Life-in-Death scares the mariner especially when she rolls dice with death. The events of deaths make the mariner terrified because he must deal with supernatural forces like Life-in-Death. Coleridge uses death to paint a grotesque image. Only the mariner survived at the ocean out of the 200 crewmembers. Gothic tradition involves the use of death that happens in most mysterious circumstances.
The marine claims that 200 men died at the ocean one by one, “ Four times fifty living men, with heavy thump, a lifeless lump, they dropped down one by one” (Coleridge 6). Coleridge achieves this by creating mysterious, terrifying, and strange phenomena at the ocean. This setting captures elements of Gothic tradition. Coleridge notes that the ocean was “s till and awful red as the charmed water burned always, and brackish swamp” (Coleridge 8). For instance, “the wind goes still, the ocean becomes calm, dead flat, and changes color, the sun turns red, and mysterious and icy creatures appear” (Coleridge 7). At this point, Coleridge portrays mysterious events after the mariner kills the Albatross. For instance, the wind takes the ship toward the South Pole. We have to look at events that occur at the ocean in order to understand supernatural elements. He writes, “ It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, like noises in a swound!” (Coleridge 1). The poet’s description of the ice creates scary images and highlights potential danger that is only possible in a supernatural setting. However, it is the antartica where we notice supernatural elements. Elements of Gothic tradition The SettingĬoleridge sets his poem in antartica and outside a weeding hall. This essay shall explore three elements of Gothic tradition in the poem, which include the analysis of setting, death, and dream.
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