Coolridge also approaches the topic of loneliness. Alone, stranded, and without hope, the Ancient Mariner "could not die" (line 262). The Mariner wanted out of his situation and he saw the only way as death. Yet loneliness and isolation prove to be the Mariners savior. While watching the moon, stars, and water snakes, the Mariner realizes that God’s creations were to be treasured. "A spring of love gushed from my heart, / And I blessed them unaware; / Sure my kind saint took pity on me, / And I blessed them unaware" (lines 284-287). From the his isolation, the Ancient Mariner learned the valuable lesson of appreciation and with that, his curse was broken.
Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein closely mirrors "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and even mentions it within its cover. Victor is the main victim of choice in the novel. Victor had educated himself, and created his monster. He spent a lot of time studying, and he needed to, for such an intense and groundbreaking project. Victor shows evidence of his will to learn by saying, "There only remained a resolution to return to my ancient studies and to devote myself to a science for which I believed myself to possess a natural talent." (pg. 47). He also mentioned, "My cheek had grown pale with study, and my person had become emaciated with confinement." (pg. 53). Victor was initially obsessed at the creation of the monster. Spending all day and night on his toils, he seemed to think of nothing else. He neglected his family and his friends. Yet when Victor finally creates his monster, he finds him thoroughly repulsive and abandons his not so small "child." This was the turning point, the choice that Victor made. Because Victor abandoned his monster he was responsible for all the deaths of his friends.
Victor also learns from isolation. While isolation was the Mariners savior, it played a huge role in Victor’s downfall. His isolation began during his creation of the monster. Victor pulled himself out of society, working day and night, hardly getting any sleep. He didn't want anybody to know what he was up to, in fear that word would get out. Victor continues to feel isolated throughout the rest of the novel. He tended to avoid his family, only speaking to them through letters every once in a while. Victor said, "My father made no reproach in his letters, and only took notice of my silence by inquiring into my occupations more particularly than before." (pg. 54). Also, when chasing his torturous creature through the bitter cold, Victor lived all alone, fending for himself. Shelly used Victor’s isolation as a punishment, rather than a means to an end as Coolridge had.
In both Shelly’s Frankenstein and Coolridge’s "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" we are taught through example that we are responsible for our actions, and what a powerful tool isolation may be.
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In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, an unsuspecting wedding guest is told about the journey of an old mariner. To make it short, the Mariner kills an albatross that is linked with the existence of peace and good sailing weather. Once he kills the albatross, he endures many horrors, such as the death of his entire crew, relived many times through the visiting of "seraph men." In the end, the Mariner finds God and the weight of the albatross "(falls) from my neck so free."
Given Walton's allusion to this earlier romantic work, as well as knowledge of both, it is easy, whether or not true, to draw the conclusion that Shelley's Frankenstein is loosely based around the other. Each is presented as a tale being told to an outside party, one who seems to have the same self-destructive inclinations as the storyteller. A need for salvation appears in the audience, as Frankenstein believes that Walton has "drunk also of the intoxicating draught" and the mariner relays that "the moment that his face I see, I know the man that must hear me: To him my tale I teach." The plot's horror has aged each. Walton is "emaciated by fatigue and suffering" while the Mariner, "long, lank, and brown," captures his listener with a "skinny hand."
Nature also plays a key part in both works. Recurring lightening helps hold the "image of Clerval forever before" Frankenstein. Similarly, bad weather also reminded his counterpart of the curse, for "instead of the cross, the Albatross about (the Mariner's) neck was hung." The constant barrage of torture keeps each from enjoying basic constituents of life, as Frankenstein's "paradisiacal dreams of love and joy" are taken and the Mariner finds "water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink." Also like Frankenstein, the Mariner too is haunted, watching wearily for a "frightful fiend (that) close behind him tread." During his journey, the mariner experiences "fear at my heart" much like Shelley's goal of "(curdling) the blood and (quickening) the beatings of the heart." At the conclusion, each listener has learned a valuable lesson, and "a sadder and wiser man he rose the morrow morn."
