Introduction:
Tiresias has been projected as the protagonist in The Waste Land. Basically, there is only one character in the poem. His presence gives the poem a sense of the oneness of experience and of the unity of all the periods. Tiresias assumes many masks and his voice alternates with the voices of the inmates of the modern waste land, and at times with the ghostly voices from the past: The poem is seen a single whole in the fact that its substance is formed of Tiresias’ stream of consciousness.
Tiresias, an Invisible Poet:
Tiresias is the invisible poet in the poem. From the beginning to the end, he is the poet inside the poem. While describing the room of the typist girl, the speaker tells us that he is Tiresias:
“I Tiresias, though blind, throbbing between two lives,
Old man with wrinkled female breasts....”
A Character from Ancient Greek Legend:
Tiresias is a well - known character from ancient Greek legend. His four peculiar qualities, according to Greek legend, are: “He is blind; he however possesses power of prophetic vision; and he is immortal and bisexual. On asking, the critic himself answers: A man who had also been a woman, who lived forever and could foretell the future. That is to say, not a single human consciousness but a mythological catch - all and as a unifying factor of no effect whatever.”
Fusion of Other Characters in Tiresias:
There is only one character in the poem. Other characters are only his memories, thoughts, visions, etc. Tiresias is the protagonist or the central character and the poem is his interior monologue. Memories flash through his mind. He also meditates on certain things, makes allusions and thinks like a thinker. All the poetic passages are fragments.
Tiresias, a Symbol of Nobel Soul:
Tiresias is a symbol of the noble soul as it is understood in the Vedanta. Tiresias possesses all the four qualities of the soul. In religion, the soul subsists on spiritual food and spiritual drink. In the modern materialistic world, spiritual pursuits like prayer to God, meditation, etc., have been discarded. So, the modern materialistic world is a waste land for the soul as well as for Tiresias.
His Importance:
The importance of Tiresias can be seen from various angles. He embodies the poet's thoughts. He is Eliot's poetic spokesman. It is he who gives expression to what the poet feels about the spiritual barrenness of the world. Tiresias is a spiritualist and believes that in the universe there is nothing real but the soul which is the root of the life's tree called man and also the seed of future lives. The following points are being given of his importance.
(a) A Fountain - Head of Poetic Thought:
Placed in the materialistic world, Tiresias is the fountain - head of all the poetic thought of the poem. He sees, comments, makes literary echoes, reproduces from his memory conversation of others, and so on.
(b) Assuming Many Masks:
Other characters in the poem are creatures of his memories and thoughts. Male or female - each figure emerges from his memory, thoughts, vision, etc. Then he or she gets merged in his personality.
(c) His Belief in Spiritualism and Christian Existentialism:
He believes in Spiritualism and Christian Existentialism. He believes in the Upnishadic doctrine of the Atman. He also believes in Patanjali's doctrine of Self - Realization in Yoga Samadhi. His philosophies are the bases of his symbolism and the real meaning of the poem. For example ‘rock’ consists of matter. And ‘water’ stands for the water of human kindness in man's heart.
Conclusion:
Without his presence, The Waste Land would be a series of disconnected statements, scenes etc. For example, in section V, if we forget the presence of Tiresias, we start running after allusive themes namely, the journey to Emmaus, the approach to the Chapel Perilous, and the present decay of religion in Eastern Europe. But once we realize that the speaker is Tiresias, not Eliot, we see that those themes are only allusive ones, only echoes, nothing else. Thus, Tiresias occupies an important place in the scheme of things.
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