Question

Why do the sailors first condemn and then approve of the killing of the albatross?

Answer 1

In the ballad composed by Coleridge , the Albatross is symbolic of nature and so is the killing of it.

The good side of Albatross is the calmness of the sea and the harshness of the weather is represented by the violent nature of the albatross.

The mariners were at first reluctant to kill it as they took the weather to be Gods creation. but later when it became calmer, they began to say that they have killed the bird.