariner’s growth because he finally shows appreciation towards God and nature opposed to the beginning where he was disrespectful towards them.
These three experiences the mariner has throughout his voyage shows a maturing in his behavior and his appreciation towards God’s creatures. He learns about the importance of nature and how reckless behavior has consequences. The mariner grows from a self centered man to one who cares about the living things around him. The development of the mariner’s soul leads him to living a more fulfilling and joyful life. As expressed in this book, the importance of appreciation towards nature can really change how one lives their life.
