The profile of women in Eliot's first published poem is significant. On the one hand they are the protagonists in the vacuous ritual of a, perhaps, deadening and meaningless social cycle as embodied in the mantra:
In the room the women come and go,
Talking of Michelangelo.
On the other hand they are a distraction from what appears to be Prufrock's higher calling - his attempt to force the moment to its crisis. In addition to this the distraction they offer is one in which they may actively participate.
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