What is the significance of place in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?

In ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’, places are used in a way that is significant because they allow the reader to distinguish certain factors of the storyline and occasionally even the emotions of the Mariner through the use of pathetic fallacy. There are four notable locations within the poem; these include the initial location of the church, moving onto the ice-locked landscape which is then juxtaposed by the ‘hellish’ landscape that occurs after the Mariner has committed his ‘sin’. Finally, there is the forest which appears near the end of the poem in which a hermit lives.

The church makes an appearance at both the beginning and the end, giving the poem a cyclical nature. The fact that the Mariner never actually goes inside the church on either occasion signifies the separation between himself and religion – because the Mariner has sinned, even though he has suffered, it seems he is permanently detached from religious conviction which indicates that even after an extended length of time, the Mariner is yet to be forgiven. In turn, this is also indicative of non-Christian morals, as surely any Christian tale would have allowed the Mariner his freedom and redemption.

As the Mariner and his crew set off, they soon find themselves trapped in an ice-locked landscape. This landscape in particular is significant due to the fact that it could be symbolic of ‘heaven’; in the case of the poem being non-religious, the ice is representative of a benevolent force. Although the ice had the Mariner and his crew trapped, it also kept them from immediately heading into the drought ridden area that is discovered later on, and it also acts as the setting for our introduction to the albatross which is also depicted as benevolent as it acts as a guide.

After the albatross is pointlessly shot by the Mariner, the setting then changes to one that firmly juxtaposes the icy sanctuary. The landscape is hot and somewhat supernatural, and is significant due to the fact that it could represent the ideology of ‘hell’ just as the ice represents ‘heaven’.

Because this new placement of the ship is hot and dry, the Mariner and crew soon find themselves parched, however the fact that they are on the sea is significant because it adds to the torture of the Marnier’s overall punishment. “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” – The men are being tormented by the thing that they desire most.

Finally, the forest in which the hermit resides is the last notable location before the reoccurrence of the church; it is significant because it holds a strong sense of pantheism which is its own religion, however unconventional. The hermit displays a strong aversion to the Mariner and his ship by saying things such as “Strange, by my faith” and “Dear Lord! It hath a fiendish look”. This shows that the Mariner has now become completely detached from his own and others’ spirituality after committing his apparently abhorrent sin.

Overall the significance of place in ’The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ is to emphasize the theme of crime and punishment through a number of techniques such a pathetic fallacy and stereotypes (e.g. fires to represent hell).