Symbol Analysis
Prufrock spends much of the poem acting like the notoriously indecisive Hamlet. But, in the end, he decides that even indecision is too decisive for him. No, he’s more like an assistant to a lord – a guy who does nothing but follow orders and generally acts like a tool.
- Lines 111-119: In this important metaphor, Prufrock likens himself to Prince Hamlet, the title character from Shakespeare’s most famous play. But then he decides he’s actually more of an "attendant lord" who could be confused for a fool, which we think is an allusion to Polonius, the father of the character Ophelia in the same play.