He appears to be indecisive, unable to make a critical decision. His hesitancy and timidity have progressed to the point of being crippling. Even though he repeats, “there will be time, there will be time” (line 26), he eventually realizes he is out of time. He sees himself aging in the present and future, and he realizes he will have missed out on the chance to love.
Prufrock is a sensitive individual; he has a “heightened cognitive-emotional processing” that requires him to think about incoming information, such as ” perfume off a frock ” (line 65) or ” arms that are braceleted and white and bare ” (line 63) deeply. Sensitive persons can have powerful emotions, mainly when overarousal occurs, and Prufrock experiences his highest emotions when confronted with romantic attraction.
Prufrock is an insecure young guy who hesitates in social situations. His self-doubts seep into his relationships with other people, particularly women. Prufrock, who has been ostracized by society for a long time, may lead to an unfulfilled life without a goal, causing sadness, solitude, and gloom.
He is so obsessed with his looks that Prufrock mentions his physical appearance several times throughout the poem. He mentions Michelangelo, Hamlet, and John the Baptist before claiming that he is nothing compared to them (lines 68-75). At the same time, he is conscious of the expected image of virility and masculinity that exists in people’s thoughts.
Prufrock is an escapist; his sensitivity and disdain for the real world make him want to run away. He yearns to be the lone crab in the silent waters, swims with the mermaids, gazes into the dusk fog, and becomes one with it. These scenes reveal Prufrock’s romantic side, yearning to be free of human connection. However, he is quickly brought back to reality by human voices.
Prufrock is scared. In the room, the women come and leave, talking of Michelangelo,” in this line of phrase, he explains that when Prufrock observes numerous women talking to Michelangelo, he likes a lady but is scared to approach her; he believes something horrible would happen if he does. He appears to be afraid of becoming like those despondent individuals who cannot find love and are forced to spend their evenings “watching the smoke rise from the pipes.” Prufrock then laments, “I should have been a pair of ragged claws / Scuttling across the floors of silent seas” (line 82), as if a carefree crustacean would be a better fit for him than the lovelorn man he has become.
“I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was I supposed to be,” Prufrock asserts near the end of the poem; this portrays him as Doubt and Ambiguity. To many, Shakespeare’s distinguishing quality is his unwillingness to overcome or accept his uncertainties and commit to a single course of action (lines 121-129).
Prufrock is desperate as he attempts to dress appropriately while not overdoing it with his “expensive and modest necktie proclaimed with a simple pin.” Prufrock imagines his contemporaries reflecting on his declining appearance in his imagination, picturing the statements.
Prufrock is intellectual, and he takes himself or a dimension of his ego on a tour of his hell throughout the poem. “. He is acutely aware of how things function in the world, witnessing the inconsistencies of social convention in endless rounds of visits, “toast and tea (line 34), and superficial, pseudo-intellectual discourse “about Michelangelo” (36).
He is a lonely man, to the extent of comparing himself to a pinned insect (line 58) and a lonely crustacean, “scuttling across the floor of the silent sea” to illustrate his feelings of inadequacy (line 74).
Reference
Eliot, T. S. (2021). The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing.
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