Detailed comparison plan between Ozymandias and My Last Duchess. Includes 2 comparison thesis statements, quotes and language analysis, structure and context for both poems.
Both present the power of leaders over people but in Ozy, his power deteriorates whereas in MLD the duke remains powerful throughout.
‘Half sunk, a shattered visage lies’ ‘I gave commands, then all smiles stopped together’
-Power of nature in eroding his status and legacy over time -the Duke is proudly claiming that he had his wife murdered in order to
prevent her from speaking to other men
-‘Visage’ symbolises Ozy’s broken legacy and how the scupltors work is
remembered and survives not the leader. -‘gave commands’ indicates that the Duke was not willing to kill his wife
himself; he used the power he had to have someone else kill her.
-Ironic as Ozy set statue up to honour his legacy and ‘works’ but is now
broken and forgotten. -metaphor- shows that despite all his money and power, he could not
control her so had her killed - power therefore stays constant
‘Colossal wreck’
‘Is my object’
- This oxymoron conveys both the ‘colossal’ scale of Ozymandias’s power
when alive, and the desolate ‘wreck’ of his statue’s (and Empire’s) legacy. -Duke is speaking to a messenger about a prospective second marriage,
implying that not only gained power over his ‘last’ wife, but that he may
-Shelley gives the reader a very clear message that the power of nature well do the same thing in a second marriage.
and time is more powerful than humankind, and even the most powerful
leaders and Empires (Eygptian or British) will fade eventually -Dehumanises women and his future wife
-Even after killing his last wife, his power is still well intact and he
Structure continues to abuse it
-Told through a second hand account which shows how unimportant he is
now Structure
-Shortness of poem shows how power doesn’t last.
-Dramatic monologue- duke dominates the conversation and doesn’t let
anyone else speak but him- showcases his control.
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