Blog #2 Topic #3

In T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Eliot utilizes a variety of allusions to compare his struggles in deciding to speak to (ask out) a woman he is attracted to. The poem begins with a quote from Dante’s inferno. The setting of Dante’s inferno is in hell and the story describes the punishments and suffering that Dante saw in hell. The narrators internal state and struggles parallel the physical signs from dante’s inferno. This allusion is included to exaggerate the (mental) struggle that the narrator is going through.

Another allusion in this play is to Hesiod’s Works and Days which “includes instruction about doing each task at a proper time (Gardner 107).” Eliot used this allusion to suggest that he is unsure if it is the right time to approach the woman at the center of his attention.

In line 82, Elliot alludes to St. John the Baptist, the narrator imagines his cut off head being carried on a platter. This is significant as this act was done for the pleasure of King Herod’s wife, who instructed her daughter to request this specific act when after dancing before the king she was granted a wish of anything she wanted, up to half of Herod’s kingdom.

Considering the romantic intentions of the narrator it is unsurprising that an allusion to Marvell’s To His Coy Mistress is made. Marvel’s poem is about a man trying to seduce his shy mistress, and is essentially like a long, poetic “pick up line”. The narrator is unsure about how to approach the woman, he makes the allusion to consider if he should take a similar approach as portrayed in Marvell’s poem. Ultimately, the ideas’s presented by Marvell’s character are not put into action as the narrator has desires paralleling Marvell’s protagonist, However his gut and confidence paralleling the coy mistress. 

Towards the ending, Eliot alludes to Shakespeare's play Hamlet. Prince Hamlet’s father is murdered and his mother marries his uncle. Hamlet loves a girl named Ophelia, however Hamlet pretends to go crazy (in pursuit of truth of fathers death) and his love to Ophelia is never expressed until it is too late and it is her funeral. Both Hamlet and the narrator are controlling and not expressing their love for a girl they want to be with. Moreover, Hamlet and the narrator both know what they want and need to do, however they are both too hesitant and end up losing their opportunities.

 Furthermore in line 52, Eliot alludes to the Twelfth Night, another play by Shakespeare. Although this play has a happy ending, it’s sexual confusion and drama are often most associated with it. Eliot includes this allusion as his mental state parallels the sexual confusion and “difficult choices” portrayed in the Twelfth Night. 

A theme of Death is common in most of the allusions that Eliot includes in his poem. Dante’s inferno, The head of St. John on a platter, Lazarus coming back from the dead, and the numerous deaths in the tragedy of Hamlet all portray death. This theme of death is overshadowed by an suggestion that the narrator’s struggles are too much for him and he is wishing for the death of his feelings for the woman.