The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: Wrong Deeds The idea that people commit wrong deeds and then have to pay for them is not new. The Christian religion is centered on the confession of sins committed by men or women. Fortunately, they have the power to repent and do penance to receive God's forgiveness. God sends people this power, and people around the world imitate this cycle of crime, punishment, repentance, and reconciliation in judicial systems and other penal codes. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” helps bring this whole cycle to fruition with the murder of the albatross and how he has to pay for his actions. The whole cycle begins with the sailor's crime against nature - the killing of the albatross. In the story, the sailor betrays nature by shooting the Albatross. This unnatural action is quite extreme, as it makes light of the thought of death. The albatross, as a representative of nature, means nothing to the sailor. These thoughts quickly change, however, when Nature begins to punish his crimes when there is "Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink." He is harshly punished for killing the symbol of nature that everyone venerates. He is knocked down by the sun with its rays and is tormented by the endless sight of water that he cannot drink. Nature is the force in this poem that has the power to decide what is right or wrong and how to deal with actions. The sailor reconciles his sins when he realizes what nature truly is and what it means to him. All around his ship, he witnesses, "slimy things crawled with their legs on the slimy sea" and he questions "the curse in the dead man's eyes." This shows his contempt for the creatures that Nature offers to all people. The sailor begins to find his salvation when he begins to regard the "slimy things" as creatures of strange beauty. When "the sailor begins to find his salvation when he begins to regard the 'slimy things' as creatures of strange beauty" he understands that the albatross is a symbol of nature and realizes what he had done wrong. The sailor is forgiven after sufficient penance. The sailor's experience represents a renewal of the impulse of love towards other living beings. Once he is reconciled, his punishment is lifted. The bird, which is hung around his neck as punishment, falls into the water and makes the transition from punishment to penance.