The Obsessive Monologue of J. Alfred Prufrock
The traits of extraversion and introversion are central dimensions of the human personality. Extraverts are gregarious, assertive and usually seek excitement. In contrast, introverts are more reserved, less outgoing, less sociable, uncommunicative, and given to odd moods. They have a tendency toward being predominantly concerned in their own mental life. They believe they cannot live life until they have understood it as opposed to extroverts, who cannot understand life until they have lived it. “The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock” examines the tortured psyche of a man who believes the former of the two. T.S. Eliot created a dramatic monologue with the speaker as an urban man who, like many introverts, feels isolated and incapable of decisive action. For him, the possibility of sharing love is not available. He is an isolated person describing the pain of relating to others and of miscommunication, who speaks only because he is sure no one will listen. The title is fairly misleading, for this is not a conventional love song. “His love song is the song of a being divided between passion and timidity” (Williamson 66). Prufrock seems to epitomize the frustration and lack of vigor of the contemporary man in the 1920’s. “He is the Representative Man of early Modernism. Shy, cultivated, oversensitive, sexually retarded (many have said impotent), ruminative, isolated, self-aware to the point of solipsism” (Mitchell). Eliot portrays Prufrock as a typical example of an introverted modern man who is pessimistic and neurotic. In his world, there is no such thing as a sympathetic figure, so he must be content with silent reflection, or his “song”.
There is a six- line epigraph to the poem which describes Prufrock’s ideal listener, if he had one. It is some one just as emotionally lost as he is, who will never betray to the world the content of his confessions. This, however, is not the work of T.S. Eliot, but is taken...