Actions have Consequences // Braylan Stringfellow

 In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the mariner is essentially the captain of a ship. While sailing, an Albatross is flying with the ship, and for no good reason the mariner decides to just shoot the bird with his cross-bow. After this is when the story finally gets a little interesting. In part 2, mariner starts to feel some guilt about killing the albatross and then everything starts to go horribly wrong for him. Wind is extremely vital for sailing ships since it is the only way for them to move and it just so happens that the wind quits blowing after the albatross is dead. Now the mariner and the entire ships crew is stranded. The sun now makes it unbearably hot since there is no wind blowing. It also seems that the ship is out of drinkable water since it is stated “Water, water every where / Nor any drop to drink” (Coleridge 433). These terrible things that are now happening makes the mariner wish he had never killed the albatross.

Now I don’t know if killing the albatross is really what cause these terrible strokes of luck to happen but this does present a very important lesson on how one seemingly small action can lead to huge consequences. We need to think carefully about every decision that is made and think of all possible outcomes. Now there is no way for the mariner to know that killing a bird could lead to the most miserable thing to happen to him. But in his situation there was no need for him to kill the bird so in situations where there is no benefits to doing it, then it is best to just not do it.


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Comments

  1. Emily OttsOctober 18, 2021 at 8:54 PM

    Definitely agree with how he did not realize the consequences of his actions. I think this story could be used as a lesson to teach us that even the smallest decisions can have the biggest consequences of our lives.

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  2. Hailey WalshOctober 18, 2021 at 10:15 PM

    That's a great observation, Braylan. Rushing through life and absentmindedly going about our duties isn't the way to live, either. It leads to making decisions we'll regret later, and whose consequences ultimately waste the time and effort we attempted to save.

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  3. Breanna PooleOctober 19, 2021 at 8:13 AM

    Your blog post reminds me of the idea of the Butterfly Effect, the idea that something small can create large consequences. I do believe that the death of the Albatross is the direct reason for the misfortune, as the world of the poem seems to be dependent on this idea. -- Breanna Poole

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