TS Eliot's poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is inhabited by both a world and a richly developed character and you are able to classify the spaces in “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” to match Prufrock's mind. Eliot uses the architecture of the three places described in the text to explore parts of Prufrock's mind in the Freudian categories of id, ego, and superego; the city described becomes the Ego, the room in which he meets women his Id and the imagined ocean sweeps his Super Ego. Eliot is vague in suggesting Prufrock's audience, referring only once to the listener using "you and I"; 1) however, analyzing Eliot's intertextual inclusion of the passage from Dante's Inferno and the character of Prufock, we can hypothesize that the listener is Prufrock himself, and one step further, that it is an internal debate and mental. The passage from Dante's Inferno serves as a chilling introduction to Prufrock's mind: "If I thought to answer anyone who could ever return to the world, this flame would be still; but as no one has returned alive from this abyss, if what I hear is true, I answer without fear of bad reputation." (QUOTE) This quote suggests that Prufrock is telling his traveling companion the most intimate details of his existence; that what is said in the poem is said in all truth. However, there is no suggestion in the poem that Prufrock's character would feel comfortable committing to someone, let alone telling them about his greatest flaws and fears. It seems very unlikely that the "I" referred to in the poem is another person, and equally unlikely that Prufrock said those words out loud. Worried that his smallest actions and mu...... middle of paper ......], and [he] will drown[no].”(131)Classifying “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” as a symbolic exploration of Prufrock's id, ego, and superego, a deep and complex character is revealed. With constant tension, the Id seems to push Prufrock towards a conversation with a woman, while the Ego tempts to satiate these desires and remain in limbo without making decisions about anything important. The superego moderates this hostility and causes Prufrock to remain in his indecision. T. S. Eliot's pessimistic poetry serves as an encouragement to exploit the opportunity and find the question. Eliot, T.S. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." : Thomson Nelson, 2006. 225-230.