Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock Essay

Prufrock is trapped in this artificial world, however he is too afraid to escape - he asks himself if he dares "to disturb the universe"; and apparently, he doesn't. The poem is also ambiguous regarding the identity of Prufrock's audience. Prufrock refers clearly to a "you and I" in the first stanzas of the poem but later... ... middle of paper ... ... he feels uncomfortable with Hamlet's "Prince" and the qualities associated with it. J. Alfred Prufrock is a tragic figure in his own right; indecision being his tragic flaw. Eliot's character is a compelling portrait of insecurity, trapped in a rigid and materialistic environment by his own doubts and fears and unable to reconcile his desires with his actions.

26 There will be time, there will be time 27 To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet. Prufrock observes his society's ability to totally disregard any question of substance, that is, the 'overwhelming'; questions. Yet despite his observations Prufrock is not prepared to confront his society, more importantly, himself. In deeper tragedy Prufrock is defeated by his knowledge of his inadequacies and states quite sincerely, 'And in short, I was afraid'; Two of the minor themes of 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock' concern the frustrations felt by the individual towards their society. Specifically the individuals insignificance in their society and the individuals inability to express themselves and be understood as an individual within that society.

(8) The contrast between the "Desperate, Sick-of-It-All, Disillusioned," writers and Miss Lonelyhearts becomes less pronounced as the novel develops. The pessimistic and absurdist attitude expressed by Nathanael West in Miss Lonelyhearts is similar to that of Camus, and Camus's outlook indicated by his works: The Myth of Sisyphus and The Stranger. West and Camus illustrate that nothing in our world can provide people with the answers, values or morals which they believe are needed in their lives. West depicts men as isolated beings; men who are unable to assist or love one another. Bibliography:

He claims that there will be much time to do things in the social world. Prufrock is more of an anti-hero that is controlled by fear. T.S Eliot uses tone, allusions, and imagery to explain a man’s inability to make decisions and his own self confidence in life in which he is afraid of the outlook of his future by being misunderstood. The tone of the poem is described as a weary, self-depressed outlook. He is uncertain about life and his place in it.

A glimpse into the stream of consciousness of Prufrock reveals his secret struggles to handle a world he has no control over. Prufrock displays numerous characteristics of an anti-hero but three stand out the most: cowardice, passiveness, and pessimism. Prufrock, the narrator of the poem, is a middle-aged man who is living a life void of meaning and purpose. His thoughts are depressing as he mulls over his dull, uneventful life. One of his most crippling traits is cowardice.

It holds him back from doing the things he wishes to do. This is the sort of characteristic that makes Alfred into a tragic, doomed character. He will not find happiness until he finds self-assurance within himself. The repetition of words like vision and revision, show his feelings of inadequacy in communicating with the people around him. The rhyme scheme Elliot uses in this poem depicts the disenchanted and confused mind of the narrator.

In his essay “The Fundamental Question of Metaphysics”... ... middle of paper ... ...r own histories, their struggles with purpose and meaning, and the plight of their thrownness create a compelling and emotionally engaging novel that resemble the insecurities and consciousness of our own lives. Heidegger states that time only reminds men of how insignificant they are, how endless the universe is, and how all they can really do is seek to accept themselves on their own terms in anticipation of death, to wonder at the meaning of it all. Kierkegaard and Miller address the loathing of the impasse that threatens their lives as a result of historicism (and the absence of God). And Nietzsche claims that we must use history to escape animal-ness, but not so far as to become further imprisoned within our consciousness. Throughout history, and in each man’s life, there is return: to the center, to the same errors, and to that danger and fear of nothingness.

T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” draws attention to the idea that time is of the essence. On the surface, Prufrock is portrayed as a man who is incapable of making decisions and lacks self-confidence. This is evident through his passive nature, where he continuously delays having to talk to women because he believes there is enough time. Written in the era of modernism, the reader is capable of unraveling that the poem’s true purpose was not only to show Prufrock’s inability to make decisions when it comes to love, but to show the desolation that one faces in times of a modernistic transition.

A sense of consistently lingering depression hangs in the Artist’s perspective and opinions about himself. According to critical reviewers like Jim Breslin, the Hunger artist’s disposition of depression is partly caused by his inability to progress further in his art. Breslin connects this sense with that of a writer, “Kafka is equating the suffering in starving to the suffering a writer undertakes in crafting a story” (Breslin). However, though this sense of striving to break one’s own artistic limits is apparent, the story delves further than even this. After realizing that there’s no way to fully legitimize his art, the hunger artist’s “dissatisfaction kept gnawing at his insides all the time” (Kafka 8).

It was rather total torment. Throughout the novel John continues to fight and believe for what he believes in while the surrounding environment continues to pressure him and submerge him into Utopian ways of life. The conflicts which were faced upon his arrival were of devastation. His life grew lonelier and lonelier each day with his dissatisfaction with the crude nature and refined society of the Utopians. He was trapped in a tedious world where there was nothing to do.