Ozymandias , the Greek name for the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II, is portrayed in Shelley's poem as domineering and cruel. His face, sculpted on a monument that lies in the sand separated from his body, bears a "sneer of cold command." Ozymandias had carved on his pedestal a message that suggested he was arrogant, as he claimed he was "the king of kings." Also on the pedestal were the words "Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" In other words, Ozymandias regarded himself and the temples and monuments he ordered constructed as better and greater than anything anyone else could construct. In Shelley's portrait, the pharaoh's arrogance is so great that he believes that anyone looking at his works will despair of ever coming close to...

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