At first the other Sailors are very angry with the Mariner for killing the bird. After the Albatross is killed, the fog clears and the ship begins sailing northward that makes the Sailors believe the bird was the source of the god and mist and that killing the bird is a right action. But suddenly, the wind ceases, the Mariner and the Sailors become stranded on a calm sea without water. They become extremely thirsty but surrounding them is only the water that they cannot drink. During this miserable situation, the Mariner cries out to Christ in terror afraid of the slimy creatures crawling in the sea. Now all Sailors start blaming on the Mariner for what he did, therefore, they decide to hang the dead Albatross around the Mariner’s neck. But after some time, the Mariner sees a speck approaching in the westward sky and the Mariner begins to recognize what it is.
Stucking in the state of thirst, he is so thirsty that he cannot even speak. He alerts the Sailors to the approaching ship by biting his arm and drinking his own blood. Everyone think that they are going to be saved but his joy quickly turns to horror. The passengers on this ship are only Death himself and Life-in-Death, a woman described with yellow hair, red lips, and haunting white skin. Death and Life-in-Death have been playing dice for the lives of the Sailors and the Mariner and Life-in-Death has won the soul of the Mariner. After Life-in-Death’s victory, the Sailors turns to curse the Mariner with their eyes, then they drop down dead.
The Wedding Guest
Once he has been opened back up to prayer, the Mariner is able to sleep now. He dreams of rain and he awakes to find his dream realized. But after drinking, the Mariner notices the natural world is in commotion. The dead Sailors rise up, and without speaking or moving their eyes, they begin working on the ship. Listening to this, the Wedding Guest is very scared, but the Mariner makes sure with him that it was not demons that reanimated the dead bodies, the bodies were piloted by angels. When the sun rose, a choir of angels rose out of the bodies of the Sailors. After this angels’ chorus, the Mariner sees a boat carrying a Pilot, the Pilot’s Boy, and a Hermit. The Mariner thinks the Hermit is a man of God, and he decides that the Hermit can rescue him from his sin and wash away the Albatross blood.
Suddenly, the Mariner’s ship sink and the Mariner is saved in the Pilot’s boat. The Pilot, the Pilot’s Boy, and the Hermit are so scared when the Mariner talking because they think that he is dead. Once upon land, the Mariner begs Hermit for the forgiveness because of his sin. Hermit is confused so the Mariner first retells him his story. Since then, the Mariner says that as he travels anywhere he is compelled himself to tell his tale, that he will suffer if he doesn’t share his story. He finishes his tale with the lesson that prayer is the greatest pleasure in life. Then he moves to find the next person who must hear his story, leaving the Wedding Guest as “a sadder and a wiser man.”