A Warning Against Hubris Sydney Griffin College

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a tale in which one simple action leads to a tumbling of catastrophic events. When the Mariner shoots the Albatross, a bird who has brought him and his sailors good fortune, he does so without reason. In ancient Greek tragedies hubris, or excessive pride, often leads to the hero’s inevitable downfall. Further, in the Catholic faith, pride is one of the greatest sins a person could commit. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner illustrates how these beliefs are held in good faith. Without a reason given to justify the senseless killing of the bird, one can insinuate that the Mariner’s senseless killing of the bird could only be through pride. His self-pleasure of bringing down a great creature was fleeting, as punishment soon bore down upon the sailors. Through his excessive pride, ungratefulness, and ignorance of other’s wishes, the Mariner brought disaster upon himself and his crew.

In the beginning of the tale, the Mariner stops a wedding-guest to tell him the story of his defeat, as he is compelled to do. In the story, the Mariner is sailing through an area of mist and ice after being pushed by a storm. The crew was having great difficulty until an Albatross appeared,...