Representation of Appearance and Identity Crisis in T.S Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”

Thomas Stearns Eliot, who is widely known as T. S. Eliot, is an American-born British essayist, publisher, playwright, literary and social critic and one of the twentieth century's major poets.  “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is one of the most provocative and  important works of T. S. Eliot, which was composed in February 1910, and was first published in “A Magazine of Verse” at the instigation of Ezra Pound (1885–1972).  Prufrock is the protagonist of the poem who unable to encounter the fragmented images and the voice that Prufrock feels “cannot exist in the gaze of the other”. Bellour Leila(22-24) argues that gender is constructed by the society and Prufrock lacks the characteristics of that of defined gender of the society. Prufrock’s self is fragmented, which is a clear crisis to his identity and thoughts. This fragmented self also makes him think that his image or physical appearance is unattractive and indicates his lack of self-esteem and self respect. On the other hand, Luis Alberto Lazaro Lafuente addresses Prufrock’s fragmented identity which gets exposed in the poem. Brandon Colas has delineated regarding Prufrock’s identity crisis and his appearance which are considered as barriers of Prufrock to lead a normal life.

On the surface level, it seems that the poet is singing the sad song of a modern isolated, frustrated, impotent, socially insignificant, and disgusted person but deep inside the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” reveals Prufrock’s dissatisfaction with his appearance and throws light into the tortured psyche of a man struggling with his self image. However, this paper delves into the protagonist’s perception about his own appearance, as well as his identity crisis which are greatly responsible for his frustration, anxiety, and trivialness. For this, this paper looks at Prufrock through the lens of ‘Gaze Theory’ of Foucoult and Lacan who argue that a person’s identity is being constructed by the society. If any person fails to conform to the requirements of the society, he may face unrealistic anxiety. According to them, gaze is always considered as voyeuristic which always keeps ones under observation and demands to fulfill the norms and values of the society.  Moreover, in gaze theory “I” is always judged through the lens of “others” instead of the self which always demands the ideal or complete image of the being.

“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a modern and symbolist poem which expounds the narrator’s stream of consciousness in a fragmented fashion and his random thoughts are being explored by the structure of the poem. The poem's structure was heavily determined by Eliot's extensive reading of Dante Alighieri and makes several references to the Bible and other literary works. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is a narrative poem which represents a moment in the life of the title character. It opens with an epigraph from Canto 27 of Dante’s Inferno, which consists of six lines in the original Italian.  In this poem, Eliot sketches a modern man who is overeducated, eloquent, neurotic, and emotionally stilted. If we examine this poem on the surface level, we can say that the poem illustrates the idea of a sexually frustrated middle-aged man who wants to say something but is scared to do so, and eventually does not.

Then, in the poem, we observe that Prufrock embodies a frustrated man who is isolated from his imagination and is precipitated for imaginative salvation. Prufrock is the unheroic hero whose identity is caught between the inner and outer world and his self appearance does not go with the stereotypical masculinity of the society; thus these things have injected the perception in his mind about insignificance or trivialness in the society. He is leading his life with futile gestures and predictable encounters. Prufrock’s disagreement and disappointment with his surroundings are being depicted in the poem.  Prufrock is an image representing the cultural dissolution and moral deterioration. Prufrock knows that he cannot be the hero of anyone’s story; he cannot be Hamlet (despite Hamlet’s similar bouts of indecision). He is only a bit player, even a fool. He imagines himself growing old, unchanged, worrying about his health and the “risks” of eating a peach. Still, he dimly hears the mermaids of romance singing in his imagination, even though they are not singing to him. In a final imagined vision, he sees these nymphs of the sea, free and beautiful, calling him.  However, in reality, he intrudes in the form of “human voices,” perhaps those of the art-chattering women, and he is “drowned” in his unfilled life.

 Eliot finished composing the poem that was originally published sometime in July and August 1911 at the age of 22. In 1912, Eliot revised the poem and included a 38-line section now called "Prufrock's Pervigilium" which was inserted on those blank pages and intended as a middle section for the poem. However, Eliot removed this section soon after getting advice from his fellow Harvard associate and poet Conrad Aiken. This section would not be included in the original publication of Eliot's poem. This section would not be included in the original publication of Eliot's poem but was included when published posthumously in the 1996 collection of Eliot's early, unpublished drafts in Inventions of the March Hare: Poems 1909–1917. However, later Eliot published the poem in the Chicago magazine Poetry in June 1915, "Prufrock" with the help of his buddy Ezra Pound. In 1917 the poem was published as part of a small book called “Prufrock and Other Observations.”

If we closely examine the paper we can see Prufrock’s “quest for gender identity especially that he inhabits a world where patriarchy is on the wane” ( Leila-7) and  his “dissociation of sensibility or a split of mind and body.” (Leila- 9). Henry Krips in his paper clarifies that gaze is deeply rooted in the ‘concrete object’. A person’s identity is determined by the society and if any person cannot fulfill the requirements of the society, it brings “unrealistic anxiety” (according to Freud) in him. According to Lacan, sometimes ‘I’ faces resistance from the unanimous other. People or the overall society is considered as a mirror which determines one’s identity and it also creates anxiety in the mind. Gaze also demands to look at the self not through the lens of the “I” but through the lens of the “other” It always demands the ideal or complete image of the individual in the society. Lacovetti in his paper claims that “Prufrock (like Heyman) faces the reality that his identity is determined more by externally symbolic actions than by anything in his internal constitution or character”(5).

 In “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, we observe that “Prufrock is caught between identities; one which he is obliged by the society to perform; other he wishes to perform, and these conflicting ideas are the reasons of his paralysis. As pointed out Suzanne Churchill points in her essay “Outing T.S. Eliot”, “Eliot emerges in his letters as a psychosexually conflicted man, torn and tormented by conventional demands of masculinity...” therefore it is in his writings his characters are failing to perform conventional needs/demands of masculinity”(Baghira, 2261). Baghira also emphasizes, “Prufrock caught in conflict between the social demand and his internalized feeling about his own identity. We found his reluctance in performing certain stereotypical gender roles set by the society and this inability in his ‘performance’ casts him outside the society.”(Baghira, 2260). He also talks about the use of pronouns “you” and “I” in the poem through stressing on transgendered and two identities of Prufrock. The pronoun “you” and “I” might mean two gender identities within him, the female and the male” (Baghira, 2262). Lafuente(161) also questions regarding the use of pronoun “You” and “I” in the first line. The reader immediately wonders who these people are and where they are going. It is obvious that the "I" is the speaker, and according to the title his ñame is Prufrock; but what about the other person? If we think of the title again, the "you" could be a lady; but the epigraph would suggest a different type of person”. Prufrock fears that his “his true self will be reavealed to the ladies at the tea party that he is about to attend”. Prufrock is a character who is being paralyzed and anticipating for the total image , Leila in her article depicts Robert McNamara’s  argument, “Prufrock suffers from self-fragmentation and that his “paralysis [is] a result, in large part, of his desire for a totalizing image of himself.”(7).  According to Leila the “You”, whom the readesr presume to be Prufrock’s companion, disappears after line 12 because it is a mere fragment of his shattered self(9).

 Moreover, prufrock is a character who is aware of his physical appearance. He is afraid that women won't find him attractive because he is thin and balding. He is ashamed of his personal appearance and looks towards social advancement as a way to assure himself and those around him of his worth and establish who he is.  Regarding this, Leila in her article says, “He is afraid that his image is unattractive, and hence, of what others might say or think of him. He starts imagining women’s acerbic comments on his physical appearance.”(39). Prufrock is afraid of being mocked because of the thinness of his body, which indicates his lack of masculine vigor; “They will say but how his arms and legs are thin!”(40) (15) and thus Prufrock “is suffering from certain type of inferiority concerning his age and ‘thwarted masculinity” Temple also claims that “ Prufrock imagines them obsessed with his physical appearance cattily gossiping”. Prufrock’s struggle regarding his identity and his perception regarding his appearance are the vital reasons for his suffering, alienation, paralysis, anxiety, and lack of self esteem and respect. Prufrock’s anxiety throughout the poem is essentially bound up with his notion of himself, his identity, and his social significance.

Furthermore, “The Love song” is not really a love song though love is the underlying theme. It records the identity crisis, perception of the self appearance, frustration, indecision, hesitation, and   alienation. The poem is rather psychological intended to dissect the suppressed feelings of Prufrock. However, we know that our identity is being constructed and defined by the external sources or others. In the stereotypical society, if a man failed to perform his stereotypical masculine roles, he is considered as the ‘other’ in the society. And this failure of any individual “can contribute to a self-centered anxiety about his identity. This anxiety, in turn, is transformed into an experience of being externally scrutinized – an anonymous look from elsewhere by an invisible other before whom the young Lacan is reduced to anxiety and shame.” (Krips-93).  Prufrock is a character who is aware of his fluidity of his masculinity that is necessary to establish any romantic relationship in the society. He wanders in the street in search for a romantic relationship but he knows that it is quite impossible since he does not have the sexual virility and the masculine appearance. These things make him suffer from neurotic anxiety and thus he is delaying to give a proposal for a romantic relationship;

                                      “Time for you and time for me,

                                       And time yet for a hundred indecisions,

                                     And for a hundred visions and revisions …”

                                                                                      (The Love song, Lines 31-33)

Prufrock craves for establishing a romantic relationship but after sometimes he returns to the reality which shatters his desire for romanticism since he knows that he is unable to conquer his “inner inadequacies and inhibitions and probe into the physical and corporeal world of the Other.” (Leila-14). He is suffering from the dismemberment which is a barrier to express his feelings to the outer world. Moreover, he does not have the courage to confront society.

In fact, the protagonist of the poem “The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock” is being portrayed as a modern man who has a split or fragmented personality. If we closely examine the poem, we find that Prufrock’s identity is torn between two identities, one which is being demanded by the society and the other he desires to perform. In this regard, Baghira refers to Suzanne Churchill’s essay titled “Outing T.S. Eliot”,“Eliot emerges in his letters as a psychosexually conflicted man, torn and tormented by conventional demands of masculinity... therefore it is…… in his writings his characters are failing to perform conventional needs/demands of masculinity.”(2261) Prufrock is unable and reluctant to perform certain gender roles which are being constructed by the society, thus these inabilities make him an ostracized in the society. He is scared of the society and people which are being reflected in his questions:  

                                         “Do I dare

                                         Disturb the universe?”

                                                              (The Love song, Lines 38-39)

Hence, he thinks that he will offend the globe by his failure to perform his masculine role constructed by the society. According to Leila, “Despite many endeavors, Prufrock fails to act his masculine role. His question “Shall I disturb the universe?” does not only indicate his inability to perform his conventional and traditional role, which is masculine. It also suggests an unconventional homoerotic love” ( Leila, 23). It might be the reason that his homosexual desire might come as a shock to the world. The society is never going to accept his homosexual identity or desire and it is the cause of “homo sexual panic” of Prufrock. There are number of references where we see Prufrock’s ‘homo-sexual panic’. The repetition of the phrases, “In the room the women come and go / Talking of Michelangelo” is very indicative regarding this matter. The phrase Michelangelo may be referring to his sexuality. Baghira in his paper refers to Rictor regarding this argument who argues that “Michelangelo had a reputation for homosexuality among his contemporaries.” (2265) Thus Baghira claims that “Talking of Michelangelo” might also mean his sexuality and Prufrock is suffering from the panic of him being identified by the society as a person who desires same sex love (2264).

                          

 Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets               

                            And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes 

                           Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows?

                                                              (The Love song, Lines 70-72)

 These above lines may indicate that Prufrock likes the ‘men in shirtsleeves’ and craves to unite with them  physically. Prufrock is being trapped between homosexuality and heterosexual craving and these two conflicting desires are the reasons for shattering his unified self. Prufrock tries to prove his masculinity by wearing dresses like a man. In the poem, we observe his description regarding “morning coat, (his) collar mounting firmly to the chin,  necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin” . But Judith Butler argues that a man does not have the manly characteristics through only the ‘speech’ and ‘acts’; bodily acts or masculine essence are being required to establish masculine identity which Prufrock lacks(Leila,23-24). Prufrock dresses like a man but he aspires to dress like a woman. If we look at Prufrock through the lens of transgendered identity, it can be perceived through his description of the women “Arms that are braceleted and white and bare” and “…the mermaids singing each to each” is not indicating his longing them sexually rather he is craving for their sexuality. Prufrock speaks regarding ‘“skirts that trail along the floor.”(85) which points out the conflict between the inner psychological aspiration and outer world’s expectation. Butler considers this type of attitude as “fluid and precarious nature of gender". She claims that “In imitating gender, drag implicitly reveals the imitative structure of gender itself-as well as its contingency.”(87) Prufrock asks, “Shall I part my hair behind?”(88), thus Prufrock is referring to his feminine identity. He finds it difficult to perform the masculine role in the society even he is not able to confess it because of the social restrictions of the society.

In addition, if we consider the use of pronouns “You” and “I” in the first line of the poem, we find that the poet introduces these two pronouns at a point in a debate at which the subjective “I” is surrendering to the more objective “You” agreeing to go somewhere.  However, the pronouns “You” and “I” might indicate two gender identities within him, the male and the female. According to Butler, “homosexuality with the image of a man pursuing or being pursued by his double.”(75)(Leila,22). So, we can say that Prufrock’s fascination with his self-image and his disaffiliated self are being impersonated by his double and the use of the pronoun “You” in the opening line can be defined in terms of homoeroticism. Even, Prufrock is confused regarding his identity. In Dante’s Inferno, Guido da Montefeltro, a corrupt Franciscan identifies himself to Dante, on the basis of his self-revelation on self-confidence that no one else will find out his identity. Montefeltro will provisionally answer the question, "Who are you?" but to this " devastating question," Prufrock will only snap,

                                 “Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”

                                                 (The Love song, Line-11)

Prufrock’s dual identities can be further clarified by the following line;

                             “There will be time to murder and create,”
                                                  (The Love song, Line 28)

After all, Prufrock is a transgendered individual who is torn between binary identities and he has to ‘murder’ or suppress one in order to subscribe or ‘create’ another. We know that transgendered people face huge social pressure in the society. In our society it is considered as the “fluidity in the performance of the gender role” (Baghira, 2258) Being scared of the society, transgendered people always try to hide their identity.

           Furthermore, Prufrock is a character who is in quest of acceptable gender identity which he lacks. He confesses that he is not Hamlet or John the Baptist since none of these societal identical roles suit him. He proclaims that;

                         “No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;”
                                          (Love song, Line 111)

Under these circumstances, Prufrock is unable to approach for his love interest like the vigorous figure of Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. He also believes that he cannot be compared to Lazarus who is a man of miracle; that is why Prufrock   divulges;

                          “To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead,

                           Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”—

                           If one, settling a pillow by her head

                          Should say: “That is not what I meant at all;

                          That is not it, at all.”
                                                 (The Love song, Lines 94-98)

Regarding Prufrock’s reluctant to compare himself to the vigorous figures, George Temple indicates, “Prufrock’s inability to express himself to women follows as a direct consequence of his consistent identity-relation to the masculine symbols of his literary history, prescribing a set of tropes he constantly compares himself to.”  He is ashamed of his personal appearance which is not masculine in form and compares himself to the different masculine figures as a way to assure himself and those around him of his worth and establish who he is.

 In “The Love Song”, we see that Prufrock’s perception regarding his physical appearance is another cause of his anxiety. He is not only obsessed with his physical appearance but also ashamed of his personal appearance and looks towards social advancement as a way to assure himself and those around him worth and establish who he is. Prufrock thinks;

                          With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—                   

                          (They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)     

                          My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,   

                          My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin—          

                         (They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)

                                                                         (The Love song, Lines 40-44)

Consequently, Prufrock is afraid of being exposed in the tea party; he thinks that the ladies at the tea party will gossips about his thin hair which is the sign of his unimpressive mind and about his thin arms and legs which symbolize an unimpressive body. He knows that he does not have the macho physique which is required by the society. Thus, his dissatisfaction regarding his physical appearance is also the cause of his anxiety. Henry Krips refers to Lacan in this regard; “This anxiety, in turn, is transformed into an experience of being externally scrutinized – an anonymous look from elsewhere by an invisible other before whom the young Lacan is reduced to anxiety and shame.” (93). Prufrock thinks that the women are also obsessed with his physical appearance and they are gossiping regarding his physical appearance. Prufrock’s anxiety regarding the look of others at him is known as ‘gaze’ regarding which Lacan claims “is presented to us only in the form of a strange contingency, symbolic of...the lack that constitutes castration anxiety…It surprises [the viewer]…disturbs him and re-duces him to a feeling of shame” (Lacan 1981: 96, 72–73, 84) (quoted in Krips, 93).  Prufrock contemplates about his physique and thus his mind is being affected by his thought. He is afraid of his self image which is unattractive (according to Prufrock). He fears the judgment of others which leads him think of being rejected and injects the thought of his inferiority.  If we look at the phrase ‘dying fall’, we understand that it seems that they are talking to each other, but commenting on him. This is further apparent by the following line:

                                              “I know the voices”

                                              (The Love song, Line 52)

This line implies that he knows it well that they are talking about his unattractive physical appearance. Prufrock is dissatisfied about his physique which is an evidence of an underlying lack of self-confidence.

Prufrock even compares his life with a ‘coffee spoon’ and he imagines himself as an insect which clarify his lack of self-esteem and self-respect. Prufrock is terrified by the ‘gaze’ of the women. Throughout the poem we observe that Prufrock is afraid of all the “eyes” of the society since of his unattractive physique and binary identities.  He knows that the society is not going to accept the fluidity in his masculine physique and binary identities. 

                            “The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase

                            And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,

                            When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
                                                                           (The Love song, Lines 56-58)

His physical appearance and identity crisis make Prufrock think that he is inferior compared to others.  This inferiority complex comes into Prufrock’s sub-conscious or conscious mind, when he finds himself as a person of confusing identity, devoid of sexual virility, and unattractive physical appearance which are being disesteemed by the  ‘others’ or the society.

In this paper, I have tried to show the causes of Prufrock’s sufferings which are ramifications of his gender identity, his lack of sexual virility, and his assumption regarding unattractive physical appearance. He aspires to perform the stereotypical masculine role in the society but he cannot do so for his bifurcated gender identity (both masculine and feminine) and for his imperfect physique structure which are essential for a man to prove his masculinity. It is society which ascribes identities to the individual and also determines the ideal masculine physique in the society; fluidity of those assigned identities and imperfection of the physique are considered as a threat to the power structure.  Prufrock cannot express his feelings and thoughts to the ‘others’ (society) since he knows it well that he is not John the Baptist who was murdered since he had the intrepidity to reveal the truth that he was living corruptly. He died because of his courage to speak the truth. But, Prufrock imagines that disclosing his true self to others would kill him, so he will not. He is  being entrapped within the designated identity and ideal masculine physique of the society which are obviously the reasons of his anxiety and alienation. He even does not have the idea how to change it. As a result, Prufrock's "The Love Song" could only be sung to him by human voices that would wake his divided self to drown in the sea of his own emotions.

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