... consciously understanding the significance of his action) he in effect breaks one of the Ten Commandments, and has to go through punishment and penance in order to be absolved. Both views seem to be offered alternately throughout the poem, which only adds to its complexity. The Prisoner's sin is closer to an offence against God - ... the crew of the ship as a family and the Mariner as being the eldest on board, Coleridge's poem presents us with pretty much the same situation - the family virtually dead with only the eldest member still living. In both poems, however, there seems to be n...

• Word Count: 1931
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... be safely assumed - in contemplation of what happened before - that the winged creature that represents the storm (as well as all natural phenomena that follows) is also God incarnate. This image of a winged predator that chases the ship directs our attention to the notion of the sin not only being ... because his ship was a triangular trade vessel. Although this isn't stated explicitly, one realizes that this is highly probable given that this poem was written in 1797-98, near the end but still during the time of the triangular trade. An additional reason for why this is possible is tha...

• Word Count: 1986
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... ideals of the romance genre and the values of Augustine. Recurrently, the male clergy members define lechery and sexual aggressiveness (Haskell 10). For example, the monk in the prologue strays from Augustinian ideals in multiple aspects. Instead living of a life of prayer and service, the monk values money, hunting and time spent outside his monastery. This abandonment of ideals extents to sex ... humor. At the tale's conclusion, Alisoun, who has broken the vows of monogamy, is left unpunished. Perhaps if Chaucer had agreed with the association of sex as an unequivocal sin, she would ha...

• Word Count: 1877
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate