Shelley's Use Of Abuse Of Power In Ozymandias

Throughout the poem, Shelley uses irony to convey to the reader that Ozymandias’ corruption and selfishness is what caused him, his statue, to ultimately be lonely and deteriorate.
Shelley describes the relationship that this ruler had with his people by explaining that the people of this land see his statue as “The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed” (8) since he made sure they were alive and fed, but used this power to his advantage and mocked them. This use of irony helps to develop the relationship that he had with his people and how his wrong doing to them resulted in the isolation and decaying of his statue. It is also ironic that his statue is decaying and deteriorating in the desert because throughout the poem, Ozymandias

The use of diction throughout the poem aids the author in displaying the idea that
Ozymandias’ abuse of power is what led to his loneliness in the end. The diction that an author uses throughout a piece of literature can determine how a reader reflects on a theme presented in the piece. This is ever present in Ozymandias since Shelley uses language like “lifeless” (7) and
“boundless” (13) to effectively explain the solitude that Ozymandias’ statue is in. Shelley doesn’t use words like ‘alone’ or ‘lonely’ because that diction does not help the reader truly understand the magnitude of this lonely state. When Shelley is describing the desert and how there is
“Nothing beside remains” (11) he uses diction like “decay” (11) to advance the picture of this broken statue in the reader’s mind. It is important that Shelley uses diction in this way because the theme of loneliness and corruption could easily be skimmed over without the use of powerful and sometimes exaggerated diction. Words like “stretch” (14) also create an appropriate portrait of space in the reader’s mind considering there is nothing in the desert for miles except