Prufrock Allusions

Prufrock’s allusion in the thirteenth stanza to Hamlet, the character notorious for not being able to make decisions, provides readers with a microcosm of Prufrock’s own unraveling. The opening of this stanza reminds readers that Prufrock is characteristically quite similar to Hamlet, in terms of the pressing anxiety and indecisiveness which they both experience. As the stanza opens, Mr. Prufrock makes it clear that he is not worthy of being compared to Hamlet in any way, articulating that he is “not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be” (111). William Irwin reiterates Prufrock’s thoughts contending that, “Prufrock is no prince Hamlet, who, despite being paralyzed for most of the play, eventually does take action” (187). After contextualizing

his place within the framework of Shakespeare’s Hamlet or perhaps lack thereof, Prufrock declares himself an “attendant lord,” (112) that is to say that he is simply the prince’s sidekick. As Prufrock continues to unravel, he goes so far as to deviate from being the prince’s attendant lord, (one who advises the prince and would thus be considered a high position in society), to moving all the way to declaring himself the “Fool,” a position which Margaret Morton Blum does not even consider to be “identifiable as an individual,” (424) further demeaning the fool’s role in society.

Starting by reassuring the readers that he cannot hold a place as the prince, or even the attendant lord for that matter, reminds readers of Prufrock’s severe lack of confidence. Even more importantly, this stanza demonstrates the extent to which Prufrock can undo himself with simply a few lines of

thought. The irony within this stanza is that Prufrock, in terms of personality, could be described as Hamlet’s doppelgänger. Yet, due to his own insecurities, cannot see the similarities which prevail between the both of them. So it appears that part of the process of a character’s unraveling involves an ironic sense of self-perception, as demonstrated by Prufrock’s failing to acknowledge the similarity of his and Hamlet’s predicaments.
By the second to last stanza of this poem, it is clear that dear Prufrock has, in fact, unwound. When discussing the “mermaids,” the sirens who historically attempt to lure anyone into their seductive traps, Prufrock asserts, “I do not think they will sing to me” (125). The clear paradox within this vignette is that mermaids do not pick and choose whom they entice, it is simply everyone. Yet, the completely unfurled Prufrock, with his lack of confidence and lack of aplomb, believes that he is not worthy enough to be inveigled by the notorious sirens. There is something both beautifully ludicrous and pitiful within this stanza which is so adumbrative of Prufrock’s innermost, personal thoughts—that is the melee which he experiences with himself. On the part of Eliot, being able to make this stanza so tragicomic is pure poetic genius. By taking readers on a journey through Prufrock’s consciousness, Eliot allows for a demonstrative confirmation of the unrolling of Prufrock which readers have essentially been following since the beginning of the poem.
A noticeably complex denouement is reduced to feelings of satiety on the part of the reader.

Prufrock’s drowning ultimately provides the readers the catharsis which they so desperately desire. By the complete end of this poem, that is Prufrock’s metaphorical death, it is clear that Prufrock has unraveled completely. From the once audacious character who was ready to make his “visit,” (12) to the character who is now “drowning” because of the cited “human voices,” (131) Prufrock is experiencing his own type of peripeteia in terms of the reversal of his once authoritative, and now feeble, role within the narrative of his own life. James C. Haba argues that Prufrock has been hearing human voices throughout the entirety of this poem; from the women “Talking of Michelangelo” to the "the voices dying with a dying fall;" hearing voices is not a new thing which emerges only in the concluding stanza of this poem. Haba’s most intriguing point within this assertion is that Prufrock never explicitly describes any of these aforementioned voices as human, notably because perhaps “he does not perceive them as human” (57). Perhaps, in a shockingly similar manner to C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce, Prufrock’s humanity has met withered humanity and has shown that he does, in fact, lack any substance himself by the end of his entwirren. It appears that the sound of human voices kill the person who unravels. In this case, Prufrock has completely lost every aspect of his own humanity. The voices

at the end, wholly ‘human,’ are what envelope Prufrock.
T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is essentially a commentary on the distance between a person’s own consciousness and his or her sense of belonging. The immobilizing anxiety which Prufrock experiences is consequential not simply within the framework of this poem, but also to the reader. Prufrock’s angst is relevant to a person reading this poem through any lens because anyone who differs from the archetype presented by society, that is how one is ‘supposed to be,’ would be able to relate to Mr. Prufrock. This includes the mentally ill and other disabled members of society. Three characteristic aspects of Prufrock’s life are what allow favor his story to be such a germane one to a plethora of members of society. First, the poem presents a clear loss of security, something which the majority of the population can relate to. One does not need to be disabled in order to result to a loss of self-confidence or security. Secondly, there is a loss of role within society which leads to a loss of relation with society. Prufrock, feeling as if he has lost his quintessential role within a society in which he does not belong to, ultimately contributes to to a loss of human contact (which is what permits him to have such an elongated and complex inner monologue), which conclusively advances a loss of relation with society. Losing one’s place in society contributes to feeling a loss of function within society. This is something which the mentally ill and other disabled people can relate to, but also other members of society, such as those who are unemployed as well as those who are historically marginalized, such as African-Americans, indigenous communities, and undocumented immigrants.