"The love song of J. Alfred Prufrock" describes an image of the modern city marked by paralysis, alienation, decay and repression. Prufrock is a modern man who can see the superficiality of the social values ​​of middle class society, and yet has no will to break away from them and act according to his desires. He can see the potential happiness that the action would bring – the possible joy, love and companionship – but he is paralyzed and unable to take any necessary action. Prufrock criticizes modern society as a place where superficial social rituals prevail and where individuals are repressed, alienated, and detached from a meaningful existence. The poem is narrated by a character, Prufrock, who takes his audience not on a physical journey but rather into his mind, where he reveals his own desires but ultimately accepts his own indecision and paralysis. Prufrock reveals his mental vision of urban life through fragmented and juxtaposed images that mirror the fragments of the ruined city. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is written in the form of a dramatic monologue, revealing the city to the reader through the depiction of Prufrock's psyche. Prufrock invites his audience to walk with him "through certain half-deserted streets" (4) and imagines climbing the stairs of a woman fully dressed, with "a collar that reaches firmly to her chin" (42), and yet not there is textual evidence that the world he presents exists everywhere except in his imagination. The world that Prufrock presents extends only to the edges of his mind, and the city he describes is his subjective view of the world. The title of the poem deceptively suggests the potential for happiness for Prufrock, but this notion is immediately undercut by the epigraph to Dante's Inferno, where a character engulfed in flames agrees to speak of his life in hell to Dante. Likewise, Prufrock is trapped in his internal hell of alienation and enfeeblement and shares this world with his audience. The "you" that Prufrock addresses in the poem's opening line is ambiguous; it could be a woman, or the reader, or even Prufrock's alter ego. Regardless of the identity of the recipient, the line "Come on then, you and I" (1) is a true invitation to embark on a journey of introspection through Prufrock's personal hell. The poem is saturated with images of the modern world, images that reveal the alienation and decay of the modern world. The first two lines of the poem are quite romantic and recall a real love song: "Let us go then, you and I, / When the evening spreads across the sky" (1-2). However, the impossibility of the poem as a love song is established in the poem's next line, where Prufrock compares the sky not to a romantic image but rather to an "etherized patient on a table" (3). The first image is romantic and pastoral, while the second reveals a colder, more scientific image containing an unconscious figure on an operating table. The juxtaposition of these two images, from pastoral to urban, reveals the decay of the modern city into a place devoid of control and action, a place of paralysis. This image of paralysis reveals Prufrock's inability to take any action and his inability to relate to the beauty of the world. The third stanza contains more detailed characteristics about the city imagined by Prufrock. Prufrock describes the fog that descends on the city as well as the smoke, exhaust, chimneys and terraces, all of which contribute to the seedy metropolis that hosts "budget hotelsfor a night" (6) and "sawdust restaurants" (7). The "yellow fog that rubs its back on the windows" (15) and that licks "the corners of the evening with its tongue" (17) resembles a cat preparing to sleep. This image of a fog enveloping the city immediately portrays the city as oppressive and claustrophobic, but the sleeping cat also depicts the safety and comfort found in old routines that Prufrock cannot find the will to change The image of the cat is fragmented, recognizable as a cat only by its actions of licking, rubbing and sleeping. The use of the color yellow further illustrates the collapse of the city of Prufrock as yellow is the color of decay. This image adds to the impression of an ethereal atmosphere and is also very reminiscent of a dream state, which lends credibility to the idea that the city and what happens there is a projection of Prufrock's thoughts and does not exist in reality Since the seemingly ethereal cat connects to the metaphor of paralysis, the image of Prufrock as an insect further illustrates his state of anguish and inability to escape absurd social mores. He imagines himself "nailed and squirming on the wall," (58) trapped by social conventions and constantly watched by other members of society. This explains his excessive self-consciousness and concern about his appearance to others. The image of Prufrock fully clothed with “collar fastened securely to his chin” (42) also feels restrictive and further shows the ways in which social mores are restrictive and oppressive. Prufrock finds the rituals of upper-class society, a world of "tea, sweets, and ice cream" (79), completely senseless. He finds the conversation of "women [who] come and go / Michelangelo's Talikng" superficial and pretentious. Prufrock describes society in fragments of the domesticated world and his actions, if any, would interrupt, as "the cups, the jam, the tea, / Among the china" (87-88) and "the novels,...the teacups,…skirts groping along the floor” (102). In line with society's expectations, Prufrock has led an unfulfilling and controlled life: "I have measured my life by coffee spoons" (42). The image of coffee spoons captures the domestic routines that have trapped him. Although these social mores and rules of behavior are restrictive and eliminate individuality, Prufrock finds their familiarity strangely comforting and safe and cannot break away from them. Further fragmentation occurs with the people in the poem. The woman Prufrock imagines he sees is not given a face or name, but is described in terms of body parts. Prufrock's inability to describe the woman in any detail reflects his inability to confront her. By reducing her to body parts, he again avoids confrontation with her and avoids rejection. Indeed, all people in the poem are reduced to disembodied parts and actions. They are “the voices that die in a dying fall,” (52) the “faces you meet” (27), and the “hands / That lift and drop a question onto your plate” (29-30). Only Prufrock himself is presented with any kind of visual detail: "My morning coat, my collar fastened securely to my chin, / My tie rich and modest, but affirmed by a simple pin---" (42-43 ). Yet even this image of a fully clothed Prufrock is fragmented by the gaze of others into a bald patch and thin arms and legs. Prufrock is acutely self-conscious and consumed by trivial thoughts about his aged appearance: "(They'll say, 'How's his hair getting thinner!')" (41)2E This concern about his appearance to others is so high that he himself it is not exempt from reduction into a set of parts. It cannot exist in the gaze of others.