The Lack of Love in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock - Essay Example

Perhaps Prufrock sees himself in the “lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows” (Eliot 72). In this particular line, Prufrock somehow believes that men are destined to be lonely. Prufrock and these lonely men whom he sees at dusk are men who spend “restless nights [with women] in one-night cheap hotels” (6), perhaps in order to get rid of the loneliness. These lonely men, which include Prufrock, are perhaps just the same as these women, who out of their loneliness just “come and go/ Talking of Michaelangelo” (13-14).

The aforementioned line portrays them as women who never stay in any relationship as they are constantly looking for the perfect lover. Moreover, as they all look for the perfect lover in cheap hotels, these men and women either come to terms with their own loneliness, just like our very own Prufrock, or they simply just go about blindly on their way. As for Prufrock, whether it is true that he also sleeps with these women in these “one-night cheap hotels,” he somehow does not want to talk about this and therefore hides his own sentiments regarding the sexual nature of these acts.

As Prufrock is about to reveal what is going on in these cheap hotels, he hesitates and says, “To lead you to an overwhelming question…/ Oh, do not ask, ‘What is it?’” (10-11). It is obvious from this line that Prufrock is avoiding the question of what exactly is this “insidious intent” that fills the minds of these young men and women who make love in these cheap hotels. Lonely people would sometimes engage in casual sex with the opposite gender and even talk about it, but what seems to be keeping Prufrock from talking openly about these things or even just thinking about them?

The hesitation on Prufrock’s part may not only be because of loneliness but also because of an inherent insecurity in him. He himself perhaps out of his insecurity may not have had any sexual experiences with women for he could not even bring himself to think or talk about what sort of things these women do with young men in these cheap hotels. Such insecurity in Prufrock clearly stems from a lack of self love and therefore expresses itself in a very low self-esteem. According to Prufrock, after “the eyes [of women] fix [upon him] in a formulated phrase” (56), he then feels that he is “…pinned and wriggling on the wall” (58).

This means that out of insecurity he feels that the stares of women somehow make him feel very small and very much lacking when it comes to everything good. Moreover, as he says, “Then how should I begin/ To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?/ And how should I presume?” (59-61), he feels that if he begins opening himself up to these women, then he might be forced to reveal to them the “butt-ends of [his] days and ways” (60) or all the bad things about him, thus explains his insecurity and lack of love.

Even after finding himself with a woman “stretched on the floor” (78) and both of them enjoying “tea and cakes and ices” (79), Prufrock asks himself with so much insecurity, “Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,/ Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?” (79-80). In short, Prufrock is too hesitant even to make his moves on a woman during a date, perhaps because of all the