But the experience does not end here. Further expiation is necessary. The pilot boy is driven mad and sees the Mariner as the Devil. Like a fever returning to the body, the agony of his experience periodically seizes him and he is compelled to seek out the special listener who is destined to hear his tale. We don't absolutely know, but we know the experience has changed the Wedding Guest's life.
Communication is both a blessing and a curse.
It is part of our human obligation that we are condemned both to hear out our fellow human beings in their extremity and to recognize in their stories, potential stories of ourselves.