The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

Imagine feeling the punishment befitting every immoral thing one has ever done crashing down all at once, and having to gamble for a second chance at life. In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, obvious Christian themes spell out a hidden message exist within the story, first focusing on the death of the mariner’s spirit via the analogous physical death of the albatross. After he unjustly kills the albatross, the message transitions to one of penitence as the guilt of the slain bird weighs down on him physically and mentally. Eventually, the mariner’s life is restored through a chance turn of fate and he pursues a more spiritual way of life. It could not be clearer that the hidden message in this poem concerns the Christian cycle of death and
The decision to kill the bird was an impulsive act that seems to curse his travels on the seas, and his fellow sailors begin praying for him, asking that God would save the Mariner “from the fiends that plague [him] thus”(Coleridge 80). This parallels the prayers sent by friends and family after a loved ones passing. Upon reflecting on his actions, he expresses remorse for the “hellish thing” he did when he “killed the bird that made the breeze to blow” (Coleridge 91-94). The act seems to have damned the sailor to hellish existence, and he morbidly reflects on his actions like a penitent in a
He is finally able to relieve himself of his chains as “the albatross fell off, and sank like lead into the sea,” releasing him from his purgatorial experience (Coleridge 291). God has finally pardoned the mariner, and gives him the opportunity to start over and live a righteous life. His experiences have changed the protagonist forevermore, and he emerges virtuous and cleansed as if from a baptism. “He’ll shrive my soul, he’ll wash away the albatross’ blood”, and “singeth loud his godly hymns”(Coleridge 120-123). God has forgiven the mariner, and his guilt washes away with the blood as he transitions into