How does T. S. Eliot represent women in his poetry? One of the recent arguments puts forward stresses Eliot’s way of describing negative aspects of women in his poetry, while ignoring any good qualities that they may have had. However, a careful study of Eliot’s early poetry shows women torn by the pain of abandonment, betrayal, fear, isolation and loneliness. Furthermore, it is not easy to find the poet’s sympathetic attitude toward women throughout his early poetry. This study aims at investigating the sources of the frustration, failure and unhappiness through the polyphonic voices of man and woman heard in “Portrait of a Lady,” while considering the real sense of Eliot’s attitude toward women. The poem ends in unresolved pain and uncertainty, suffered by men and women alike, which implicitly shows the agony and isolation that people must encounter in human relationships. It is usually apparent when they recognize their own destiny and their confused feelings and longings. In the final analysis, it basically derives from the existential recognition of human beings.

• 김구슬(협성대학교) | Koo-Seul Kim