ôThe Rime of the Ancient Marinerö is a cautionary tale of one man's contempt for God's gifts. Hearing the tale makes the Wedding Guest ôsadder and wiser manö because he learns that neither he nor the world is as innocent as either seems.
The Mariner wanders the earth telling his tale. He knows who must hear his tale when he sees their faces. So he chooses people who need to learn the lesson he did. The Wedding Guest is sadder and wiser at the end because he has had to consider his own life and actions and compare himself to the Mariner.
The Wedding Guest is also sadder and wiser because he learns that God can be cruel as well as kind. God's punishment of the Mariner killed two hundred crew members and left the Mariner alive so he could truly feel his guilt and punishment. But God also saved the crewmembers' souls and, eventually, saved the Mariner.
Finally, the Wedding Guest is sadder and wiser because he knows he must change himself. He must give up his carefree existence because he has learned that there are consequences for his actions, and he has a responsibility to something larger than himself.
The Wedding Guest was not a random choice by the Mariner. Rather, the Mariner chose the Wedding Guest because he needed to hear the tale. But the tale serves as a cautionary tale to anyone who reads the poem not to take God's generosity for granted.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. ôThe Rime of the Ancient Mariner.ö Bartleby.com (1798). Accessed online August 11, 2004: <ö http://www.bartleby.com/101/549.htmlö>.
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