You and What Empire? (Question 13)

Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Ozymandias" is an excellently witty example of situational irony. The main source of this irony occurs in the juxtaposition of the image of Ozymandias' powerful proclamation of power and of the image of the of a ruined building or civilization. The irony is initially unclear, as the speaker begins by giving a description of the location of the ruins, which consist only of "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone/ Stand[ing] in the desert" (2-3) and "a shattered visage" (4) of stone. We then start to learn of what kind of man Ozymandias really was, as his sculptor carved him with a "frown,/ and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command" (4-5). This image continues to form with the arrogant proclamation by Ozymandias that he is the "'king of kings;/ Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'" (10-11). These lines make it clear that Ozymandias was extremely arrogant, self-inclined, and obsessed with luxury.

Yet immediately after this, the speaker describes not a wonderful civilization, or even the remnants of a wonderful civilization, but the ruins of a civilization of "decay" where "nothing beside remains" (12). Instead of a grand and luxurious empire, all that remains are two pillars and a sculpted head. Ozymandias' selfish arrogance, like any man's arrogance, was all for naught. This irony proves that luxury and materials, like life, is fleeting.