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T. S. Eliot J. Alfred Prufrock
T. S. Eliot J. Alfred Prufrock
T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"depicts the complex tension between a neurotic
individual and the high society he finds simultaneously attractive and repulsive. J. Alfred prufrock,
the name of a furniture dealer in Eliot's home city of St. Louis. sounds like an unlikely name to be
yoked to a love song, and indeed, his song is hardly conventional or straightforward. prufrock
speaks for all alienated individuals whose relation to the rituals. hierarchies. and sexual intrigues of
society can only. at best, be f'raught with anxious f'eelings of inadequacy and a desire to refrain fiom
contact. Society, as the epigraph hints, is a kind of hell t'rom which no one escapes. This poem is
the earliest of Eliot's major works. lt is an examination of the tortured psyche of a middle-aged
modern man who is overeducated, passive, weak, eloquent and emotionally stilted. The title is
ironic because it is neither a song nor intended to be sung. It is a realistic song of hesitation,
frustration and emotional conflict.'fhe poem embodies the setting of urban boredom. The rhetorical
phrases, the irregular rhythms and the f'ragmented style symbolize Prufrock's deep-rooted disorder.
Eliot prefaces his poem with an epigraph drawn from [)ante's lnf'erno, in which the damned soul of
Guido da Montet-eltro addresses Dante. saying he would not speak except that he knows no one
returns to the surface world from Hell. The quotation suggests a parallel between Guido and the
poem's own speakerPrufrock, as well as between Guido's listener (Dante) and the reader of ..The
Love Song." Eliot's Prufrock begins with an epigraph fiom Dante's Inflerno. At first there may seem
little in common between the inactive Prufiock and Guido rvho is condemned to Hell fbr
committing the sin of fraud. The epigraph symbolizes Prufrok's inner lost character. prufrock
is
suffering in his own personal hell in the same way that Cuido is sutfering without
believing in the
possibility ot'any contact with the living world. Prufrok. similarly t-eels that there is no
The memorable opening lines make clear that the journey Prufrock
proposes will be through urban
streets on the way toward some social gathering. Eliot uses the metaphysical conceit to describe the
dull evening' The visual image of the evening like a patient etherized
upon a table to be examined
reflects Prufrock's own mental paralysis. He makes an invitation
to visit the commonplaces of the
city where the reality of everyday life contrasts with his evasive way
of looking ar them. After
wandering in "half deserted streets" Prufiock returns to
the polite world of the salon where there is
seems to be looking ahead to the empty social chatter, replete with namedropping,
of upper-class
women he expects to encounter on his "visit." The image further compounds the speaker,s
mounting anxieties, evident from the refusal to grapple with
the "overwhelming question,, of line
l0 (mentioned again in line 93). Their trivial conversation of art symbolizes the ironic connection
Michelangelo, the artistic hero and Prufiock with his mock-heroic character. Those women have a
trivial conversation about art. The chat of the salon establishes an ironic connection between
Michelangelo, an artistic hero, and prufrock with his mock- heroic tone.
Even when Prufrock physically attends at the salon, his mind is outside, digressing to the yellow
fog. Eliot again presents a conceit that shows his influence by the metaphysical poets: he observes
the fog in animal terms: the yellow fbg rubs its back upon the window- panes, licking its tongue
into the corners of the evening. The fbg. like Prufrock. is curious. It starts in the evening streets and
end by curling about the houses. lt makes attempts of activity. slipping by the terrace then finally
vanishes away.
The reader is then back to the salon where Prufrock is concerned with his own inactivity. "There
will be time...". The repetition of this phrase suggests the non-existence of time itself since the
passing of time is related to the world of activity and change but Prufrock's world is inactive and
Do I dare
These lines reflect the pathetic attitude of Prufrock , his physical decay and a determination of a
middle- aged man to see himself as others see him whatever the cost will be to his personal dignity.
Prufrock has feelings of self-disgust and self-rejection. His feelings of isolation continue. His
attitude towards the women of the salon is a passive admiration: the elegant perfume in their
dresses symbolizes his inability to contact with them, his feelings of inferiority towards them,
isolation and passivity. He,ironically. compares himself to.lohn the Baptist and tlamlet(allusions).
He makes such comparisons in order to define and evaluate his position."l am not prince Hamlet
nor was meant to be": despite his denial a connection is made between Prufrock's evasion and
Hamlet's hesitation.
Prufrock is an intellectual and a virtuous character; however he is trying to excuse his inactivity by
pointing out his own significance and that of the society he lives in. He is afraid to be ridiculed and
misunderstood by the women of the salon and that is the main reason behind his detachment from
themes and seems almost like a separate composition. Its unusual conceit looks back to the famous
simile from lines 2-3 comparing dusk to "a patient etherised upon a table." Both figurative
surprisingly creative mind, apt to dwell on languorous imagery. In the fburth section. the poem
returns to the social themes implicit at the outset: Prufrock claims there will be sufficient time.,To
prepare a f-ace to meet the faces that you meet" and also ref'ers to such rituals as "the taking of a
toast and tea."'fhe principal emphasis in this section falls upon time itself. as the repetition of the
word "time" no fewer than eight times in the space of twelve lines clearly indicates.
Three more repetitions in section five follow the return of the brief "Michelangelo" refrain.
Prufrock's obsession with time, which exposes his basic indecisiveness, leads directly to the
meditation on aging and mortality that dominates the latter portions of the poem. Prufrock's feelings
of sexual inadequacy and intimidation become clearer when, in line 80, he doubts his ability ,,to
force the moment to its crisis." Various images underscore Prufiock's low self-esteem: he identifies
with lonely working-class men; absurdly, he wishes he were a lobster, free of social obligations and
able to move rapidly backwards; and he envisions himself in the role of John the Baptist, just after
Salome has had his head cut off. The latter image powerfully indicates his fear of attractive women
Death, figured in line 85 as an "eternal Footman." bars the way to the social gathering. This
scarifying vision has a decisive effect on Prufrock's plans. The fear of death allows him to
rationalize his anxieties and so avoid any uncomfbrtable encounters. After a legion of
equivocations. Prufrock finally seems to have determined not to make his visit. Nonetheless, his
meditation still continues. He eventually acknowledges the opacity of his statements: "lt is
impossible to say just what I mean!" Instead of saying it precisely ('Just"), he does so in a
roundabout manner, by recourse to various allusions and comparisons. In line lll, for example, he
rejects a comparison with the most famous equivocator in literature Hamlet. Instead, he resembles
"an attendant lord," referring to Rosencrantz or Guildenstern, those flamously interchangeable non-
entities whom Hamlet arranges to have put to death. Pruliock tells us. in short. that he is not a man
of importance (as Hamlet. Prince of Denmark. was) but rather a man doomed to an anonymous,
inconsequential death. The poem ends by gathering together the various strands of Prufrock's
anxiety-ridden character.
An emphasis on aging and mortality returns in line l20.lt is an indecisiveness, taken to an absurd
extreme ("Do I dare to eat a peach?", which perhaps can be interpreted as a sexual image), recurs in
line 122. There is something ineffably sad about Prufrock's belief that the mermaids (another image
of those attractive, dangerous women who frighten him so much) will not even sing to him. The
poem concludes by suggesting that selt.-consciousness is a dream tiom which human voices wake
into a romantic flantasy. Prufrock makes an escape image. His belief that the mermaids are not
singing to him recalls his hesitant and passive attitude throughout the whole poem:
This poem expresses the fragile, psychological state of modern urban society in the 20th century.
The change of the cultural notions from the Victorian era into the modern world war with all its
challenges. Eliot demonstrates the sense of indecisive paralysis of the modern man represented in
Prufrock who wonders if he should eat a piece of fiuit. make a radical change. or if he has the
fortitude to keep living. It is a debate over the humanity's damaged psyche out of their inability to
communicate with each other .Prufrock also symbolizes all those men who returned home after the
end of the first World warto find women adopting a new role as living-earners.
Eliot uses a fiagmented style in order to symbolize the chaotic and disjointed state of modern man
and community. Fragmentation means collaging bits and pieces of dialogue, images, ideas, foreign
words and tones within one single work, representing humanity damaged psyche of humanity after
the lst world war and the collapse of the British Empire.