English CPT

              This blog is called Insanity. I felt that the common theme between Hamlet, Death of a Salesman, and the poem The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock was very insane and controlling. Hamlet, Willy, and J. Alfred Prufrock were very controlling men and were incredibly obsessed with themselves or some other person in their life. All of these characters had the same characteristics by being depressed all the time, always alone and nothing to do with their life, being confused, and wouldn’t know what to do or handle any situations. Hamlet had his obsession with Ophelia and would never leave her alone. Hamlet loved Ophelia so much but he expressed his love towards her in a really weird way. Hamlet was always very aggressive with Ophelia and controlled her life and did what he thought was best for her. In Death of a Salesman, Willy was also very controlling, confused what to do with his life, and depressed. Willy said he was always lonely because when he went for his trips he would be by himself. Willy was driven to do big things in his life, like owning his own company, making his son a star football player, and to be rich. Being rich for Willy was the one thing he wanted in his life, but getting older for Willy wasn’t helping his success or his dream to come true. Willy’s dementia made him do crazy things, like yelling at his wife Linda who has only helped Willy with his life and showed him there is more than just money, having all this anger towards his son Biff because he had left Willy and didn’t go into the business industry with him, and also when Willy went on his trips he would cheat on Linda with a woman from the hotel and buy brand new stockings for her, but not for his wife. Willy’s mind would make him go crazy and instead of keeping life simple and just work with his family friend Charlie who would give Willy a job and make a good amount of money, he would deny Charlie multiple times because deep down Willy was embarrassed that he could not do it on his own. In the Love Song of  J. Alfred, Prufrock seems to be addressing his potential lover who he would want to spend the rest of his life with. But Prufrock is confused whether if he wants a relationship or not because he hears comments from other people about him and being a relationship; so Prufrock is now having second thoughts if he could ever love someone and most importantly if someone would love him back. This brings Prufrock with his obsession over women because in reality he does not know if he could find someone to be with. So he imagines himself with a woman and being in her arms, to a series of oceans images where emotional distance from the world as he comes to recognize his second-rate status (“I am not Prince Hamlet’). Prufrock says he knows he is not Prince Hamlet and he was never meant to be, but he feels ridiculous and like a fool because he is going to be old one day and not have anyone with him.