---
title: "Fantasies that grow from oppressive realities"
description: "Four pairs of reality and fantasy that Greene says you can build power on."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/fantasies-that-grow-from-oppressive-realities/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

# Fantasies that grow from oppressive realities

> Four pairs of reality and fantasy that Greene says you can build power on.

Robert Greene's framework, from 48 Laws of Power, pp. 390 to 400.

Framework 17 of 27 from [48 Laws of Power](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/index.md) by Robert Greene. Category: Offers and pricing.

## The steps

1. **Sudden transformation.** Reality: change is slow and takes work; promise a total change in fortune that bypasses it.
2. **A totally new world.** Reality: the social realm has hard-set codes; offer a world with different codes and adventure.
3. **Mystical union.** Reality: society is fragmented and full of conflict; promise people can come together, though it is a dangerous power.
4. **Reversal of death and the past.** Reality: the dead cannot be brought back; offer a sudden reversal, as the forged Vermeers did.

## Where it comes from

From chapter: LAW 32, pp. 390–400

The truth is ugly and people avoid it, so those who manufacture romance or fantasy draw crowds. Venice, in decline after the loss of Cyprus in 1570, put its hopes in the alchemist Bragadino, who lived in splendour on the city's money and never produced gold until the senate wanted to believe; he was hanged in Munich in 1592 when the Bavarians lost patience. Greene says fantasy needs an oppressive reality behind it and gives examples: the dream of sudden transformation, of an exotic new world, of mystical union, and of reversing death. The key to fantasy is distance, so keep it vague and unrealised. The reversal is that you must never come too close to the place where results are expected.

## The animation

24 seconds, 4:5, no sound.

- MP4: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/fantasies-that-grow-from-oppressive-realities.mp4
- MP4, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/fantasies-that-grow-from-oppressive-realities-dark.mp4
- Still: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/fantasies-that-grow-from-oppressive-realities.png
- Still, dark: https://tomsharman-downloads-006143767029.s3.eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/downloads/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/fantasies-that-grow-from-oppressive-realities-dark.png