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 life aspects 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 promi-nent cornerstones in their life. Not forgetting the newly emerging movements on the political, economic and social levels around the whole Globe. Writers of this era seek to erect new notions and produce professional works that characterise their 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 actual psychological and physical being. Eliot uses stream of consciousness technique to narrate the experience of Prufrock, a poetic technique that is developed by his fellow Modernist writers. The poem is a dramatic interior monologue of a young city man, called Prufrock. He is filled with feelings of isolation and is unable to have a decisive action. Prufrock stands for modern man aspirations. Eventually, he exemplifies frustration and reflects modern man impotency, besides thwarted desires and modern fantacies. Prufrock condemns his physical and intellectual status. 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 lost mate. Prufrock suffers of complex feelings of weariness, regret, embarrassment, longing, emasculation, sexual frustration, a sense of decay, with no awareness of mortality, "Prufrock" has become one of the most recognized voices in modern literature due to his authentic image for modern man. The research paper ad-dresses the topic based on the psychoanalysis theory of Sigmund Freud. The con-cepts of self, ego and unconscious part of human psychology will be addressed, as these components show the disturbed emotions and reactions of Prufrock in regard to his daily life.