This cartoon is a reimagining of the scene created by Percy Bysshe Shelley's iconic 1818 sonnet "Ozymandias." The caption of the cartoon is a revised quote from the poem, the original version of which is: "My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my works ye Mighty, and despair!" (Shelley, 1818).
Ozymandias, otherwise known as Ramses II or Ramses the Great, was the pharaoh of Egypt in the 1200s BC. He is often regarded as the greatest pharaoh of the most powerful period of Ancient Egypt.
The domineering attitude of the quote lies in stark contrast with Shelley's description of the statue in the desert: "No thing beside remains. Round the decay / Of the colossal Wreck, boundless and bare, / The lone and level sands stretch far away." The poem presents a glaring image of the impermanence of power, and the futility of rulers' efforts to preserve their legacies. It cautions against hubris and contempt ("frown, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command") on the part of people who have authority in their lifetime.
The cartoon posits the bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, as the Ozymandias-type figure. It proclaims its status as an apex predator, one of the most dominant species in its habitat. However, the dominance of the bluefin tuna has been usurped by the human species: a coup d'état led by people who seek to prey upon the predators.
Implicit in the cartoon is a warning for the humans who have dethroned bluefin tuna at the top of the food chain. Regimes come and go, and humans' thirst for dominion of non-human animals will backfire in the end. As we exploit fishes for our own pleasure, we imperil our own future. We are also Ozymandias.
Art and writing by Celina Lee
References
Shelley, P.B. (1818). Ozymandias. The Examiner of London.