How does it add to our understanding of the nature of ambition?
Ideas: Ambition could be what we are remembered for: how we manage it has a lasting impact, ozymanidias destroyed statue and words- too proud. shows that our ambitions are pointless and of no consequence, but the real challenge is pursuing the ambitions in a honorable
Percy Shelley’s sonnet “Ozymandias” uses the sonnet form to good effect to add to our understanding of ambition and morality and the need to be humble and aware of our actions. In the first half of the poem the author is recounting a conversation he had with a person from a “antique land”. He’s told of the ruins of a mighty statue among the desert sands and the harsh and “cold” appearance of the “half sunk” face of a king of old. Just before the volta, the author is told the inscription on the statue: “‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'” Straight after the volta it then says: “Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.” This is showing that despite the high position and obvious power of this old king Ozymandias and his likely huge ambitions he must have had, his empire and all his power have crumbled to dust. All he can be remembered by is how he affected the world. This is a lesson to us that one of the main challenges we face when pursuing our ambitions is to stay humble and to be aware of how our ambitious actions are affecting the world around us. Using the volta to switch the meaning in this sonnet-like poem highlights the fact that despite Ozymandias’s high status, ultimately all he will be remembered for is his pride and arrogance. This adds to our understanding of the nature of ambition by reminding us that what we will ultimately be remembered and judged by is our character, not our achievements.
