【Abstract】Prufrock in the poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a split character with timidity and hesitation， who wanders around salvation and temptation. This paper tries to analyze his paradoxical psychology with the analysis of the poem.
　　【Key Worlds】Prufrock， salvation， temptation， psychology
　　“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a very famous poem written by the prominent American writer T. S. Eliot. This poem is a dramatic monologue of the main character J. Alfred Prufrock. Using his own eyes and ears， Prufrock depicts a picture of the society， which has already been corrupted and degraded. From his words， it can be seen very clearly that on the one hand， he wants to change the situation of the society， that is to say， he intends to save the dying world； on the other hand， he is also tempted by those women， by sexuality. When he thinks of the erotic society， he intends to use his voice to wake people. However， he denies it very soon， because he considers those women， and he also wants to flow with the main stream of society. In this way， Prufrock wanders and wanders around salvation and temptation without making decisions. This paper will analyze his paradoxical psychology in details.
　　The opening stanza of the poem is an epigraph from Dante’s Inferno. This indicates that Prufrock finds an ideal listener who will never betray to the world the content of his present confession and it also implies the society that they are going to visit is just like the hell. The word “ etherized” describes the general situation of the world. The first thing they see and hear is “women”， who tempt Prufrock. Then he uses several images to describe the society： “the yellow fog”， “the yellow smoke”， “the pools”， “the soot”， “terrace” and “a sudden leap”. These sexual images show that the whole society is filled by the people’s sexual desire and sexual actions. The fog and smoke is like a cat fired by sexual desire， which “licked its tongue into the corners of the evening”. In the next stanza， Prufrock says， “there will be time…” and “Time for you and time for me， / And time yet for a hundred indecision， / And for a hundred visions and revisions”. He has already been very tired of the phenomenon of the society， but until now he refuses to make his decision to save the world because he thinks， “there will be time”. He thinks of the temptation—those women again. “In the room the women come and go / Talking of Michelangelo”. It seems very tedious for the women to talk about Michelangelo， the great artist， who paints a lot of male figures， full of muscles and very masculine， such as David. The strong male figures remind Prufrock of his own physical situation： bold and thin， so he hesitates and wanders again.