The immediate change of setting from the safety of the North to the deathly south is important as the suspension of sentient life in the Mariner’s narrative of the first part of the crews journey could be seen as foreshadowing of the sailors eventual deaths caused by their fickleness and lack of respect for nature that the spiritual world deems is needed, ‘Not shapes of men nor beast we ken‘. This harsh setting also play’s importance in the telling of then narrative as it could highlight how the Albatross was a courier for the spiritual world. Its appearance could be seen as an opportunity for the sailors to escape the cold and harsh climate of the south, yet the Mariner’s senseless killing of a natural being connected to the spiritual world was taken as a direct disregard for the circle of nature thus bringing on punishments from the spiritual world, avenging a loss of one of their creations. The Mariner’s action could be interpreted as an assertion of human superiority and the punishment inflicted on the crew could be seen as a warning from the spiritual world that there are greater forces than human’s and life could eventually cease to exist if there is not mutual respect and understanding throughout the circle of nature.
This warning from the spiritual world takes the form of punishment using natural forces, highlighting the intrinsic connections between the metaphysical world and spiritual. In contrast to the setting before the killing of the Albatross, the crew’s fate changes in accordance with the Ancient Mariner’s actions. After being shunned by the sailors, a glimpse of hope in the form of the mist following the ship disappearing cause them to celebrate his killing of the Albatross, ‘Twas right, said they, such birds to slay,/ That bring the fog and mist’ highlights how the sailors love for the Albatross was false, rather than loving it because of its place in nature, they simply idolised it as a good luck sign and this selfishness is the likely reason for the punishments they receive from the spiritual world. ‘All in a hot copper sky,/ The bloody sun, at noon’ could be used to highlight how man-kind is in the hands of the natural world. Generally seen as a positive force, the sun is described negatively in this line as its searing heat is torture for the lost sailors. ‘Water, water, everywhere,/ Not any drop to sink’ is important in telling the narrative as it symbolises the East compass point – showing the seemingly eternal damnation the crew has been placed in due to their disregard of nature. The sea is a significant place in the story as the water symbolises life and also our need to drink it is reflected by the crew’s parchedness, possibly used by Coleridge to represent their spiritual state.
In conclusion, the implementation of different places in ‘The Ancient Mariner’ is important as the setting is used by Coleridge in conjunction with the narrative. The different compass points are possibly used to reflect the changes in the Ancient Mariner’s spiritual understanding of the world. Without the different settings, the narrative would not be as effective as they are important in symbolising the different aspects of human nature, both moral and immoral.
by
cerylin (student)
