Describe the ever-changing nature of the sailors with reference to the context of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

The mariner's shipmates are in a constant state of change
throughout the entire poem.  While they are still alive, the men change how they feel
about the Mariner killing the albatross.  At first they "cry out against the mariner"
because he killed the bird without a thought.  However, after the fog and mist cleared,
they praised him, thinking that the bird was the cause of the fog and mist.  Then after
the ship sails for a while, it stops completely, leaving them stuck without food or
water.  At this point, the men once again blame him.

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"Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I
from old and young!
Instead of the Cross, the Albatross                    
about my neck was hung."

That
was the end of their changes while they were alive.  Soon he is spared by "Life in
Death," and the men drop to the floorboards of the ship dead, yet with their eyes all
focused on him.  The only other changes that occur with the men happen while they are
corpses.  Suddenly, they seem to come back to life, but they are not really alive, just
"inspired" by other spirits.

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"They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose,

Nor spake, nor moved their eyes;
It had been strange, even in a
dream,(330)
To have seen those dead men
rise."

Once they have gotten
the boat going again, all of the spirits within the men leave and the men's bodies
collapse once again to the floor.  That is the last of their
changes.

The author rarely describes the shipmates in
detail.  The focus is ultimately on the mariner and how he comes to understand the
importance of all living things/creatures.  However, the changes that occur in his men
(and the constant "staring" they do with their eyes) help convey his actions and show
how he suffers for his wrong-doing.  Without them, the poem would lose its power and
meaning.  They provide the guilt that the mariner needs to learn his
lesson.