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What is the poem "Ozymandias" talking about? How does it relate to Frankenstein?

First, you should note that the poem "Ozymandias" was written by Percy Bysshe Shelley and the novel Frankenstein by his wife, Mary Shelley. One is a poem and the other a novel and they are quite different in style and written by different authors.


The poem "Ozymandias" describes a narrator hearing a tale by a traveler who encountered a fallen monumental statue in the desert. It was a statue of an Egyptian pharaoh, with a grandiose claim inscribed on its pedestal:



My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;


Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!



When encountered by the traveler, the statue is shattered and the great kingdom Ozymandias ruled has been conquered by colonial powers, suggesting that such greatness is fleeting.


The novel Frankenstein also employs layered narration and shares one similar theme, that of human arrogance and overreach. Victor, the scientist who creates the monster, also is trying for a level of power and immortality that are a form of arrogance, and that lead to his ultimate failure and misfortune. Both works thus suggest the importance of our understanding our limitations.

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