Arguably within Coleridge’s narrative crime poem ‘the rime of the ancient mariner’ the mariner should be recognised as a villain as result of his actions against the bird. To a large extent the readership can disagree with the statement ‘The mariner isn’t a criminal at all – he only shoots a bird’ due to the fact the mariner commits a senseless crime against nature. it could also be said that the mariner should be recognised as a criminal due to the nature of how the crime was committed, the unpredictability of the murder demonstrates his lack of remorse, and motive. Indeed, his randomness could signify the man’s arrogance, and in turn suggest the idea that the mariner sees himself as being at the centre of the universe, and his thoughtless destruction of other living things.
The reader is encouraged to perceive the mariner as a villain and certainly as a criminal as it is evident through the use of religious imagery and perceived victim status of the bird that the mariner transgresses against nature and moral law. Seen in the dialogue “with my cross bow I shot the albatross”, he breaks Coleridge’s ‘One Life’ principle. This is the idea t...
