“Modern Man Image in T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”,
Abstract
The twentieth century period witness a deep change that swept all the lifeaspects due to WWI and WWII and their huge outcomes on modern man. Thus,the cultural environment is figured based on the de facto status of modern life.People are drastically affected by modern values and trends that became prominentcornerstones in their life. Not forgetting the newly emerging movements onthe political, economic and social levels around the whole Globe. Writers of thisera seek to erect new notions and produce professional works that characterisetheir time and reflect their high tide aspirations. T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) via his“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” tries to show modern man in his actualpsychological and physical being. Eliot uses stream of consciousness techniqueto narrate the experience of Prufrock, a poetic technique that is developed by hisfellow Modernist writers. The poem is a dramatic interior monologue of a youngcity man, called Prufrock. He is filled with feelings of isolation and is unable tohave a decisive action. Prufrock stands for modern man aspirations. Eventually,he exemplifies frustration and reflects modern man impotency, besides thwarteddesires and modern fantacies. Prufrock condemns his physical and intellectualstatus. He laments the lost opportunities in his life and his sheer spiritual vacancy.Love for Prufrock is haunted by unattainable dreams and no advent for the lostmate. Prufrock suffers of complex feelings of weariness, regret, embarrassment,longing, emasculation, sexual frustration, a sense of decay, with no awareness ofmortality, “Prufrock” has become one of the most recognized voices in modernliterature due to his authentic image for modern man. The research paper addressesthe topic based on the psychoanalysis theory of Sigmund Freud. The conceptsof self, ego and unconscious part of human psychology will be addressed,as these components show the disturbed emotions and reactions of Prufrock inregard to his daily life.
