'Instead of the cross, the Albatross / About my neck was hung.' (a) Why evil looks? (b) Why hang albatross? (c) Meaning of 'evil'?

These lines from Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner mark the turning point where the crew shifts blame onto the Mariner for killing the albatross.

Concept

• The albatross was regarded as a bird of good omen; its death is linked by the sailors to the ship's misfortune (fog, mist, the becalmed, breezeless sea).
• The crew replace the cross (a symbol of faith/penance) with the dead bird, turning it into a symbol of guilt and punishment.

Common mistakes

• Students often confuse 'evil looks' with the Mariner's own guilt; it is actually the crew's hostile, accusing looks directed AT him.
• Do not translate 'evil' as 'devil' — here it is an adjective meaning wicked/harmful/hostile, not a noun.

Real-world

• The passage illustrates scapegoating — blaming one individual for a larger, unexplained calamity, a pattern still seen in real crisis situations today.