Intertextuality among Hamlet and The Love Song of Alfred Prufrock

The Hollowest In the End

Characters tend to add literary value through their personalities. Eliot manages to specifically describe his character J. Alfred Prufrock through an intertextual comparison to Shakespeare’s Hamlet. By calling out on a popular tragic hero, Eliot makes Prufrock easy for the readers to judge and understand him. Both Hamlet and Prufrock share parallel characteristics revolving around incompetence, fear of standing against society, and most importantly indecisiveness.

Both of these tormented characters evaluate themselves as incompetent beings. Prufrock claims to have measured his “life in coffee spoons” (51) hinting his pessimistic thought of a meaningless existence.  In Act IV Hamlet demands more of himself by wanting his thoughts to be bloody. However, he is aware that violent thoughts go against his nature.  Their low self-esteem encourages them to think that they are not capable of fulfilling their desire; this is why they keep on procrastinating. Hamlet accomplishes his murdering deed until the last minute. Nevertheless, worrying on what others think of him stops Prufrock from achieving his goal.

Society’s cynical judgment has made it hard for people to express themselves as individuals.  Prufrock is threatened the most by society’s judgment. Scared of acting out of his regular routine, he questions himself by saying “Do I dare disturb the universe?” (46).  Hamlet has suicidal thoughts by thinking that “to die, -to sleep-no more- and by a sleep” (68) he will end all troubles. This directly implies society’s judgment by labeling him with madness. Although he fears the consequences that murdering Claudius would bring, Hamlet expresses his madness openly with the soul purpose of relieving his grief. Prufrock is more aware of the labels and intends on pushing them away by hiding his personality. 

Indecision is a predominating trait in both Hamlet and Prufrock. It plagues Hamlet from the first ghost apparition. He questions whether it is better “To be, or not to be”(64), dead, or killing Claudius. In Act III, scene 3 he has the chance to kill Claudius but his indecision on whether or not it would send the king to heaven stops him.  Prufrock wonders “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?” to act upon his will and assume the consequences. He also inquires “And should I then presume? And how should I begin?” (68-69) being unsure on how to act.  All of this questioning slowly leads them to a worst ending than the consequences by themselves would create.  Hamlet faces a disastrous finale where more lives than intended are avenged. Prufrock’s indecision leads him to regret and eventually an empty death.

In the end, Prufrock proves to be hollower than Hamlet. The man claims that he is “not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be” but “an attendant lord.”(111-112) Hamlet at least died as a tragic hero and had people`s attention. Prufrock demonstrates that he underestimates himself more than Hamlet by neglecting an important role in life. He hides his individuality  by ranking himself under others and reassuring his incompetence. Finally, unlike Hamlet who at least killed Claudius, Prufrock does not complete his goal of taking risks and opportunities. This degrades him to a more pathetic level because despite of his weaknesses, he does not attempt to give his life significance at all .