Friday, October 5, 2012

Rime of the Ancient Mariner

It is clear that Mary Shelley has incorporated elements from other works into her famous text Frankenstein.  There are parallel ideas and structural elements in both The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Frankenstein.  Discuss similarities that you have read about so far.  At the end of the poem, the Mariner learns his lesson and seeks penance from those who will listen.  Discuss also, how Victor and the Mariner are similar characters. 

10 comments:

  1. In both the poem and the novel, the main characters do something that at the time they think is right, only to later find out that it was a terrible decision. In Frankenstien Victor creates the creature which is his fatal mistake. In The Rime of the Acient Mariner, the fatal mistake by the the Mariner is shooting the albatross. In the end, both men feel terrible about what they have done, and to feel better must tell other people of their mistakes.

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  2. There are a few parallels between Frankenstein and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The main parallel is the way the stories are told. In each of the stories the main character is telling their journey to another person; at the beginning of Frankenstein Victor is telling his story to Robert Walton, and in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner the Mariner is telling his story to a wedding guest. Another parallel between the stories is how both of them involve a ship; Victor tells his story while he is on Walton's ship, and the main setting for the Mariner takes place on a ship. Plus, both of the ships are located in cold, icy places. The characteers of Victor and the Mariner are similar in the fact that they both have done a terrible thing; Vicotr created the creature, and the Mariner killed the Albatross. Both of the characters must also face the consequences of their actions, which is another reason why they are similar. Frankenstein has many of the same elements in it that The Rime of the Ancient Mariner has involving the parallels and the similarity of the characters.

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  3. Frankenstein and the Rime of the Ancient Mariner have many similarities. The Creature and the Mariner are both prisoners but in different ways. The Creature is a prisoner in his own body and the Mariner is a prisoner on the ship. Both of the charecters seek out ways to be helped and saved. The Creature just wants love and the Mariner just wishes to serve his penance and be forgiven. In both of these stories there is a story being told within a story. The Mariner, Viktor and the Creature all just want to be heard. They have the need to tell their story because all of their emotions are so bottled up that they reach a cracking point and must tell their story. All of these charecters have created a world around theme full of fear and guilt that its almost impossible to escape and they each try to find a way to make their world, the world they used to know.

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  4. In the novel Frankenstein and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner there are several main parallels. One parallel is how the stories are being told in a storytelling way. Another parallel is how at the beginning of both novels they are in cold and icy places on a ship. Some similarities that the novels have with each other is mainly with the characters. Victor in Frankenstein and the Mariner in the other novel have many things that are the same, but told in different ways. Victor created the creature and the Mariner killed an albatross. Both of them have done a bad deed and regret, because of the turns of events that happens later on. Victor and the Mariner, becasue of what they did they have both gotten people killed for their actions. Even though Frankenstein and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner are told in a different storyline they both have many parallel and similarities with each other.

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  5. Frankensein and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner have parallels between them. The Mariner states, "The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound!" (pg. 413) The Mariners ship is stuck in the ice. This is similar to the setting in Frankenstein when Robert Walton writes to his sister and says, "...we were nearly surrounded by ice, which closed in the ship on all sides..." (pg. 9) Another parallel between the poem and novel is that the characters are telling their stories to someone. The Mariner tells his story to the wedding guest, Victor Frankenstein tells his story to Robert Walton, and the Creature tells his story to Victor Frankenstein. The reason for telling their stories is also a parallel. All characters feel as though they have sinned and to rid themselves of this sin they must share their stories. The last parallel is the consequences of their sins. The Mariner and Victor Frankenstein have to pay their sins with death. The Mariner's crew is all sentenced to death for his sin, and Victor's brother, William, and friend Justine are killed because of Victor's sin. Throughout The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Frankenstein many parallels are evident.

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  6. There are a few similarities between, Frankenstein and Rime of the Ancient Mariner. One of which is how in Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the Mariner who is the main character is narrating the story to the Wedding Guest. This is similar to when Victor is narrating his story to Walton or when the creature narrates his story to Victor. Another similarity is how in both, there seems to be a 'dead weight' of sorts bcause of things they'd done. In Frankenstein, Victor had to continuously worry about the creature after he created it and in Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the Mariner had to have the Albastoss tied around his neck for killing it in the first place.

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  7. Thank you all for your insights and reflections on the two pieces. It seems as though you all clearly understood that there were indeed connections between the two texts. Thank you, Haley, for citing specific lines. As we go through the semester and the year, it is important to remember to use the text whenever possible to support ideas.

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  8. There are many similarities and parallels between The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Frankenstein. One of the first parallels is introduced on page 412 of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Like Walton's ship in Frankenstein, the Mariner's ship is trapped in the icy, isolated wasteland. Another parallel between the two is the telling of the story,or journey,taken by the narrator.In Frankenstein, Victor tells Walton of his tale in creating the creature and the consequences in creating him.Likewise, the Mariner in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner tells the wedding guest of the great sin he has commited (killing the albatross) and the consequences that arose from this action (Pg.429). 429Both the Mariner and Victor feel that they must tell of their journeys in order to help relieve themselves of the sin they have committed and to warn others of the consequences of said actions and to help them learn from their mistakes. Another parallel in both stories is the instance where both the Mariner and Victor find themselves isolated and alone when the people near to them are suddenly killed by forces beyond themselves. In Frankenstein, Victor's brother William is killed by the creature, and because Justine, another family member, is convicted of the crime, she is also killed. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the Mariner's crew is killed by Death himself (Pg.418). Both Victor and the Mariner feel that they are to blame for these passings and are constantly punishing themselves because they survived.

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  9. In both The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Frankenstein there are similar story elements. In Frankenstein, the part where Victor is building the creature from the dead body parts. That could be related to when the mariner was surrounded by the dead members of the crew on the ship. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the Mariner has to carry the weight of the Albatross. In Frankenstein, Victor has to carry the guilt of creating the creature, and what the creature did after it was created. There is also the parallel of the 2 main characters telling their story to a random person because they feel the need to spread their experiences to better other people. The main characters also have the parallel of being alone for a period of time and almost sliding into a depression because of it.

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  10. The Mariner and Victor are similar in many ways. In the The Rime of the Ancient Mariner the Mariner kills the Albatross for no reason just because he can, much like why Victor creates the creator. Both stories bring up the question of, just because you can do something does it mean you should? In Victor and the Mariner cases they shouldn't have, because of their actions many of their loved ones died which caused both characters to face isolation and loneliness.The setting in the books are also similar in Frankenstein Robert is in a icy place, ... nearly surrounded by ice, which closed in the ship on all sides..." (pg. 9) which in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner has a similar setting. Victor and the Mariner are also similar in one huge way, they both have to tell their tale to worn people about the dangerous of your actions. Victor has to warn Robert that too much knowledge is not always a good thing, and both the Mariner and Victor have to warn people that just because you can doe something doesn't mean you should.

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