Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves. Men at some time are masters of their fates. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare
I take my inspiration for this collage from current events and from the words of Shakespeare. Julius Caesar, the play from which the above excerpt is taken, is based on the historical figure, Julius Caesar. In the history of Rome, Julius Caesar's rise to power marked the end of the Roman republic. After Caesar there was a series of Roman emperors--even tyrants--who ruled Rome and its vast territory.
The transition to authoritarian rule in Rome was marked by the leader's gradual assumption of powers that had formerly been wielded by the senate. While the senate continued as an institution in name after Caesar, it existed as a formality and had no effective function in government. The consuls who governed Rome's provinces in its far-flung empire had answered to the Senate in the days of the republic. After the rise of Caesar they increasingly answered to the ruler of Rome. The senate rubber stamped decrees issued by the ruler.
Shakespeare found historical figures to be rich subjects for development of his plays. One consistent theme he explored was ambition. I guess kings and tyrants are fertile ground for exploiting that human weakness. Other Shakespearean dramas feature the contest for power and the thirst to rule. Most of us have heard the famous "out damned spot" line from "Macbeth". Lady Macbeth, originally consumed with ambition, is racked by guilt at the end of the play because of the deed her ambition led her to commit.
The lines at the beginning of the verse excerpted for this blog,
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world Like a Colossus, and we petty men Walk under his huge legs and peep about To find ourselves dishonorable graves
capture for me a great political truth...not just for our time, but for every time when democracy has yielded to the rise of an autocrat. As I look at modern history, I see that a pattern emerges: in cases where an autocrat rose to power, that power was often seized in stages. At the beginning the autocrat had a persuasive message that reached the hearts of many people, enough people to support the power grab. The autocrat rode a wave of public support, garnered the loyalty of the military/police, and then in the last stage, usurped traditional checks on power.
Once in control, the ruler cemented his position by eliminating enemies and throttling those voices (ex, the press) that might foment popular unrest.
What does my collage say? My collage reflects some dark intimations of what a future could be if people in my country, in any country, allow one person to assume untrammeled power.
The starting point for the collage was the template for the 235th round of the LMAC collage contest (I'm on the jury so I don't compete). This late summer round of the contest ends on 9/1/2025 so there is still plenty of time to enter. Make a collage. Have fun, and maybe win a prize.
The template this week is from one of my favorite Hive people, @muelli, a great guy and an amazing collagist. Here is that template:
@muelli's picture came from the LIL gallery, which is a dedicated image gallery for LMAC creators and for all of Hive. Anyone may contribute a picture to the gallery (I've contributed hundreds), and anyone on Hive may borrow from the gallery. All images are in the public domain.
I began the collage by placing @muelli's figure in an image from Pixabay. I wanted a view of something that suggested the heartland of the USA. Then, as Shakespeare's verse states, I wanted to suggest dominance, as @muelli's figure bestrides the landscape like a colossus.
I began to add symbols that represent tyrannical power. People fleeing.
Then I added a prison compound.
I needed barbed wire to emphasis the coercive nature of the prison.
I thought freedom of speech was an important element to include. I had to figure out how to show that speech, under they tyrant, would not be free. Dissent would not be allowed. So I placed piles of newspapers at the ruler's feet, and I burned them.
I had to back up all these coercive elements with a show of force, so I placed bombers overhead.
Finally, I wanted to the collage to present a sinister impression so I added a smoke filter from Lunapic.
Elements to help make this picture were taken from several sources. Thank you to each of them. These elements were: PublicDomainPictures Pixabay
refugees GDG Pixabay
refugees kalhh pixabay
Prison tower PublicDomainPictures Pixabay
Prison Blocks Cliker-free-vector Image Pixabay
Barbed Wire dimitrisvetsikas1969 Pixabay
Newspaper piles fas Pixabay
Fire @redheadpei LIL Bombers Artower Pixabay
I hope you have found my collage to be interesting. Making the collage was certainly an interesting exercise, and a bit cathartic.
Thank you for reading.
Health and peace to all.