A Dantean Overview of Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
The inclusion of the epigraph in Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is pivotal to understanding the meaning behind Eliot’s piece. Without this epigraph taken from Dante’s Inferno, the audience’s understanding of the piece would be incomplete. Both Prufrock, Eliot’s main character in the poem, and Guido, Dante’s main character share many traits and are parallels of one another. Prufrock and Guido are victims of their own actions, self-deceiving, and reside in some type of Hell. In the eyes of critics Ron D. K. Banerjee and Frederick W. Locke, however, this “Hell” that the two reside in differs. While Banerjee believes Guido and Prufrock inhabit the same Hell and encounter the “devil of logic”, Locke argues that the two inhabit different types of Hells. To further his analysis, it can be suggested that through the texts, Guido faces a physical damnation, while Prufrock is trapped in the Hell of his own mind and is unable to escape his own anxiety.
The connection between both Dante’s Inferno and Eliot’s piece is displayed clearly in the epigraph as there are many parallels between Dante’s Guido and Eliot’s Prufrock. One connection being their relations to Hell and how their stories come into existence. Eliot’s epigraph taken from Dante’s Inferno states, “Ma perciocche giammai di questo fondo / Non torno vivo alcun, s’i’odo il vero, / Senza tema d’infamia ti rispondo” (Eliot 4-6). This translates to the idea that since no one has returned from the depths of Hell, Guido does not have to be shamed for having his story told. Locke acknowledges this in “Dante and T.S. Eliot’s Prufrock” and states, “Erroneously he [Guido] is convinced that what he will tell Dante will never be repeated, for the poet will never return to the world above to rehearse his tale” (54). This idea or comfort relates to Prufrock because the Hell that he inhabits, he does not share with another being like Eliot but rather, it is his own mind that is the depth of which he cannot return from to tell his story. Like Guido believes Dante will never return from Hell to tell his story, Prufrock believes that the audience or “you” in the text will not return from his Hell to share his story.
Banerjee agrees with this logic by Locke in “ The Dantean Overview: The Epigraph to Prufrock” and understands the connection between the two texts in that aspect. He states, “Prufrock, like Canto xxvii of Inferno, is overheard; and the private and secret world of his confession is made public” (965). This enforces the idea that not only Prufrock and Guido are connected but, the audience and Dante are as well. This connection is explored further by Locke who explains that the audience and Prufrock, while relating on a certain level, are not entirely the same. Prufrock and his audience has not reached the progression in their story that Dante and Guido has so far. Locke explains, “And yet, of course, just as Prufrock…is not Guido…so I am not Dante. I have never been to Hell…But I am there with Prufrock and together we shall make our visit, for this is Hell nor are we out of it” (57). This connection made by both critics is pertinent to the audience’s understanding that Prufrock and his “you”, the audience, are currently in his mind, enduring his “Hell”. While Locke explains this concept further, Banerjee focuses on Guido and Prufrock’s residence in Hell. Banerjee and Locke have very different opinions on this topic however.
In Banerjee’s criticism, he implies that Prufrock and Guido inhabit the same Hell due to their similar “devil”. This would undermine the belief that Prufrock’s Hell is personal and that of his mind. He states, “…the witty and logical devil of Guido’s nightmare is the devil of logic, or metaphysical pseudo-logic, who haunts Prufrock’s world…” (966). Guido’s Hell is not merely in his mind like Banerjee sates but, it is a physical damnation from not repenting his sins to the Pope. In order to say that Prufrock and Guido reside in the same “metaphorical Hell” with the same devil, one must be able to enter the mind of Guido to determine so, even if this were possible the two would not have the same “devil” in their Hell because the concerns of the two are different. Guido’s damnation is sealed as he is casted to Hell by “being enclosed in a flame.” (Locke 52) while Prufrock is actively living his Hell in his mind. Locke understands this concept as he states, “There are many Hells, and we may forget that Dante’s is not the only one” (59). While neither critic establishes blatantly that Prufrock’s Hell is one that involves his mind, it is shown throughout Eliot’s writing that Prufrock’s main issue is his inability to express himself as he is trapped in his own thoughts. Eliot writes, “There will be a time to murder and create… / Time for you and time for me / And time yet for a hundred indecisions” (29-33). This provides evidence for Locke’s assumption that Prufrock’s Hell is different from the one imagined by Dante. Guido and Prufrock should not be thought of as the same character, exploring the same depths of Hell but rather, two separate entities that give insight and meaning to one another.
Ultimately, while Prufrock and Guido share many parallels, they differ in the aspect that the Hells the two endure are very different. Prufrock’s Hell lies in his unhealthy mental state and silence as he is unable to express himself due to his overwhelming anxiety. Guido on the other hand, is punished for his fraud and must live out his existence in a physical Hell where he recounts his story to Dante to share with the world. Banerjee and Locke know that the use of the epigraph from Dante’s Inferno shows the audience the extent of Prufrock’s suffering as they are invited into his mind or “Hell”. Dante and Prufrock’s audience act as a means to spread the story of the two who never believed their stories would be told from the depths that no man comes out alive. However, just because Guido and Prufrock cannot escape their suffering does not mean that Dante and the audience cannot and this is how the stories of the two are told.
Works Cited
Banerjee, Ron D. K. The Dantean Overview: The Epigraph to "Prufrock". The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972, www.jstor.org/stable/2907793.
Locke, Frederick W. Dante and T. S. Eliot's Prufrock. The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1963, www.jstor.org/stable/3042942.
Stearns, Eliot Thomas. “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” Prufrock and Other Observations , A.A. Knopf, Aug. 2011, www.bartleby.com/198/1.html.
