The Love Song of J.

Alfred Prufrock as
DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE

Eliots Love Song of Prufrock is one of the finest examples of dramatic

monologue in the history of English poetry. To know it clearly, we should firstly
understand the term dramatic monologue. A MONOLOGUE IS A LONG
SPEECH BY A SINGLE PERSON AND DRAMATIC MEANS CONVERSATIONAL
LANGUAGE OF A CHARACTER IN A PLAY THAT UTTERS A MONOLOGUE
EXPRESSING HIS OR HER PRIVATE THOUGHTS. A dramatic monologue is not an
element in a play but a type of lyric poem. It was perfected by Robert
Browning. The features of dramatic monologue includes a single speaker, who
is patently not the poet, uttering the entire poem in a specific situation at a
crucial moment, the speaker addresses and interacts with one or more people
and of what the lyric speaker says is the speakers unintentional revelation of
his or her temperament and character.

The poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, is actually the lament of a being
divided between passion and timidity. It is an interior monologue where
Prufrock, the protagonist speaks to himself in a kind of daydream. It opens
with a command to the self (you) to accompany the physical him (I) to a distant
room. Literally, the I and you of the poem are not two persons but rather
two aspects of the same person the public personality and the ego. In
addition to contributing to the effect of monologue, the use of the pronouns
creates the impression of a man talking to himself in the mirror. When we hear
the very first line, Let us go then, you and I; it seems to us that we are to
watch a dialogue based poem.

Conforming to the features of dramatic monologue, Prufrock, the speaker

speaks to himself in a critical moment that is to propose love to a lady
revealing his own self. The you of the poem is instructed not to ask What is
it? but to go and make visit. The visit suggests the decorous quality of
Prufrocks personality.
 The most significant characteristic of a dramatic monologue is the unconscious
revelation of the speaker. The speaker, Prufrock, wishes to be in love with a
lady and at the same time his present physical condition does not support him
to declare love to the lady. In this situation, he tells himself many things. And
unintentionally, he reveals his temperament and character. He says:

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window panes.

Here we see that Prufrock imagines himself as a cat. The image of fog as cat
reminds us another reflection of his mental state: desire, which ends in inertia.
If the cat suggests sex, it also suggests the greater desire of inactivity.

The poem is a speech of Prufrock who cant decide what to do especially on his
way towards love. Though it is not clear with who the speaker is in love, hence
it is not so important to mention any particular lady. It might be anyone of his
known. It appears before us that the speaker is a middle aged bachelor. He
wants to make love with a lady; though he is, simultaneously conscious of his
being a little bit impotent. This is the matter that makes him indecisive. He says
to himself:

There will be time, there will be time

To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet

There will be time to murder and create.

The phrase to murder and create expresses the mental impression of the
speaker. He thinks that time will come to him to murder his indecision and to
create the new one i.e. the love proposal to his lady love. Prufrocks
destination is also vague. We find him making up his mind to go to a room
where Women come and go/ Talking to Michelangelo.

In the next stanza, the speaker again steps backward thinking of his physical
disabilities to be loved. He realizes that he is now a man with a bald spot in
the middle of my hair. He describes his morning coat, his collar, his neck tie
rich and modest, but simultaneously recognizes that the women may
comment on the thinness of his arms and legs. He, even, imagines that his step
toward proposing a lady will be a disturbing element to the society which is
reflected in the line:
 Do I dare

Disturb the universe?

The speaker is in such a state that he is pinned and wriggling on the wall. He
also measures out his life with coffee spoons. He says that he is no prophet
and heres no great matter. Prufrock does not see any great or sacred work
for him to do in this world. He is in a fix what to do. He says:

It is impossible to say just what I mean.

The poem, then, again turns to a note of decision. He is not prince Hamlet,
though indecision might suggest it; rather cautious attendant. But, later, the
long, heavy sounds of weariness are heard in the line I grow oldI grow
old.

In the last section of the poem, the speaker mentions of sea, mermaids
singing waves etc. this watery, floating imagery involves the relaxation of all
effort and offers a submerged fulfilment. It is ended when human voices wake
us, and we drown- with the intrusion of reality which drowns the inner life
Prufrock.

Hence concluding we may say that The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock is a
significant dramatic monologue. According to the style of a dramatic
monologue the speaker of the poem speaks to himself and interacts in a
critical situation that reveals his character as well. Thus we may call the poem a
successful dramatic monologue.

Sonali

MA-1 (SECTION-B)

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