The Rime of the Ancient Mariner The mariner as text  The ballad-measure: a fictitious speaker beings his rime by story telling that the poem ’ s constitution is give from the mariner ’ s “ discourse. ”  The discourse between mariner and wedding guest: a set of codes of enigma rising with the proceeding storyline: “ who is the mariner? ” “ what is the story about? ”  Whenever the mariner repeats his story, the poem is dealing with reconstitution of the mariner ’ s identity within the discourse that produce meanings.

The Vision of Sea The first imprisonment: a sea of ice  The crew at the first time encounter the malice of nature operating as a prison.  The mariner: on less than a member of human community  The imprisonment is temporal; Albatross frees the ship. The second imprisonment: a silent sea  Visionary elements: physical  psychological imprisonment “ a painted ship in the painted sea ”  The splitting of the mariner: the poem now is dealing with the fate of a individual human being.  Albatross hanging on the mariner ’ s neckAlbatross hanging on the mariner ’ s neck

The Vision of Sea: Outcast Hero Shooting Albatross: the gratuitous act  This motiveless act heightens a sense of identity: “ motive has no concern; the person who performs it matters ”  the mariner apart from his crew  The motiveless malevolence positions mariner in the genealogy of literary figures: Shakespeare ’ s Iago, Milton ’ s Satan...  a wanderer, a man with chain, a rule breaker  In the pure but emptied act, the mariner is deprived of his “ guilt, ” the pure crime of a pure murderer. “ The mariner is a killer ” “ The mariner is a outcast ”

The Vision of Sea: Crucifixion  The mariner: a victim as Albatross The prison works in concert with Albatross whose blood reddened the sea.  “The bloody sun” “water…still and awful red”  The mariner “bit my arm, I sucked the blood”  The mariner: embodiment of crucifixion Albatross on the mariner ’ s neck as Jesus on the cross  Albatross: a holy bird, an “ Christian Soul ”  Mariner: a container, a presence of crucifixion

The Vision of Ship Transfiguration of a Spectre-Bark  Mariner ’ s ship: a second-scale prison “ the painted ship in the painted sea ”  The Spectre-bark: a dungeon with fire “... was flecked with bars ” “ a dungeon-grate he peered ”  mariner ’ s ship coincides the spectre-bark Transfiguration of Life-in-Death  Mariner: Life-in-Death mariner turns to be Life-in-Death, a emptied self  human body (Life-in-Death) as prison-measure

Reconstitution of the Mariner  The Steps in the Two visions The silent sea: mariner  outcast  container The spectre-bark: prisoner  repressed  imprisoned body  The mariner as text The mariner “ does not act but is continually acted upon. ” The mariner as no-self, functional means to connect acts and things in the fluid dissolve of imagination