Since the albatross falls from the mariners neck, we expect his sins to have been absolves. But the ancient mariners experience does not end there. Further expiation is necessary. If the first aspect to be expiated is the mariner’s crime against nature, against innocence (killing of the albatross), perhaps the second aspect is his sin against humanity, his implication of the other mariners in his guilt. Firstly, guilt by association, for they were present at the scene of crime and also suffer its consequence and the second being guilt by influence. Although they first see the killing of the albatross as an offence against a good spirit, they then justify the killing in their minds as the destruction of evil or malevolent forces, quite like Eve’s implication of Adam in the fall, and the implication of all humankind due to the fall of both Adam and Eve.
By an act of perverse cruelty, in killing the benevolent bird, the mariner commits a crime against creation, destroys a good omen, and alienates himself from the fellow mariners, and perhaps from the universe. Since the albatross is hailed ‘as if it had been a Christian soul’ and the ancient mariner then kills it with his ‘crossbow,’ we can associate his crime with the crucifixion of Christ and the events around it as the fall of humanity.
“Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.”
The albatross at this point in place signifies the penance yet to come. For there is no explanation of the mariners motive for killing the ‘bird that made the breeze to blow.’
The questions that arise here are does the killing of the albatross explain original sin? And does it explain our separation from the good and from God’s creation? In order to answer these questions we must look further into the Christian interpretation of The Ancient Mariner.
The killing of the Albatross can be seen as selfish and thoughtless act, and that
it goes against God’s law. But on the second hand, if we look at it from a broader perspective it can be explained as just part of human nature. For the mariner could’ve just seen the bird ideally as food for their journey and not so much as ‘pious bird of good omen’. However from context, we know that in the 18th century, mariners were highly superstitious and Coleridge had tried to bring this into The Ancient Mariner. The fellow mariners take the cross from around the mariner’s neck. The actions of these mariners can symbolically be characterised as the exodus of the Holy Spirit from the man, if looking from the Christian point of view. Or it could just be seen as an action carried out by superstitious mariners.
In both the above readings of the significance of the albatross, it is fairly obvious to note that Coleridge has left the poem open to interpretation. My opinion on what the albatross signifies in The Ancient Mariner is altered at different parts of the poem. I do believe that it is when, considering other elements along with the albatross is when the significance of this bird is at the highest.
For instance it is at night, under the moon, that the albatross first appears,
“In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine,”
At this point, if we look at Penn Warren interpretation of The Ancient Mariner, we can say that the Albatross signifies a good omen, for it is after the murder of the bird that the elements of nature does change, as no longer does the moon overpower the sun, it has now become ‘no bigger than the moon,’ this illustrates the Christian idea that Christ’s sacrifice balances out evil and good, as goes the sacrifice of the Albatross.
The moon however isn’t the only element of nature associated with the albatross, the wind relates wit the bird as well. Coleridge description says that it was under the influence of the bird that the breeze did blow and the ice did crack. If so, does this not go against the Christian idea or is it a mixture of both Christianity and pantheism, the idea that God is everywhere, in nature and in God’s creatures ‘man and bird and beast.’ Or could it be Coleridge’s Unitarian idea that all things are one?
Each of the interpretation reflects the recognition of a tripartite movement in the poem. Each interpretation represents the journey out, the trail and revelation, and the journey back (Holmes), and this is what the Albatross, to me, signifies.
However we look at it, we can not deny the significance of the Albatross, whether it be just one of God’s creation or something more supernatural, Coleridge certainly left it open for the reader to decide. It is also here which I should note that the occurrence of the albatross symbolises different ideas and beliefs throughout the poem, and therefore being of significance.
