Crime, punishment and redemption in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is the masterpiece poem of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It is one of the greatest poems written in the Romantic Age in English literature, and this poem was included in the famous book titled Lyrical Ballads, which was published in 1798. Lyrical Ballads is considered to be a book that brought a new beginning to English poetry and most of the poems were contributed by Coleridge’s close friend William Wordsworth. However, poems like “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” showed that Coleridge was a great poet just like Wordsworth. Perhaps the main theme of this poem is crime, punishment and redemption. These three things make us think about human life, and they also make us feel about the journey of the mariner. 

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If we look at the crime of the mariner, it looks to be very simple to us. He killed a bird and the bird was harmless. In fact, the bird was not only harmless but also it was very friendly to the sailors. All the sailors were very happy to see the bird because, for many days, they had to pass a very isolated part of the ocean where they could not see anything but water.

So, the albatross was innocent and it brought happiness to the sailors. In real life, we kill many animals and birds, but most of the time, it is for eating. The sailor killed the bird without any reason and this was his crime. He brought the anger of God to other sailors also. There may be some questions that why the other sailors suffered because of the crime of the mariner.

In answer to this question, it has to be said that when the mariner killed the bird, he was alive, but other sailors died from thirst. The other sailors got free from their punishment, but the mariner suffered more because he was in a ghost ship where everyone was dead, but they became alive and this way, the ancient mariner suffered the most.

The punishment of the mariner was very severe. First of all, as I said earlier that he had to live alone in a ghost ship. There was water all around him in the sea, but he could not drink. So, he started suffering from thirst, and we know from our real experience that this kind of suffering is not enjoyable at all. In fact, thirst or having no water to drink is the most difficult condition that we have to face in life. We can go on a few days without eating, but spending even one day without drinking water is perhaps one of the worst kinds of punishments we can think of.

The ancient mariner suffered a lot and he was given a chance to redeem himself. He gradually realized his crime and he repentant and God gave him another chance. He saw some water snakes and he praised them from his heart. This shows that his heart has changed because earlier he killed an innocent bird for nothing. Now, he was happy, and he enjoyed the blessings of God by looking at the water snakes. His change in mentality moved God and God forgave him. At first, he was very cruel and merciless but then he realized the value of love, kindness and mercy.

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is a great poem with a lot of moral lessons. Perhaps the most important moral lesson is that we should show kindness and love towards nature. We should try to follow a good way and we should try to be a good person.