Analysis of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

In "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by T.S. Elliot the speaker Alfred is a

very isolated and indecisive man. Through out his monologue he speaks of himself and the way the world is through his eyes. He embodies a man that is too intelligent to realize he is the one holding him back.

My view of Alfred is that he is an older man in his late fifties that has led a very passionless life. He lives in a city were there is yellow fog and smoke against the

window-panes, a number of one-night cheap hotels and sawdust restaurants. Also there are narrow streets and smoke that rises from the pipes of the buildings. Alfred has a bald spot on the middle of his head and his legs and arms are very skinny. The baldness shows him aging and the scrawny body structure illustrates a man whose youth and strength was sucked out of him. When Alfred says that he has seen the eternal Footman holding his coat and laughing means he knows that he is reaching near the end of his life.

I believe that Alfred Prufrock works in the medical field. He clearly attends tea parties and is surrounded by sophisticated people that speak of Michelangelo. He shows he has money because he wears a morning coat and tie, which is like a tuxedo today. Alfred describes the evening sky like a patient etherized upon a table which is describing a patient anesthetized during operation. Also he says there will be time to murder and create which is the essence of what doctors do. He could be talking about his ability to save lives or accidentally kill someone. For all the works and days of hands shows he probably works with his hands. He is also very cultivated with his knowledge of Shakespeare and The Bible showing he is well schooled like doctors. ...

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...f rejection by just putting off being with a woman. He questions would it have been worth while to actually be with a woman. It is clear to me that he is sexually inexperienced because he wonders what if they squeezed the universe into a ball. The ball is representing a microcosm in which a man and woman form one to make a baby. He is curious to know what he is missing in life As much as Alfred yearns to be with a woman and to have passion he is overwhelmed with his sense of doubt and hesitant attitude.

It would seem from the outside that Alfred J. Prufrock is an educated man who has made a good life for himself. It is no doubt that Alfred has money, but the distressing fact that he has nobody to share it with is very lonely. He dreams everyday of being with someone or at least breaking out of his monotone lifestyle, but to disturb the universe he does not dare.