Comparing Oedipus and Prufrock Essay - 1029 Words

Everyone has at least one personal flaw that somehow overcomes or defeats them in a certain place in time. In this essay, two characters of completely different fields will be put side by side to compare their own tragic flaws. On one hand, Sophocles’ Oedipus is proud, arrogant and persistent; while on the other hand, Eliot’s Prufrock is self conscious, insecure, and indecisive. While the two characters are complete polar opposites, they also share a devastating similarity: they are paranoid and in fear of their own fate. Oedipus’ personality is clearly conveyed as having excessive pride and determination throughout the play. He first travels far from Corinth to prevent an oracle’s prediction that he would kill his father and marry his†¦show more content†¦Sophocles’ Oedipus pursues self-knowledge and at the same time resists it because it may connect him with his past (Morgenstern). He eventually finds out that he is indeed his father†™s killer and his mother’s husband. Oedipus’ tragic flaws of hubris and determination lead him to blind himself and be exiled just as he said would happen to the murderer if he was found. Unlike Oedipus, the character in T.S. Eliot’s â€Å"Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock† is timid, insecure and indecisive. Throughout the poem, Prufrock is faced with a decision to approach a woman he has developed a liking to, or remain looking out a lonely window drowning his self consciousness in an ocean of self doubt. He wants to ask her the overwhelming question, but instead he purposefully avoids the woman by having personal detour conversations with himself about his self image. The entire poem is laced with Prufrock asking himself questions. He asks â€Å"Do I dare disturb the universe?†(Eliot) as if the whole world will come crashing down if he simply talks to her. He wants to wait for the right time, but in the same thought, he knows his years are runni ng out; he mentions his bald spot and thin arms. Prufrock is so consumed with himself and how others might portray or judge him, that it is paralyzing him from social activities and gatherings. He is going through a mid life crisis that he may have brought on himself by leading an unproductive, bland life and his lack of