The Wasteland: Part Two

Section two begins by describing a room with a woman in it. The first ten lines illustrates the seven-branched candelabra, the two cupids, the candle light dancing off the jewels the woman wears, and the polished chair she sits upon. The woman appears to be rich.

The way Eliot describes the room is an allusion to Antony and Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra's backstory is that they are in a relationship, even though Antony is married, he goes to Alexandria and crowns Cleopatra and himself gods. Octavian, a triumvir of Rome, goes to Alexandria to fight Antony and Cleopatra after beating Antony in a battle on the sea. After the battle goes to sea, Antony loses the battle and Cleopatra sends word that she has killed herself (kind of like Juliet). Instead of Antony rushing back to see 'dead; Cleopatra like she planned, he commits suicide the Roman way, sword through the stomach. Cleopatra then kills herself by the poison of an Asp. The whole point of this allusion was to point out a failed relationship.

The main theme of this section is failed relationships. In the first paragraph alone there are three allusions to failed relationships, well two failed relationships and a forceful rape. The first being Antony and Cleopatra, the second allusion alludes to the Aeneid. (Line 16) Aeneas's lover the Carthaginian queen Dido, kills herself after he leaves.

The third allusion to a failed relationship occurs in lines 23-27. It alludes to Metamorphoses, more specifically a rape.

The second part of section two is also a failed relationship. It is a man and woman talking, mostly the woman though. The woman is complaining that the man never speaks, he never says what he is thinking. By the sounds of the man's replies, he is not happy in the relationship and would get some peace if the woman would stop talking.

The third part is not only a failed romantic relationship, but perhaps a failed friendship as well. There is a woman talking to someone in an English pub, she is complaining about  Lil and her husband Albert. Albert is being discharged from the army and is on his way home. Lil's friend and her had a pervious conversation  before his return and she is now grumbling to someone in the bar about her conversation with Lil. Lil's friend, is wanting to know what Lil will tell him happened to the money he gave her to get new teeth. Lil probably spent the money on booze and drugs. Her friend wonders if Lil will grant Albert a good time, meaning will she have sex with him. Lil and Albert have five children already, Lil took drugs to get ride of the last pregnancy, so she obviously doesn't want any more children. She is 31 one and looks terrible, but old as well. She is missing teeth, and after taking the drugs to prevent that last pregnancy from happening, she has never been the same. Lil is probably both mentally and physically exhausted. She has took take care of all of those children by herself. The dialect of this part is also supposed to show you that the characters are lower class. The friend tells Lil that she should be ashamed of herself and asks her why she got married if she didn't want children. She also tells her that if she won't satisfy Albert's needs, there are plenty of people who will. It's closing time at the bar, which means that the friend is probably a usual. Most people don't go out for a drink right at closing time. She also knows everybody's names.

The overall theme of this section was failed relationships, and through his allusions and direct 'examples', Eliot backs up the major theme of love / lack of love.