NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF MODERN LANGUAGES,

ISLAMABAD

Topic: Comparison of Prufrock in W. B. Yeats’ poem “The Love

Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” with Hamlet, protagonist of
Shakespeare’s tragic play “Hamlet”.

Assignment submitted to,

Ms Munazza
Submitted by
Sara Batool (18009), 6th A
T. S. Eliot’s protagonist Prufrock, though with a denial “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor
was meant to be”, compares himself with Shakespeare’s hero Hamlet. Although modern
literature and its characters vary to a great extent from that of Elizabethan literature in their
characteristics, Eliot’s modern poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” could be
compared to Shakespeare’s Elizabethan tragic play “Hamlet” on a number of elements which
the protagonists of both literary works possess. Though Alfred Prufrock and Hamlet are
challenged with entirely different situations, both the characters prove that their personality
possesses similar traits like Indecisiveness, over-analytical and emotional also alienated from
their surrounding and the very important factor common between them that becomes the
reason of both the character’s disappointed and tragic end i.e. Hamartia.
Alfred Prufrock and Hamlet are alienated from their ambience around them with an
oppressive situation and the despair and doubt have caused inaction in both the
cases[ CITATION Rob72 \l 1033 ] . Hamlet’s words “I do not know why yet I live to say this
thing’s to do” is very similar to Prufrock’s monologue “That is not it at all; that is not what I
meant at all.” Both the characters are proved to be highly analytical and overly indecisive via
their attempts in performing action. Alfred Prufrock’s indecisiveness, “There will be time,
there will be time” might be because he is preoccupied with the fear of failure as he is an
aged man with baldness on his head, therefore, could be rejected by a young woman and his
‘intellectual’ and ‘analytic nature’ as observed by Levin, “And I have known the eyes
already, known them all”, intensifies his procrastination. His indecision characterizes his
thoughts and that he is only confined in an imaginary world created in his own mind.
Likewise, Hamlet though overwhelmed with the thought of taking revenge of his father’s
blood killed by Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, hesitates till the end of the play in the murder of
the killer as he is afraid of making any wrong decision. Prufrock’s inability to ask a girl out
may seem far less important than Hamlet deciding whether to take a human’s life or not yet
both share the fear of what consequence will be.1
Hamartia, a flaw in the hero’s personality that allows them to commit certain tragic or fatal
mistakes, is another quality possessed by both the characters 2. Shakespeare’s Cassius
in Julius Caesar says, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, / But in ourselves,”. The
fault is not in Prufrock and Hamlet’s stars but in their own selves. They both fail in turning
their thoughts into reality at the appropriate time due to their lack of self-confidence and fear
of failure considering it not the right time to perform but the difference is that Hamlet at the
end kills Claudius while Prufrock ends his monologue saying that he still needs to be awaken
to take action “Till human voices wake us, and we drown”, however, both have a tragic end
though Prufrock’s situation and the end is not as much tragic as Hamlet’s because Hamlet
loses his life.
Both of them consider themselves not worthy of taking any risk in getting into a climax and
they believe that there is enough time for the action to be taken. They also regret the fact that
they promised to do something but could not act, therefore, compare themselves with small
creatures and look down upon their existence. Hamlet compares himself to a “pigeon-livered
and lack gall” and in a more similar way Prufrock does the same.

1
http://lyamashita.blogspot.com/2013/02/comparison-between-hamlet-and-j-alfred.html?=1
2
newyorkessays.com/essay-hamlet-and-alfred-prufrock-compasion/#:~:text=Hamlet and The love song of J.
Alfred Prufrock
“I should have been a pair of ragged claws scuttling across the floors of silent seas.”

REFERRENCES
 Robert M. Seiler, Prufrock and Hamlet, English: Journal of the English Association,
Volume 21, Issue 110, Summer 1972.
 lyamashita.blogspot.com/2013/02/comparison-between-hamlet-and-j-alfred.html?
m=1
 newyorkessays.com/essay-hamlet-and-alfred-prufrock-compasion/#:~:text=Hamlet
and The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock