Question

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

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool.

I grow old . . . I grow old . . .
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Which sentence best analyzes the poet's use of allusion in this passage?

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

B. The speaker compares himself to "an easy tool" to illustrate how easily he can be manipulated.

C. The speaker refers to the Bible to convey the idea that people should live in the moment because life is short.

D. The speaker mentions "the Fool" to show how he realizes his own self-worth and asserts himself.

Answer 1

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

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer 2

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

Step-by-step 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.