When “a good south wind sprung up behind”, everything began to look well, the mariner felt independent and confident again. The isolation and fear that was felt earlier at the South Pole has completely evaporated. Albeit the reason for killing the bird was never stated, I’d imagine that the mariner was having a heated argument in his head about the Albatross that probably went ‘How could a mere bird cause the ice to split, or bring the south wind? Could this bird truly be a sign from above? It does not make sense, it is probably my wistful imagination, a bird is simply a bird and nothing more, I would have to kill it to be certain. I can’t believe that I’m actually contemplating that this mere bird is from God’ and so he “killed the bird that made the breeze to blow”. It is human nature to be sceptical of miracles or for that matter anything supernatural that is beyond our understanding, Coleridge wrote this in a time where there were many disputes about the church, God and ways to salvation; he allegorizes the killing of the albatross to our killing of the “Supernatural Power of God” by trying to dissect it, rationalize it and understand it with our finite human minds. And the consequences of this, as Coleridge will further explore in the “Ancyent Marinere” is the deepest form of solitude when the arrogant soul of man is isolated from His Creator. How independent can we actually be?
Everything that has breath, life and motion is radically taken away from the Mariner. The ship is isolated from the great sea and taken into a vacuum-like space into a “silent sea” where there were no breeze, no movement that “the sails dropt down”. The ship was place in a stationary position “as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean” they cannot move or escape just like a prisoner, they were stuck in isolation. The first stage of isolation occurs. They could not swim, because the waters were a swamp, a “slimy sea” and were filled with slimy crawling creatures. Next the mariners were robbed of speech, (a source of communication that can ease loneliness and pain) because of thirst, making the ancient mariner even lonelier and the accusing looks he had from his crew made it even clear that he is just as alone in this as he was when he killed the bird selfishly without considering his shipmates. Finally the mariner is left completely alone in this tormenting atmosphere of Isolation and Darkness, when Death takes the lives of these two hundred men. The mariner was not given the ease of death, but a purgatorial suffering in Isolation where all he has is his thoughts, his heart and his soul. Why such a horrible penance for a killing a bird? The mariner did not just kill the bird, he was selfish and proud, he challenged God by thinking that he can be the sole navigator of the Ship, he did not require aid from above; he did not consult his crew before taking matters into his own hands and he did not stop to reason on the possible risk that he may expose his crew too, he was too self occupied to consider the mechanics of the world at large. Is this not a similar situation with mankind? Too often we think that we are the sole navigators of our lives and we fail to consider the creations, beauty and people around us and the important roles they play in our destiny, we spend way too much time thinking inwardly. Therefore the suitable penance the poet came up with is to leave the mariner to himself considering that he never really cared for anything else; he was socially, spiritually and physically isolated from all things he took for granted.
The mariner tried to pray but without any success because his heart was still not repentant; in fact he looked at his dead crew with envy wishing that he could die, such self pity is common to a selfish man. Coleridge depicts a common human state here; depression, isolation, and contemplation of suicide, as are the consequences of being too focused inwardly, existing with the rest of the world but living apart from it. When a man has been stripped off all his possessions, and achievements, friends and family (very much like Job in the Old Testament) what would be the condition of his heart and thoughts? When it is just between him and God? Isolation was the necessary evil towards the mariner’s self renewal, repentance, contemplation and growth. The change would not have taken place had the mariner not be given a chance to look into his soul. The importance of isolation is therefore made clear here.
Coleridge leads us to contemplate on the deepest parts of our beings; ‘would we still have love when all is stripped away’ and is Love the key to life? For the mariner, it was. However, the mariner’s heart had to dramatically change and allegorically had to be able to see beauty in the ugliest of creatures. He had to love the unlovable to be set free. It is quite deliberate and genius of the poet to choose the water-snakes as the mariner’s atonement because snakes carry a pejorative symbol of everything evil, unsightly, poisonous and devilish; Christ commanded his people to love their enemies and to love the least of his creations to inherit the kingdom of heaven. It is certainly one of His toughest commands but it was the only option for the mariner. “He blessed them unaware” depicting a sincere repentant heart filled with love and appreciation even for the smallest of creatures.
A sadder and a wiser man, after a long and extreme Isolation, the mariner learns to appreciate company, be it human, nature or animal. He is also humbled by God’s control over everything. He concludes that it is not good for a man to be alone; he finds nothing sweeter than ‘to walk together to Kirk with goodly company” “and all together pray” and finally “to love all things both great and small”. The mariner preaches unity and love with God and all his creation.
From the parallels to Christianity discussed above, we can surmise that this poem has Christian influences and the essential Christian message of
Sin (when the mariner kills the bird) Repentance (when the mariner loves) Grace (when the curse fell) testimony (the marines will live to testify his story).
There are also other Christian parallels that can be drawn; the shooting of the Albatross can be compared to several Judeo-Christian stories of betrayal, including the original sin of Adam and Eve, and Cain's betrayal of Abel. Like Adam and Eve, the Ancient Mariner fails to respect God's commands and is tempted to try to understand things that should remain out of his reach. Like them, after challenging God, he was forbidden from being truly close to the sublime, existing in a purgatorial-like rather than an Eden-like state. Like Cain, the Ancient Mariner angers God by killing his beloved creation. More candidly, the Ancient Mariner can be seen as the archetypal Judas or the universal sinner who betrays God by killing his messenger. Like Judas, he murders the "Christian soul" who could lead to his salvation and greater understanding of the divine. Some readers have gone as far as interpreting the Albatross as Christ, since it was a messenger from God sent to save the souls of the men on the Ship, and the Mariner’s unbelieving heart killed it, just like the unbelieving hearts in Coleridge’s era of Revolution, trying to close down the churches.
Another Christian representation is when The Albatross is hung around the Ancient Mariner's neck as a symbol of his sin just like Christ carried the cross on his shoulders symbolising the sin of all mankind. The rain was a symbol of baptism which is meant for the cleansing from sin and curse. In the end, the Ancient Mariner becomes a strange prophet, (just like John the Baptist was a prophet in the wilderness) kept alive to spread the word of God's reality to God’s chosen ones “the moment that his face I see, I know the man that must hear me, to him my tale I teach”
Coleridge projects Isolation as the last resort to knowing God, because it is only in that moment that we are desperate and at loss of other options, then God becomes our only hope.
