The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock By T. S.

“What you see is the real you” is an idea raised by Willard Gaylin. He states that “inner man is a fantasy”, which does not even exist. With no doubt, mankind are complicated creatures. While understanding the fact the human, till today, is not being fully understood, we cannot say the true “you” is the “you” that you have shown to the world in an absolute and extreme terms. In this essay, another possibility is suggested that could explain human behaviors; the inner man is the real man, while the outer man is only a part of the real man. Under the constraints of reason, ethics, or external environment, a man can only show a part of his or her true self. This essay will prove the statement through several protagonists’ behaviors and actions

Alfred Prufrock”, written by T. S. Eliot, describes Prufrock’s inner imagination and struggle. From the poem, clearly Prufrock hates the party, but he has to attend, and even chat with the women attending the party. This poem is a great example of showing an inner man describing his complicated thoughts, and an outer man restricted by uncertainty and reason. In the beginning of the poem, Dante’s poem, “S’io credesse che mia risposta fosse… Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo”, was used to infer the reader about the situation that Prufrock will face is hell-like. Unlike Dante, Prufrock does not know what hell looks like, and Guido will not tell Prufrock, as he tells Dante, whether he could come back from hell or not. This uncertainty restricts Prufrock’s outer man to act what he truly wants and desires in his inner man. In addition, later in the poem, Prufrock mentions he need “to prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet; There will be time to murder and create…”. He wants to ignore the inner self, and create an outer man, who is capable of fitting into this party. His outer man has to be calm and “force the moment to its crisis”, while his inner man shows that he is nervous, isolated, or even afraid. His outer man only shows a part of Prufrock, under the constraints of uncertainty, reason, and social environment. His inner man, although not shown, is the real

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. Dr. Jekyll is an honorable, respectable and light-hearted man, however, no one truly knows his secrets as he has hidden and suppress them well. As Dr. Jekyll said in his statement, “and indeed the worst of my faults was a certain impatient gaiety of disposition, such as has made the happiness of many, but such as I found it hard to reconcile with my imperious desire to carry my head high, and wear a more than commonly grave countenance before the public” (Chapter 10). Dr. Jekyll’s inner man is both good and evil. Dr. Jekyll’s outer man is good, because there is law and order and he intentionally hides the evil side; he could not conduct crime and ruin his image. Under the restriction of law and ethics, his evil side in the inner man is hidden. Therefore, the outer man only reflects a part of Dr. Jekyll. However, after taking the potion, Dr. Jekyll’s outer man changes to the evil Edward Hyde. Again, Dr. Jekyll’s inner man is still both good and evil. Dr. Jekyll believes that “I hazard the guess that man will be ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious, incongruous and independent denizens”. Not only good and evil, but also many other traits could be found on a single man, which makes up his inner man the real man. His outer man is, with no doubt, a part of Dr. Jekyll’s inner man, while this time, the good is suppressed by the