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The character known only as the Wedding-Guest is a man who is about to join a wedding party when the ancient Mariner stops him and compels him to listen to his story. Though we don’t know any personal details about the Wedding-Guest, he clearly represents the innocence of youth. This symbolism stems from his association with the joyful celebration of the wedding. His innocence also comes through in the revulsion he feels toward the Mariner, whose otherworldly gaze and skeletal hands inspire fear. The Wedding-Guest’s innocence makes him an easy target for the Mariner, who compels him into a trance-like state. Despite his recurrent feelings of terror, the Wedding-Guest lacks the strength of will to stop listening to the Mariner’s tale. By the poem’s end, the Wedding-Guest is transformed. No longer drawn to the joyful mood of the wedding celebration, he “turn[s] from the bridegroom’s door” (line 620) and chooses to go home instead. The next morning, he rises “a sadder and a wiser man” (line 624). In this way, the Wedding-Guest’s journey in the poem takes him from youth to maturity—that is, from joyful innocence to melancholy experience.

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