To Kill an Albatross “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge which tells the tale of an old mariner whose ship was trapped in an icy storm. After being driven too far south by the storm, the crew welcomed an albatross that flew by as a good omen. All of the crew seemed to love the albatross, until one day the Mariner shot the beloved bird down with a crossbow. Just one mystery plagues this ancient tale of crime and penance: why did the Mariner feel compelled to kill? I believe that it was jealousy and a need for control that convinced the Mariner to kill the albatross. I think that the Mariner was jealous, and slightly embarrassed, by this seabird’s ability to lead and control his crew. Whereas the Mariner worked for his position on the ship, the albatross landed and instantly won the crew’s attention and approval. This is exhibited in lines 63-66, where it says, “At length did cross an Albatross,/ Through the fog it came;/ As if it had been a Christian soul,/ We hailed it in God’s name.” It is plausible that the crew began to think more highly of the albatross’s guidance than that of the Mariner. While the Mariner led his ship into an icy storm, the albatross seemed to lead them out of the fog. …show more content…
Lines 67-70 state, “It ate the food it ne’er had eat/ And round and round it flew/ The ice did split with a thunder-fit; / The helmsman steered us through!” The bird now led the ship’s path, ate the crew’s food, and bestowed a false sense of hope upon the whole ship. Consequently, the Mariner did not feel as though he had control over the situation; he was now blindly being led into unknown waters by a silly bird. I strongly believe that while the crew was swept away by the tale of a “good omen”, the Mariner saw how absurd it truly was to base the safety of his crew upon a simple seabird’s flight
"The water of the Gulf stretched out before her, gleaming with the million lights of the sun. The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in the abysses of solitude. All along the white beach, up and down, there was no living thing in sight. A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water." Chapter XXXIX
We’re given short or no descriptions of the crewmembers. All we know is that the cook has fat forearms and the captain is injured. These descriptions leave it up to the reader to create these characters in their mind, in doing so they are creating a personal connection. In many ways the reader can relate to the crewmembers. The correspondent (also the narrator) says," If I am going to be drowned, why…was I allowed to come thus far...” Its descriptive and forceful and relatable so its makes people start thinking about their own situations. People usually try their best but they don’t always succeed. If anything we do is never going to be good enough, then why try? At this point people begin to claim and demand an explanation from whatever god they worship. Current situations often trigger thoughts of our past. The correspondent relates this to his childhood when he saw a dying soldier and felt as if it was not important but now when he’s in the situation he realizes how “stern, mournful, and fine” it really was. The only thing that is given specific descriptions constantly is the boat and the water. Crane personifies non-living things and gives them more importance than the main characters! The crewmember’s perspective/descriptions of the boat and water change throughout the story. The water is chaotic, bumpy, and dangerously high in the beginning but as the men begin to loose hope and challenge the gods, the water is no longer mentioned and if it is its calm. Also, the seagulls are flying around and the weather does not change regardless of the men’s situation. Therefore enforcing the idea that nature is indifferent to man. The crewmembers desperately use confirmation bias, the tendency to search for or
“The Seafarer” begins with a man’s story of the hardships he faced at sea. He is on a voyage to discover new lands and riches, yet he is not happy. Despite the great journey the man is undertaking, he feels in exile from his people. He has been lonely for a long period of time now and has had no success. As he is pondering this topic, he thinks of how he only hears the sounds of birds instead of the laughter of people in the mead hall. He thinks of how he is cold instead of warm and sharing drink with his friends; he is lonely and his kinsmen can offer him no comfort, so his soul is left drowning in desolation.
"As they narrated to each other their unholy adventures, their tales of terror told in words of mirth; as their uncivilized laughter forked upwards out of them, like the flames from the furnace; as to and from, in their front, the harpooners wildly gesticulated with their huge pronged forks and dippers; as the wind howled on, and the sea leaped, and the ship groaned and dived, and yet steadfastly shot her red hell further and further into the blackness of the sea and the night, and scornfully champed the white bone in her mouth, and viciously spat round her on all sides; then the rushing Pequod, freighted with savages, and laden with fire, and burning a corpse, and plunging into that blackness of darkness, seemed the material counterpart of her monomaniac commander's soul." (p.463)
There are several symbols in the story that help to emphasize that point. One powerful one is the boat. It is small and alone on the ocean, with only the occasional patch of seaweed or a seagull or two to keep it company. The waves themselves are the ups and downs of life. At any moment, a ‘wave’ can come and swamp you, leaving you stranded without a clue what to do, and more just keep coming. Just as in life, “…after successfully surmounting one wave you discover that there is another behind it just as important and just as nervously anxious to do something effective in the way of swamping boats.” Line 9.
The resolution of the Mariners decision caused him and his shipmates to fall into a curse, which led the Mariner into an eternal penance. The Mariners penances was to retell the story of what a Mariner's choice against nature he made and the events that he went through at sea. After the death of the Albatross, the Mariner felt as if he was pull down by a curse. The vengeance of the curse occurs as a result of his actions, leading towards the Mariner's shipmates souls being taken away. Following the death of the Mariner's soul, the Mariner began to experienced redemptions against the decisions he
There are four men stranded on a boat who are introduced in the beginning of the story. The cook, the oiler, the correspondent, and the captain are all on a boat that "a man ought to have a bath tub larger than" (360). As the men fight the crest of each wave they encounter, it is obvious that this is a desperate situation. Showing their powerlessness the narrator describes a group of birds as sitting ."..comfortably in groups, and they were envied by some in the dinghy, for the wrath of the sea was no more to them than it was to a covey of prairie chickens a thousand miles inland" (363). Even though the men are in grave danger, the sun rises and sets and a shark even swims by but seems to have no need for the men in the boat. The men even believe that the waves are harsh on them and want to capsize the boat. The narrator explains that "[the waves were] nervously anxious to do something effective in the way of swamping boats" (361). Even though it is obvious that the ocean always has waves, it is hard fo...
A leader and a fatherly figure, the Captain serves as the men's compass and keeper of order. His firm navigational commands and calm demeanor make the men a “ready-to-obey ship's company” regardless of their lack of practical experience. Ironically, the Captain is also the most physically useless man on board. Injured from the sinking, the Captain is filled with a quiet despair over his own ability to survive. A hardened seaman, he believes in the idea that a captain should perish with his ship -- to live at sea and to die at sea. The Captain even clings to the dinghy upon being rescued as if he feels a sense of obligation to remain with his boat in the briny deep. Though distraught over the fate of his ship and crewman, the Captain takes solace in providing for the dinghy’s survivors. Occupied with the well-being of others, the Captain does not contemplate his purpose or circumstances in life; he uses his energy to protect his crew and vessel, finding a renewed sense of meaning in this lesser form of leadership. Even when a callous seagull attempts to nip his open wounds, the Captain gently waves the bird away, respecting its life. The Cook on the other hand, attempts to swat it with an
Overall “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is poem that seems like a simple story told by a sailor about his woes at sea. But Coleridge uses many details to make symbols throughout the story for the reader to interpret and see the connections between it and religion. Whether it be through the Christ like albatross, which most would just see as a simple bird, or the woman on the boat showing how the lifestyle might be fun but ultimate leads to nothing we see that these small details create a bigger story than what is just on the cover.
The mariner reconciles his sins when he realizes what nature really is and what it means to him. All around his ship, he witnesses, "slimy things did crawl with legs upon the slimy sea" and he questions "the curse in the Dead man's eyes". This shows his contempt for the creatures that Nature provides for all people. The mariner begins to find his salvation when he begins to look on the 'slimy things' as creatures of strange beauty. When "the mariner begins to find his salvation when he begins to look on the 'slimy things' as creatures of strange beauty" he understands the Albatross is a symbol of nature and he realizes what he had done wrong. The mariner is forgiven after sufficient penance. The mariner's experience represents a renewal of the impulse of love towards other living things. Once he reconciles his punishment is lifted. The bird, which is hung around his neck as a punishment, falls into the water and makes the change from punishment to penance.
In the beginning, the four men in the boat view nature as evil and unjust. Crane portrays this through the men’s reactions to the waves and the seagulls. They describe the waves as "most wrongfully and barbarously abrupt and tall" (245). Later in their journey, the correspondent notices "the tall black waves that [sweep] forward in a most sinister silence, save for an occasional subdued growl of a crest" (254). Each of these examples show that the men in the boat feel that nature is out to get him. The waves are seen as a living enemy force. The men also view the seagulls as threatening. They hover around the boat and when they finally fly away, the men feel relieved. In a critique of "The Open Boat", Donald Gibson explains that "as observers we know the sea is in fact not hostile, that the sea gulls are not actually gruesome and ominous. But the men in the boat have this to lea...
As the ancient Mariner described his adventures at sea to the Wedding-Guest, the Guest became saddened because he identified his own selfish ways with those of the Mariner. The mariner told the Guest that he and his ship-mates were lucky because at the beginning of their voyage they had good weather. The mariner only saw what was on the surface -- he did not see the good weather as evidence that Someone was guiding them. Also, when he shot the Albatross, the Mariner did not have any reason for doing so. The Albatross did nothing wrong, yet the Mariner thought nothing of it and without thinking of the significance of the act, he killed the bird. At this, the Guest was reminded of how self-absorbed he, too, was, and the sinful nature of man. At the beginning of the poem he was very much intent on arriving at the wedding on time. He did not care at all about what it was that the Mariner had to tell him; he did not want to be detained even if the Mariner was in trouble. Instead, he spoke rudely to the mariner, calling him a "gray-beard loon", and tried to go on his own way.
Symbolism was used to express the Captains minds set. In the beginning paragraphs, the Captain is viewed as depressed, apprehensive, and insecure. The Captain viewed the land as insecure, whereas the sea was stable. The Captain was secure with the sea, and wished he were more like it.
Fear has taken a hold of every man aboard this ship, as it should; our luck is as far gone as the winds that led us off course. For nights and days gusts beyond measure have forced us south, yet our vessel beauty, Le Serpent, stays afloat. The souls aboard her, lay at the mercy of this ruthless sea. Chaotic weather has turned the crew from noble seamen searching for glory and riches, to whimpering children. To stay sane I keep the holy trinity close to my heart and the lady on my mind. Desperation comes and goes from the men’s eyes, while the black, blistering clouds fasten above us, as endless as the ocean itself. The sea rocks our wood hull back and forth but has yet to flip her. The rocking forces our bodies to cling to any sturdy or available hinge, nook or rope, anything a man can grasp with a sea soaked hand. The impacts make every step a danger. We all have taken on a ghoulish complexion; the absence of sunlight led the weak souls aboard to fight sleep until sick. Some of us pray for the sun to rise but thunder constantly deafens our cries as it crackles above the mast. We have been out to sea for fifty-five days and we have been in this forsaken storm for the last seventeen.
...ort the reader into a spiritual journey of guilt, retribution, and rebirth as a symbol of the journey of Christianity. Expressing the inherent struggles of humanity for sin and redemption, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" allows the reader to suppose that supernatural situations are real. Coleridge uses supernatural events to bring to live the ideas he expresses in his work. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" clearly demonstrates the ideals of Christianity as salvation and the power of sympathetic imagination.