The first description of Ozymandias that the reader is given is one of desctruction. The speaker says that he or she heard from a traveler that "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone/ Stand in the desert" and that "Near them, on the sand,/ Half sunk a shattered visage lies,..." Two big legs and one decaying face are all that remains of a once-impressive statue.
The second hints of Ozymandias' character are given when the speaker of the poem hears about the face of the statue. The lines "whose frown/ And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,/ Tell that its sculptor well those passions read" speak to the cold, calculated power of Ozymandias.
It is certainly worth noting that in the first two descriptions, the speaker does not even reveal the statue's name. This lack of a name further illustrates the point that this destroyed statue has little lasting value to either the traveler or the speaker of the poem, and consequentially to us as readers.
The speaker of the sonnet then describes the pedestal of the statue, on which is revealed Ozymandias' view of himself. He says "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;/ Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" This epithet to himself is interesting because it speaks to the intense pride of Ozymandias. He describes himself as the "King of Kings" (a title which is often reserved as a Biblical allusion to God) and then challenges the "Mighty" to view his works and be ashamed at their own worthlessness compared to him.
In Shelley's sonnet, Ozymandias is a ruined king who is represented by nothing more than a ruined statue amidst a backdrop of empty desert. This is the central irony of the poem: a king who thought so highly of himself has fallen. The half-sunk and shattered visage must now look up to those who happen to come across its path, whether they be mighty or not.
Shelley takes a couple lines in his sonnet to describe the face of Ozymandias. His visage has been sculpted with a "frown", "wrinkled lip" and "sneer of cold command". Imagine you're taking a class photo and the face you make will be the face that people remember when they look back, years later. Would you frown, smile, make a silly face? Ozymandias, the self described "king of kings", approved this sneering statue as the image that would be remembered forever. It would not be a stretch then to describe him as a contemptuous man. He wants people to look upon his achievements after he is gone and when they view what he has built, "despair" in the knowledge that they will never be as mighty as he was in life. Here is a leader who does not want his legacy to inspire or encourage, but rather to evoke feelings of despair. He is so confident in the permanence of his "works" that he should also be described as a deeply prideful individual, a king affected by hubris. The Ozymandias of Shelley's sonnet is not satisfied with ruling only those around him; he wanted people who had not yet been born to witness his power.
Shelley takes a couple lines in his sonnet to describe the face of Ozymandias. His visage has been sculpted with a "frown", "wrinkled lip" and "sneer of cold command". Imagine you're taking a class photo and the face you make will be the face that people remember when they look back, years later. Would you frown, smile, make a silly face? Ozymandias, the self described "king of kings", approved this sneering statue as the image that would be remembered forever. It would not be a stretch then to describe him as a contemptuous man. He wants people to look upon his achievements after he is gone and when they view what he has built, "despair" in the knowledge that they will never be as mighty as he was in life. Here is a leader who does not want his legacy to inspire or encourage, but rather to evoke feelings of despair. He is so confident in the permanence of his "works" that he should also be described as a deeply prideful individual, a king affected by hubris. The Ozymandias of Shelley's sonnet is not satisfied with ruling only those around him, he wanted people who had not yet been born to witness his power.
The Ozymandias of Shelley's poem is, ultimately, a testament to men's hubris. Such was his pride that Ozymandias declared himself "King of Kings" (an allusion to the Bible, in which the King of Kings is, of course, God, who stands alone in the Judeo-Christian reckoning). Having set himself up as a god among men, then, Ozymandias demands that onlookers "look on my works . . . and despair." The irony is that now there is nothing to look upon but bare sand, lending a different kind of despair to the words. Now, the onlooker is not despaired by Ozymandias's might but despaired instead by the fact that a man could be so proud and yet so mistaken: "nothing beside remains."
As a king, Ozymandias evidently wanted to portray himself as a figure of cold, almost cruel power: he has himself depicted with a "sneer of cold command," his statue wearing a "frown." And yet, there is now nothing left of his "works," and Ozymandias's attempts to elevate himself through cruelty to the realms of legend have come to naught.
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