![]() ![]() Later, when Jack unearths and steals all but one of Walt's barrels of money and allows him to drive away, Walt looks back upon two pieces of disturbed sand in the rearview mirror. This visual parallel indicates that with the death of Hank, Walt's carefully crafted empire has finally begun to crumble. ![]() At the risk of pointing out the obvious, they are also each surrounded by the jagged rocks, trees, and sand of the desert landscape. The sight of him lying there greatly resembles the posture of the fallen statue of Ramses, down to the color of Walt's jacket matching the shade of sand and the positioning of his hands behind his back, bound with cuffs, resembling the shape of the broken statue. Then, after Hank is shot by Jack, Walt falls to the ground in shock and lands head down in the sand. And Shelley's version of "Ozymandias" isn't the only one that reflects upon the discovery of Ramses' broken legacy and thus bears some symbolism for the story in Breaking Bad. Ramses II was known for engaging in several expansion and reclamation wars, launching a prolific building program for new temples and cities, and for putting his face on many, many statues, including one which was found toppled in ruins in 1817 and inspired Shelley's poem. Scholars have long interpreted that the poem speaks to the fragility of life and the inability for even the most accomplished and self-aggrandizing ruler to preserve himself from the inevitable erasure of time. The lone and level sands stretch far away. Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,Īnd wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone ![]()
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