Edmund Burke once stated , The greater the power, the more dangerous the

abuse. In literacy every piece revolves around a certain topic with a goal to
evoke cognition about the subject. One idea on which many pieces are based on
is the struggle for power and its consequences. Two pieces on this subject are
Macbeth and "Ozymandias." Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare whose
main character, Macbeth is a thane led by his ambition and thirst for power to
committing crimes in order to advance his position. "Ozymandias" is a poem by
Percy Shelley describing a former kingdom that was once ruled by a tyrant,
Ozymandias, whose tyrannic rule and arrogant nature led to his devastation.

In Percy Shelleys play Ozymandias, ambition is a typical demise for those who
pursue and gain power. A distinctive flaw of ambition is being exceedingly
ambitious, or to lack ambition. A person who becomes excessively ambitious
becomes engulfed by such desires, thus allowing it to rule over any sense of
moral and character. The once great king, Ozymandias, ruled imperiously over a
great empire. However, arrogance, ruthlessness and selfishness tied with a
presumptuous nature became the faults ending his reign as king. The nature of
this king lies in the description of the huge statue of himself erected to impress
his subjects: vastvisagefrownwrinkled lipssneercold command. Such
vivid imagery of the giant statue becomes obvious proof of Ozymandias glory
and pride. His attitude becomes shown by the words on the pedestal that read,
My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and
despair!" King of Kings is an allusion to Jesus and symbolises the indomitable
arrogance of the king, however the entire phrase holds some irony as there is an
incongruity between what he says and what we know to be true. In a similar
manner, Macbeth has the same mindset with a feeling of insuperability as he
simply lets his ambition blind him leading to murder a number of people in order
to obtain and maintain power of king. Hence, the omnipotent and overly
ambitious nature of both King Macbeth and Ozymandias is vibrantly shown
throughout their reign as kings.
Macbeth, the hero of his play stands as a perfect embodiment of the
disintegration of the individual under the power of evil. As the play opens, we
learn of his heroic actions in defence of the kingdom. Macbeth is seen as a very
successful and elite member of his society, loaded with honours and enjoying
every prospect of further praise. He is a man, full of the milk of human
kindness. This renowned idiom expresses the benevolent nature of Macbeth,
however may also be an ambiguous phrase as an individual who is too kind is
said to be weak and easily manipulated. As the poem advances, Macbeth is
shown to be contemplating the prophecy of the witches (force of supernatural
evil) who declare Macbeth to be future king. His ambitious feelings began to well
up over his good sense, although he attempts to battle his evil desires. Upon
arrival home to his wife, she manipulates and insults his manhood, convincing

him to commit regicide to obtain kingship. False face must hide what the false
heart doth know. This final metaphor closing Act 1 solidifies Macbeths lost fight
over his ambition, evoked by the witches and his wife. Comparatively, the king in
Ozymandias was purely motivated by his inner malice and evil with no external
influence like Macbeths wife and the witches. Both characters however were
driven by evil, be it internal or external. In this play, Shakespeare presents the
growing influence of evil over the guilty and ambitious minds which lead them to
commit the most treacherous villainy.
The play Macbeth exhibits the prevailing obsession with immortality stemming
from a destructive approach to conserving power. More often than not, the result
is usually a perished and untold legacy and a life of ungratefulness. This is seen
in Macbeth, whose vainness was an induction to his belief of his worthiness of
greater power and merit. Upon acceptance of the witchs prophecies to be true,
Macbeth begins to fear their proclamation of Banquo to be father to a line of
kings. Upon my head they placed a fruitless crown/And put a barren sceptre in
my gripe/Thence to be wrench'd with an unlineal hand/No son of mine
succeeding. The personification of the crown and sceptor to be meaningless
suggests that Macbeth has begun to question the same decree that attained him
power of king to be incoherent and futile. His immoral obsession with eternal
survival is reinforced by his call to fate, come into the list/ And champion me to
th utterance. The idea of a human challenging a predetermined decree seems
absurd; however the personification of fate becomes essential in showing
Macbeths resolve to ensure the witches proclamation stays unfulfilled. Similarly,
Shelleys portrayal of Ozymandias demonstrates how maintaining power can
lead to a detrimental obsession with immortality as Ozymandias hungers for
survival through his work as represented by his statue and obnoxious words.
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Through the loss of power, Shelley illustrates the impermanence of human
accomplishment as nature subjugates the work of any man. Throughout the play,
the motif of nature represents the momentary character of power as
Ozymandias, through arrogance had come to believe of many generations
witnessing his greatness. However, despite his confidence, he develops into
nothing but a faint memory, with every work he formed becoming a colossal
wreck, boundless and bare/ the lone and level sands stretch far away. This is a
vivid description, with one dramatic word after another that emphasises the
image of a truly desolate landscape. The vocabulary throughout the poem builds
up a powerful effect, climaxing in the eleventh line, dying away again in the
return of the last three lines describing the desert. In placing the symbol of
Ozymandias within this context, Shelley romanticises the Egyptian landscape,
presenting it as infinite, accentuating Ozymandias utter solitude. Further, upon
breaking down of the title Ozymandias into original Greek, one must note the
meaning of his title. Ozy comes from the Greek ozium which means to breath or
air, while mandias comes from mandate meaning to rule. Hence, the irony lies in
the reality of Ozymandias eventually becoming a ruler of air/ nothing.
Shakespeare however uses the motif of nature as a mechanism to symbolise
political struggle and juxtapose the unnatural and odd occurrences. Through the

vivid description of a vast land, Shelley emphasise the incredible power of

nature, and the frailty of mankind.