Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, is a dramatic monologue in which the speaker’s perpetual indecisiveness gives incite to his highly insecure nature. The speaker constantly makes decisions and then doubts himself in the decision he made. He presents himself as a very fragmented character and never offers up a fully thought out point, but rather he proposes ideas and then dismisses them quickly after his proposal. The speaker, Prufrock is continually unable to express himself: “It is impossible to say just what I mean! But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen” (104-105). Prufrock’s uncertainty about his life and his position in it is demonstrated by this quote. The description of the “magical lantern” suggests a public display of confusion of all the thoughts circulating in his head. This quote seems to give light to the fact that Prufrock is not following any real direct path, and therefore, he has definite trouble in finding meaning and purpose in all aspects of his life.
I totally agree with what you are saying Asia. Prufrock is very indecisive and cannot seem to make up his mind so this quote clearly exemplifies that. I feel like he makes an attempt to express himself and then he doubts what he says so he totally contradicts himself. He definitely needs a magic lamp to understand himself and look within himself.
ReplyDeleteAsia, I found your analysis to be very enlightening. I did not even pay too much attention to that line in the poem, and your in depth analysis has given me another outlook and opinion! Your analysis of the "magical lantern" is pretty eye-opening and suggests a great point that it reveals "a public display of confusion of all the thought circulating any real direct path." WELL DONE!
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