How does Eliot address modern life in Prufrock?

The above post is quite good, still I would like to add a
few lines.

Thomas Stearns Eliot's Prufrock is a perfect
representative of the modern human.

Yes, the speaker in
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" is much in the "to be or not to be" position. But,
he considers his state worse than that of Hamlet. He thinks, Hamlet could at least
succeed in fulfilling his aim at the end. But he is more like Polonius - coward,
passive, and spineless - who is more comfortable with the oblivion: "Am an
attendant lord, .../ Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse/ At times, indeed, almost
ridiculous- / Almost, at times, the
Fool".

Prufrock, in this modern world, feels
very secluded, isolated, and alienated, not fit for this world at all. He can not adjust
himself with the society around. Modern people seem to be pretentious, and their boring,
endless arguments on nonsense topics make him more frustrated: "Streets
that follow like a tedious argument/ Of insidious intent.../ Oh, do not ask, "What is
it?"/Let us go and make our visit". Women around him are just fake,
though, they show off a lot: "In the room the women come and go/ Talking
about Michelangelo".

He gets more depressed
like Tiresias in The Waste land, since immoral acts have enveloped
the modern world. There is hardly truth and beauty in relationships; there prevails
mostly perverted sexuality. The images like "yellow smoke"
and the metaphorical reference to cat in the 3rd stanza
stands for the perverted sexuality and lust.

He gets
confused under such a circumstance where there are pretentiousness, dishonesty,
immorality and lack of love. He scares to propose the lady he loves because of the fear
of being rejected. He knows that, appearance is everything in today's world, the reality
does not matter that much. So, he is concerned about his look which is just
unimpressive: "With a bald spot in the middle of my hair-/ They will
say.../ Do I dare/ Disturb the universe?". Thus, he feels more
lonely.

Prufrock is exhausted because of the feeling of
nothingness in his life. He does not find any meaning of his existence. He has no
individual identity in this modern world: "I have measured out my life
with coffee spoons". That is why, he feels more comfortable while he is
in oblivion. But, the reality does not allow him to escape, and at the end, he has to
wake up and endure the pain: "We have lingered in the chambers of the sea/
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown/ Till human voices wake us, and we
drown".

Eliot's Prufrock, being a modern man
who is far more romantic and anti-modern, clearly defines the vital problems of the
modern age. And, thus, the poem becomes a wonderful instance of those few literary works
which directly deal with the modern life.