Question

Read the following lines from T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock":

Answer 1

Answer:

A. The speaker mentions Hamlet to show how he comes to terms with indecision and makes a stand.

Explanation:

In this stanza, the speaker compares himself to the characters in Hamlet. He tells us that he is not Prince Hamlet, who eventually overcomes his indecision and makes a stand. Instead, he is an "attendant." He is only useful to move the story along ("To swell a progress, start a scene or two,") and is too careful and mild to be exciting in the way Hamlet is ("Politic, cautious, and meticulous; Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;"), so much so that he can end up looking like "the Fool." The poem makes an allusion to Hamlet, as an allusion is an indirect reference to a work, place, event, person or idea from an unrelated context.