The Fall and Redemption of the Ancient Mariner - Essay Example

In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor utilizes the concept of symbols and super natural elements to illustrate the fall and redemption of the ancient mariner.

The poem begins with three young men walking together to a wedding when one of guest is detained by a solder. He demands to be released. When he is released he notices the “glittering eye” and sits down to listen to the mariner. The mariner tells his tale which begins in a voyage. He tells of a great storm that caused their ship to head southwards. The ship comes to a stop in a frigid land of mist and fog and ice floating. An albatross bird leads them out of the ice but the mariner kills it. The voyage now becomes a journey of learn significant lessons of accountability, acceptance, repentance and forgiveness. At first the sailors are mad at him but when the fog and mist are gone they concur with him. The ship and its crew face difficulty but instead of remorse for his crime, the mariner is angry and the sea and all creatures in it. The ship gets stuck again and all the sailors except the mariner die due to dryness. For seven day and nights the mariner is forced to stay with the corpses until one day the water snakes appear. He blesses them and receives redemption for killing the bird. This poem has been interpreted differently and is known for the use of the concept of symbols and imagery.

From the beginning of the poem Rime of the Ancient Mariner has resulted to a lot of speculation and criticism regarding what it means. This has been because Samuel Taylor the author has used so many symbols and supernatural elements that can be interpreted differently based on the reader. The rime of the ancient mariner is very unique in its length, bizarre moral narrative, its thematic ambiguity and its long Latin epigraph that entails invisible creatures inhibiting the world. A number of critics have brought out the opinion that this poem presents an irrational, capricious and perverse universe. The symbols and supernatural elements used in this poem try to illustrate the fall and redemption man (the ancient mariner).

It is also noted that a number of critics interpreted the poem as biblical. They perceive the poem to symbolize the tale of sin, fall, baptism, penance, redemption and faith in God. It details a man’s life from sin to ultimate love of God. Wilson Knight one of the critics interpreted the albatross as the redeeming Christ-like force while Chandler interprets the mariner as a prophet in the book of revelations. Chandler also sees the poem as a conquest over sin and death. Robert Penn on the other hand related the killings in the poem as the biblical fall of man. However, Taylor constructs the biblical doctrines of the fall and redemption of man to put forward a romantic version. He tries to interpret symbolical the biblical story in genesis on the fall of man as a result of eating the forbidden fruit which is a symbol. He changes the sinful act of will from eating the fruit to killing of a bird to portrait a new romantic philosophy of religion which shows the relationship between God and nature.

Moreover, the poem reveals a romantic myth of circular transcending journey, organized innocence and salvation through restored imagination according to Michael Burke. The killing of the albatross which is a bird believed by the sailors as a good luck charm resulted to a number of encounters and challenges in the sea. All the sailors die except the mariner and as the sailors die, they curse the mariner and their souls rushed through him. The bird was of no danger to the sailors or the mariner but a spiritual guide that safeguarded the crew. Killing of the bird was uncalled for. Buchan write “the shooting is an act, unpremeditated and unmeant, that nevertheless must be accounted for…” therefore, the mariner had to account for his sin by being left alone and surrounded by corpse for seven day and nights. His redemption would only be achieved if he appreciated nature and accepted his mistake.

The killing of a harmless bird for no reason signifies the separation of man from nature. The mariner believes that he is above nature hence killing the bird. In comparison to the bible, the mariner just like Adam is a representative of mankind in general. The mariner symbolizes man’s belief in regarding himself as more superior to nature and separate just like in the bible where Adam symbolizes his desire to have the knowledge of good and evil. At first when the mariner kills the bird, the sailors protest but after the fog and mist go, they praise and agree with him hence get involved in the mariner’s guilt. This guilt is what resulted to the death of all the sailors. However, some critics perceive this as absurd regardless of the fact that in the bible, Adam and Eve were casted out of Eden to die and this curse was passed on to the entire mankind. This poem draws symbolizes of Adam to the ancient mariner, the eating of the forbidden fruit to killing of the bird and the original sin and punishment for all mankind to the guilt and death of all the sailors. After the killing, the wind blows away the ship to the equator where it becomes stalled. This may represent the death of the soul that is the loss of spiritual guidance.

In the rime of the ancient marine, the sailors and the mariner are without life – giving water when the ship becomes stalled for long. Their mouths become so dry that they cannot speak. Water is a necessity in the human body and no one can survive long without it. In the poem, it may be used to symbolize separation from God. When the mariner killed the bird, they were spiritually separated from God for his disrespect of nature. He is unable to pray due to his bitterness to God for allowing the sailors to die and the water snake to live. The marine’s spiritual dryness is demonstrated in lines 243 – 247 where he talks of his inability to pray. To achieve salvation, the mariner blesses the water snakes.

The mariner should repent to receive redemption in traditional doctrines. However, despite how much he prays, there is no grace. The grace is only achieved with the transfiguration of the water snakes in the moonlight. “Beyond the shadow of the ships I watched the water snakes: they moved in tracks of shinning white and when they reared, the elfish light fell off in hoary flakes” after internalizing the vision, the mariner finds the snakes still beautiful even with no moonlight “within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire blue, glossy green and velvet black they coiled and swam; and every track was a flash of golden fire”

The rime of the ancient mariner provides a different study of the snake in relation to the imagination world. They symbolize the beauty and truth of the creative world which the poet has created. The mariner changes the snakes from the world of accused and loathsome to the world of the beautiful and blessed. Lowes, one of the critics, traits the rime of the ancient mariner as a work of pure imagination. The change in appearance of the snake in the poem to a more superior creature than its original treatment is clearly a work of imagination which only perceives things as beautiful and attractive. Another critic interprets the poem as a work containing a moral. It demonstrates mans capacity to have a relationship with God and nature. The blessing of the beauty of the water snakes also symbolizes the freedom for man from suffering in atonement for killing the bird.

The snake has been used as a sign of wisdom in many historical and biblical concepts. For examples in ancient legends the snake was believed to give supernatural wisdom to anyone who ate it. In the bible, the snake is associated with wisdom when Jesus advised his disciples “behold, I send you out as sheep in midst of wolves so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” in the poem, Taylor makes the snakes appear as supernatural beings that are responsible for his freedom. He symbolizes the snakes as God’s creatures that demand respect and have value to nature just like the albatross sea bird.

According to Robert Penn, the poem combines the theme of one life and imagination. He states that “the infusion of the theme of one life and the theme of imagination is the expression in the poem of Coleridge’s general belief concerning the relation of truth and poetry, or morality and beauty.” After blessing the water snakes, the albatross hanging on his neck falls and his guilt is partially expiated. The hanging of the albatross on his neck symbolizes his thoughtless crime. Buchan writes that from the albatross falling from his neck “he is on the verge of learning that mysterious and omnipotent spirits govern his destiny”.

In the end, the mariner acknowledges the spiritual wonders of the universe. By appreciating the water snakes, he learns to release his negative views. This also frees the souls of the dead sailors as their spirits rises and steer the ship home. However, the mariner has not received redemption despite the bird falling off and the ship heading home. This is shown when the polar spirits remark “the man hath penance done and penance more will do”. This means that he must ask and earn the forgiveness. The poem further talks of the Hermit who will “wash away The Albatross’s blood”. Telling the hermit his story and seeks forgiveness gives the mariner a feeling of wisdom. He longs for this feeling and therefore repeats his story to anyone willing to listen hoping to find someone to forgive him.

One may wonder if the mariner ever receives redemption. The answer is no. Peace is brought about by redemption. The urge of telling his story means that the mariner is not in peace. The crime was unnecessary and senseless hence no one can understand or forgive him. He is therefore doomed for eternity to wandering around the world telling his story.

Knight provides an interpretation of the poem that mainly focuses on the symbolism of the imagery. He suggests that the bird symbolizes a Christ like force that guides humanity from primitive and fearful origins which are symbolized by the snow and fog. The water symbolizes the primitive layer in the psychology of man. The patching and dryness represents man’s mental state of agony thus the crime becomes the symbol for the fall from innocence. The knowledge of evil is symbolized by the “rotting sea” and the “slimy creatures”. Knight also suggests that the blessing of the snakes symbolizes the return of man’s natural instincts and unforced forgiveness from God. His return home symbolizes the embrace of Christian love. According to Knight, the lesson learnt is “total acceptance of God and His universe through humanity and love of man towards beast”.

Based on the above analysis of the poem, many critics have demonstrated that the poem uses a lot of symbols and supernatural creatures to illustrate the fall and redemption of man.