How Does Ozymandias Present Power

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Both poems ‘the last Duchess’ and ‘Ozymandias’, present power as having a negative effect on people. In the last Duchess, power is presented as something that can corrupt a mind of a person, which can lead to the person dominating other people in his life. However in Ozymandias, the poem shows the futility of power as it describes the transient nature of power. In the poem, the last Duchess, power is present as having a bad impact on the Duke as he becomes arrogant due to his high status. The phrase ‘My gift of a nine-hundred year old name’ implies that the duke pictures himself as a manipulative man who is very proud of his high rank. The Personal pronoun ‘My’ emphasizes that he is very wealthy and has got …show more content…

The phrase ‘king of kings’ indicates that Ozymandias sees himself above everyone and reality. He believes that he is the strongest and most powerful being that ever lived as he even puts the ‘mighty’ in ‘despair’. He thought that because of all the power he had, he would be well remembered and that his legacy would be mentioned for thousands of years. However that is not the case, as when the ‘king’ died, no one had visited the ‘ancient land’. The adjective ‘ancient’ emphasizes how old the land is. The ‘land’ maybe Ozymandias’ but when his rule ended, so did his control and power. Everything of his was forgotten including his ‘land’ and his ‘sneer of cold command’. After he died, he was forgotten, implying that he did no good with all the power he had, instead he ‘mocked’ and bullied his people. His ‘shattered visage’ was ‘half sunk’ in the sad, implying that the people rejoiced when he was gone and didn’t care where his body went. Shelly created a character, probably a monster that was impossible to like by the people. She shows the nature of power and how it slowly slips away from the person’s grasp. First it corrupts the mind of a person and changes them, and then it slips away from their hands leaving them with nothing but arrogance, pride and

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