Sin and Penance The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
- Created by: lydia82
- Created on: 21-01-19 11:18
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- Sin and Penance
- 'God save thee, ancient Mariner!From the fiends, that plague thee thus! – Why look'st thou so?'- With my cross-bow I shot the Albatross.
- Mariner continues his tale and says this is the sin that starts a series of horrifying experiences as part of his penance
- We don't know why he shot it
- One framework of understanding- can be seen as an effort of man's dominance over nature
- We don't know why he shot it
- Mariner continues his tale and says this is the sin that starts a series of horrifying experiences as part of his penance
- Penance- punishment inflicted on oneself
- It is the Hermit good!He singeth loud his godly hymnsThat he makes in the wood.He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash awayThe Albatross's blood.
- The Mariner views the Hermit as a means to conclude his journey as a final form of penance and absolution
- He hopes the hermit will shrive him which means take confession, apply penance and absolve
- 'Is it he?' quoth one, 'Is this the man?By him who died on cross,With his cruel bow he laid full lowThe harmless Albatross.…Quoth he, 'The man hath penance done,And penance more will do.
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- I pass, like night, from land to land;I have strange power of speechThat moment that his face I see,I know the man that must hear me:To him my tale I teach.
- Here the Mariner states his current state of penance as when he asked the hermit to apply penance, he was first prompted to tell the story
- He wanders eternally, intermittently succumbing to the agony within him that forces him to tell his story.
- Ah! well a-day! what evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the AlbatrossAbout my neck was hung.
- Even though they justified the Mariners decision to kill the bird at first, the suddenly turn their backs on him
- This shows that his sin has been recognised
- They then curse the Mariner by putting the Albatross around his neck
- Even though they justified the Mariners decision to kill the bird at first, the suddenly turn their backs on him
- O happy living things! no tongueTheir beauty might declare: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,The selfsame moment I could pray;And from my neck so freeThe Albatross fell off, and sankLike lead into the sea.
- When he prays, the albatross falls from his neck which shows that at that moment he is absolved from sin
- Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted shipUpon a painted ocean. Water, water, every where,And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.
- The sailors dying of thirst is part of the Mariner's penance which is influenced by supernatural spirits
- The sea is compared to a painting and a means of torture and death
- An orphan's curse would drag to hellA spirit from on high; But oh! more horrible than thatIs the curse in a dead man's eye!Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse, And yet I could not die.
- Penance here is in the form of solitude and horror
- 'God save thee, ancient Mariner!From the fiends, that plague thee thus! – Why look'st thou so?'- With my cross-bow I shot the Albatross.
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