The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" known as "Prufrock", is the first professionally published poem by American-born British poet T. S. Eliot. Eliot began writing "Prufrock" in February 1910, it was first published in the June 1915 issue of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse at the instigation of Ezra Pound, it was printed as part of a twelve-poem pamphlet titled Prufrock and Other Observations in 1917. At the time of its publication, Prufrock was considered outlandish, but is now seen as heralding a paradigmatic cultural shift from late 19th-century Romantic verse and Georgian lyrics to Modernism; the poem's structure was influenced by Eliot's extensive reading of Dante Alighieri and makes several references to the Bible and other literary works—including William Shakespeare's plays Henry IV Part II, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, the poetry of seventeenth-century metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell, the nineteenth-century French Symbolists. Eliot narrates the experience of Prufrock using the stream of consciousness technique developed by his fellow Modernist writers.
The poem, described as a "drama of literary anguish", is a dramatic interior monologue of an urban man, stricken with feelings of isolation and an incapability for decisive action, said "to epitomize frustration and impotence of the modern individual" and "represent thwarted desires and modern disillusionment". Prufrock laments his physical and intellectual inertia, the lost opportunities in his life and lack of spiritual progress, he is haunted by reminders of unattained carnal love. With visceral feelings of weariness, embarrassment, emasculation, sexual frustration, a sense of decay, an awareness of mortality, "Prufrock" has become one of the most recognised voices in modern literature. Eliot wrote "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" between February 1910 and July or August 1911. Shortly after arriving in England to attend Merton College, Eliot was introduced to American expatriate poet Ezra Pound, who deemed Eliot "worth watching" and aided the start of Eliot's career. Pound served as the overseas editor of Poetry: A Magazine of Verse and recommended to the magazine's founder, Harriet Monroe, that Poetry publish "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock", extolling that Eliot and his work embodied a new and unique phenomenon among contemporary writers.
Pound claimed that Eliot "has trained himself AND modernized himself ON HIS OWN. The rest of the promising young have done one or the other, but never both." The poem was first published by the magazine in its June 1915 issue. In November 1915 "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"—along with Eliot's poems "Portrait of a Lady", "The Boston Evening Transcript", "Hysteria", "Miss Helen Slingsby"—was included in Catholic Anthology 1914–1915 edited by Ezra Pound and printed by Elkin Mathews in London. In June 1917 The Egoist, a small publishing firm run by Dora Marsden, published a pamphlet entitled Prufrock and Other Observations, containing twelve poems by Eliot. "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" was the first in the volume. Eliot was appointed assistant editor of the Egoist in June 1917. According to Eliot biographer Lyndall Gordon, when Eliot was writing the first drafts of Prufrock in his notebook in 1910–1911, he intentionally kept four pages blank in the middle section of the poem. According to the notebooks, now in the collection of the New York Public Library, Eliot finished the poem, published sometime in July and August 1911, when he was 22 years old.
In 1912, Eliot revised the poem and included a 38-line section now called "Prufrock's Pervigilium", inserted on those blank pages, intended as a middle section for the poem. However, Eliot removed this section soon after seeking the advice of his fellow Harvard acquaintance and poet Conrad Aiken; this section would not be included in the original publication of Eliot's poem but was included when published posthumously in the 1996 collection of Eliot's early, unpublished drafts in Inventions of the March Hare: Poems 1909–1917. This Pervigilium section describes the "vigil" of Prufrock through an evening and night described by one reviewer as an "erotic foray into the narrow streets of a social and emotional underworld" that portray "in clammy detail Prufrock's tramping'through certain half-deserted streets' and the context of his'muttering retreats / Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels.'" Its reception in London can be gauged from an unsigned review in The Times Literary Supplement on 21 June 1917.
"The fact that these things occurred to the mind of Mr. Eliot is of the smallest importance to anyone to himself, they have no relation to poetry."The Harvard Vocarium at Harvard College recorded Eliot's reading of Prufrock and other poems in 1947, as part of their ongoing series of poetry readings by their authors. In his early drafts, Eliot gave the poem the subtitle "Prufrock among the Women." This subtitle was discarded before publication. Eliot called the poem a "love song" in reference to Rudyard Kipling's poem "The Love Song of Har Dyal", first published in Kipling's collection Plain Tales from the Hills. In 1959, Eliot addressed a meeting of the Kipling Society and discussed the influence of Kipling upon his own poetry: Traces of Kipling appear in my own mature verse where no diligent scholarly sleuth has yet observed them, but which I am myself prepared to disclose. I once wrote a poem called "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock": I am convinced that it would never have been called "Love Song" but for a title of Kipling's that stuck obstinately in my head: "The Love Song of Har Dyal".
However, the origin of the name Prufrock is not certain, Eliot never remarked on its origin other than to
Macavity
Macavity is a fictional character, described in a poem in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, by T. S. Eliot, he appears in Cats, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. The name Macavity is a pun by T. S. Eliot, on the names of several characters from other works of literature: Macheath, a supervillain who appears both in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, its sequel Polly and 200 years as Mack the Knife in The Threepenny Opera written by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill in 1928, the Aztec obsidian sword, Moriarty, the surname of a supervillain-scientist from the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. Lastly, the word'cavity' implies a hole or void or absence of something, he is described in the poem as being "not there" at the time or location of any crime; the poem Macavity the Mystery Cat is the best known of Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, the only book Eliot wrote for a younger audience. The poem is considered suitable reading for 11- and 12-year-olds. Macavity is a master criminal.
There is a resemblance with Professor James Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle. In a letter to Frank Morley, Eliot wrote, "I have done a new cat modeled on the late Professor Moriarty, but he doesn't seem popular. Sherlock Holmes describes Moriarty as "the Napoleon of Crime" in The Adventure of the Final Problem and a "Napoleon gone wrong" in The Valley of Fear. Evidence that Macavity was based on Moriarty was first presented by HT Webster and HW Starr in 1954, rediscovered by Katharine Loesch. According to the poem when the Secret Service decides that Macavity was behind a loss, they can't catch him, as "he's a mile away", "... engaged in doing complicated long division sums". Doyle wrote that Moriarty "is never caught" as at the moment of the crime he is "working out problems on a blackboard ten miles away". Macavity is described as being a ginger cat, tall and thin with sunken eyes, "sways his head from side to side with movements like a snake"; the poem says: "His brow is lined in thought, his head is domed.
Once again, this description is a close parallel to that of Professor Moriarty: "His appearance was quite familiar to me. He is tall and thin, his forehead domes out in a white curve, his two eyes are sunken in his head...his face protrudes forward and is forever oscillating from side to side in a curiously reptilian fashion." The poem accuses Macavity of misbehaviour that would be within the capabilities of an ordinary cat, such as stealing milk, but holds him responsible for major crimes. He is referred to as a "fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity" and has been suspected of stifling Pekes, theft, cheating at cards and controlling an organised crime ring with Mungojerrie and Griddlebone among the members. Holmes in Doyle's narrative describes Moriarty as "the organizer of half, evil and of nearly all, undetected in this great city." Webster and Starr assumed that Eliot referred to the cases of Mr. Joseph Harrison and Herr Hugo Oberstein when he wrote in the poem – "And when the Foreign Office finds a Treaty's gone astray,/ And the admirality loses some plans and drawings by the way".
Macavity possesses the mystical power of levitation, as he "breaks the law of gravity". Macavity is the only real villain in the musical Cats by Andrew Lloyd Webber, he kidnaps Old Deuteronomy, the Jellicle leader, attempts to abduct Demeter, one of two cats who sing about him. Lloyd Webber noted that "Macavity... is a take-off on Moriarty." The character was played by Richard Pettyfer in the original West End production, by Kenneth Ard in the Broadway production, by Bryn Walters in the Cats film production. Within the storyline of the musical, Macavity makes several attempts to scare the tribe; this culminates in his abduction of Old Deuteronomy, after which two queens and Demeter, sing about him. He returns to attempt to abduct Demeter. Munkustrap and Alonzo come to her defence and, in a dramatic cat fight, drive him off; as seen in the film production and most stage performances, he appears to be capable of performing some form of hypnosis. When Demeter and Bombalurina sing about him, they do so in a sensuous manner, suggesting he is more familiar to them.
The Macavity number develops from a bluesy duet into a big female ensemble routine. Macavity is depicted as a cat with a chaotic array of red, orange and sharp black stripes, he is portrayed with long claws and wild dark hair. The role of Macavity is played by the same actor as Admetus or Plato, his costume is ginger and white, includes a simple make-up design that the actor transforms into the elaborate Macavity make-up, re-applies after the featured scene. Admetus/Plato is often recognisable as one of the tallest cast members, as the fight scene between Macavity and Munkustrap requires him to be able to lift other male dancers. Mystery Readers International presents the Macavity Awards annually in several categories, including Best Mystery Novel, Best First Mystery Novel, Best Bio/Critical Mystery Work, Best Mystery Short Story. Polish author
International Standard Serial Number
An International Standard Serial Number is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSN are used in ordering, interlibrary loans, other practices in connection with serial literature; the ISSN system was first drafted as an International Organization for Standardization international standard in 1971 and published as ISO 3297 in 1975. ISO subcommittee TC 46/SC 9 is responsible for maintaining the standard; when a serial with the same content is published in more than one media type, a different ISSN is assigned to each media type. For example, many serials are published both in electronic media; the ISSN system refers to these types as electronic ISSN, respectively. Conversely, as defined in ISO 3297:2007, every serial in the ISSN system is assigned a linking ISSN the same as the ISSN assigned to the serial in its first published medium, which links together all ISSNs assigned to the serial in every medium.
The format of the ISSN is an eight digit code, divided by a hyphen into two four-digit numbers. As an integer number, it can be represented by the first seven digits; the last code digit, which may be 0-9 or an X, is a check digit. Formally, the general form of the ISSN code can be expressed as follows: NNNN-NNNC where N is in the set, a digit character, C is in; the ISSN of the journal Hearing Research, for example, is 0378-5955, where the final 5 is the check digit, C=5. To calculate the check digit, the following algorithm may be used: Calculate the sum of the first seven digits of the ISSN multiplied by its position in the number, counting from the right—that is, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, respectively: 0 ⋅ 8 + 3 ⋅ 7 + 7 ⋅ 6 + 8 ⋅ 5 + 5 ⋅ 4 + 9 ⋅ 3 + 5 ⋅ 2 = 0 + 21 + 42 + 40 + 20 + 27 + 10 = 160 The modulus 11 of this sum is calculated. For calculations, an upper case X in the check digit position indicates a check digit of 10. To confirm the check digit, calculate the sum of all eight digits of the ISSN multiplied by its position in the number, counting from the right.
The modulus 11 of the sum must be 0. There is an online ISSN checker. ISSN codes are assigned by a network of ISSN National Centres located at national libraries and coordinated by the ISSN International Centre based in Paris; the International Centre is an intergovernmental organization created in 1974 through an agreement between UNESCO and the French government. The International Centre maintains a database of all ISSNs assigned worldwide, the ISDS Register otherwise known as the ISSN Register. At the end of 2016, the ISSN Register contained records for 1,943,572 items. ISSN and ISBN codes are similar in concept. An ISBN might be assigned for particular issues of a serial, in addition to the ISSN code for the serial as a whole. An ISSN, unlike the ISBN code, is an anonymous identifier associated with a serial title, containing no information as to the publisher or its location. For this reason a new ISSN is assigned to a serial each time it undergoes a major title change. Since the ISSN applies to an entire serial a new identifier, the Serial Item and Contribution Identifier, was built on top of it to allow references to specific volumes, articles, or other identifiable components.
Separate ISSNs are needed for serials in different media. Thus, the print and electronic media versions of a serial need separate ISSNs. A CD-ROM version and a web version of a serial require different ISSNs since two different media are involved. However, the same ISSN can be used for different file formats of the same online serial; this "media-oriented identification" of serials made sense in the 1970s. In the 1990s and onward, with personal computers, better screens, the Web, it makes sense to consider only content, independent of media; this "content-oriented identification" of serials was a repressed demand during a decade, but no ISSN update or initiative occurred. A natural extension for ISSN, the unique-identification of the articles in the serials, was the main demand application. An alternative serials' contents model arrived with the indecs Content Model and its application, the digital object identifier, as ISSN-independent initiative, consolidated in the 2000s. Only in 2007, ISSN-L was defined in the
Distributed Proofreaders Canada
Distributed Proofreaders Canada is a volunteer organization that converts books into digital format and releases them as public domain books in formats readable by electronic devices. It as of 2018 has published about 4,200 books. Books that are released are stored on a book archive called Faded Page. While its focus is on Canadian publications and preserving Canadiana, it includes books from other countries as well, it is modelled after Distributed Proofreaders, performs the same function as similar projects in other parts of the world such as Project Gutenberg in the United States and Project Gutenberg Australia. Distributed Proofreaders Canada was launched in December 2007 by Michael Shepard. Although it was established by members of the original Distributed Proofreaders site, it is a separate entity, it is a volunteer based non-profit organization. All the administrative and management costs are borne by its members; the software used by DP Canada was downloaded from SourceForge but has been modified since then.
In addition to preserving Canadiana, DP Canada is notable because it is one of the first major efforts to take advantage of Canada's copyright laws which allows more works to be preserved. Unlike copyright law in other countries, Canada has a "life plus 50" copyright term. Works by authors who died more than fifty years ago may be made publicly available in Canada. Other countries have differing copyright laws. Although files available through DP Canada are publicly available in other countries, the onus is on the reader to ensure that they only download material, not in copyright in their country of residence. Notable Canadian authors whose books have been published include Stephen Leacock, L. M. Montgomery, E. T. Seton and Mazo de la Roche. Authors whose works have been released in Canada but not other parts of the world include A. A. Milne, C. S. Lewis, Winston Churchill, E. E. Smith and Amy Carmichael. Eligible books are chosen by members for publication based on personal access. Books are scanned electronically and each page is uploaded to the proofreading website.
A project is made available to the proofreading members. Each book is proofread in three stages called'P1','P2' and'P3'. During the first stage, errors in scanning and other minor errors are corrected. Once all pages in the book have been edited the book pages are promoted to the next stage, P2; the proofreading is repeated and again in stage P3 to ensure no errors make it to the final publication. Once stage P3 is finished the book moves to a set of two formatting stages called'F1', and'F2'. In these stages the book text is changed into a format that allows it to be presented to the reader in a style that resembles the original book as as possible. For example, text appearing in Italic type is placed within formatting tags <i>this text is in italics</i>; when formatted the text appears as this text is in italics. When the formatting stages are complete, a post-processing stage brings all the files together to publish the books in five electronic formats; these include mobi, HTML, PDF and plain text.
The HTML version is made available as a Zip file. Before the books are added to the Faded Page book archive, the books are placed in a final round called'Smooth Reading'. While in this phase, members of DP Canada are encouraged to read them. While the books are in this phase, comments about the book for possible improvements can be sent to the post processor. Once past the Smooth Reading process, the publication is posted on Faded Page; the books that are published by DP Canada in the public domain are made available through the Faded Page book archive. Some of the publications released are posted to the Project Gutenberg Canada website. PG Canada is a book archive. List of digital library projects Distributed Proofreaders Canada Faded Page Book Archive
Psychology
Psychology is the science of behavior and mind. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, as well as feeling and thought, it is an academic discipline of immense scope. Psychologists seek an understanding of the emergent properties of brains, all the variety of phenomena linked to those emergent properties; as a social science it aims to understand individuals and groups by establishing general principles and researching specific cases. In this field, a professional practitioner or researcher is called a psychologist and can be classified as a social, behavioral, or cognitive scientist. Psychologists attempt to understand the role of mental functions in individual and social behavior, while exploring the physiological and biological processes that underlie cognitive functions and behaviors. Psychologists explore behavior and mental processes, including perception, attention, intelligence, motivation, brain functioning, personality; this extends to interaction between people, such as interpersonal relationships, including psychological resilience, family resilience, other areas.
Psychologists of diverse orientations consider the unconscious mind. Psychologists employ empirical methods to infer causal and correlational relationships between psychosocial variables. In addition, or in opposition, to employing empirical and deductive methods, some—especially clinical and counseling psychologists—at times rely upon symbolic interpretation and other inductive techniques. Psychology has been described as a "hub science" in that medicine tends to draw psychological research via neurology and psychiatry, whereas social sciences most draws directly from sub-disciplines within psychology. While psychological knowledge is applied to the assessment and treatment of mental health problems, it is directed towards understanding and solving problems in several spheres of human activity. By many accounts psychology aims to benefit society; the majority of psychologists are involved in some kind of therapeutic role, practicing in clinical, counseling, or school settings. Many do scientific research on a wide range of topics related to mental processes and behavior, work in university psychology departments or teach in other academic settings.
Some are employed in industrial and organizational settings, or in other areas such as human development and aging, sports and the media, as well as in forensic investigation and other aspects of law. The word psychology derives from Greek roots meaning study of soul; the Latin word psychologia was first used by the Croatian humanist and Latinist Marko Marulić in his book, Psichiologia de ratione animae humanae in the late 15th century or early 16th century. The earliest known reference to the word psychology in English was by Steven Blankaart in 1694 in The Physical Dictionary which refers to "Anatomy, which treats the Body, Psychology, which treats of the Soul."In 1890, William James defined psychology as "the science of mental life, both of its phenomena and their conditions". This definition enjoyed widespread currency for decades. However, this meaning was contested, notably by radical behaviorists such as John B. Watson, who in his 1913 manifesto defined the discipline of psychology as the acquisition of information useful to the control of behavior.
Since James defined it, the term more connotes techniques of scientific experimentation. Folk psychology refers to the understanding of ordinary people, as contrasted with that of psychology professionals; the ancient civilizations of Egypt, China and Persia all engaged in the philosophical study of psychology. In Ancient Egypt the Ebers Papyrus mentioned thought disorders. Historians note that Greek philosophers, including Thales and Aristotle, addressed the workings of the mind; as early as the 4th century BC, Greek physician Hippocrates theorized that mental disorders had physical rather than supernatural causes. In China, psychological understanding grew from the philosophical works of Laozi and Confucius, from the doctrines of Buddhism; this body of knowledge involves insights drawn from introspection and observation, as well as techniques for focused thinking and acting. It frames the universe as a division of, interaction between, physical reality and mental reality, with an emphasis on purifying the mind in order to increase virtue and power.
An ancient text known as The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine identifies the brain as the nexus of wisdom and sensation, includes theories of personality based on yin–yang balance, analyzes mental disorder in terms of physiological and social disequilibria. Chinese scholarship focused on the brain advanced in the Qing Dynasty with the work of Western-educated Fang Yizhi, Liu Zhi, Wang Qingren. Wang Qingren emphasized the importance of the brain as the center of the nervous system, linked mental disorder with brain diseases, investigated the causes of dreams and insomnia, advanced a theory of hemispheric lateralization in brain function. Distinctions in types of awareness appear in the ancient thought of India, influenced by Hinduism. A central idea of the Upanishads is the distinction between a person's transient mundane self and their eternal unchanging soul. Divergent Hindu doctrines, Buddhism, have challenged this hierarchy of selves, but have all emphasized the importance of reaching higher
Cats (musical)
Cats is a sung-through musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot; the musical tells the story of a tribe of cats called the Jellicles and the night they make what is known as the "Jellicle choice" and decide which cat will ascend to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. Directed by Trevor Nunn and choreographed by Gillian Lynne, Cats first opened in the West End in 1981 and with the same creative team on Broadway in 1982, it won numerous awards, including Best Musical at both the Laurence Olivier Awards and the Tony Awards. By 1994, the musical had grossed over $2 billion worldwide; the London production ran for 21 years and the Broadway production ran for 18 years, both setting new records. Actresses Elaine Paige and Betty Buckley became associated with the musical; the most well-known song from Cats, "Memory", has been recorded by more than 150 recording artists. Cats was the longest-running Broadway show in history from 1997 until 2006 when it was surpassed by The Phantom of the Opera.
As of 2018, it is the fourth-longest-running Broadway show and the sixth-longest-running West End show. Cats has been performed around the world many times and has been translated into more than 20 languages; the Japanese production by the Shiki Theatre Company has performed over 10,000 shows since it first opened in 1983. The musical was adapted into a direct-to-video film in 1998, with a 2019 film adaptation by Tom Hooper set to follow. After the overture, the cats explain the Jellicle tribe and its purpose; the cats notice that they are being watched by a human audience, proceed to explain how the different cats of the tribe are named. This is followed by a ballet dance performed by Victoria the White Cat to signal the beginning of the Jellicle Ball. At this moment, the show's main narrator, explains that tonight the Jellicle patriarch Old Deuteronomy will make an appearance and choose one of the cats to be reborn into a new life on the Heaviside Layer; the first contender Munkustrap introduces is Jennyanydots, a large tabby cat who lazes around all day, but come nighttime, she becomes active, teaching mice and cockroaches various activities to curb their destructive habits.
Just as Jennyanydots finishes her song, the music changes hence Munkustrap's annoying younger brother, Rum Tum Tugger, makes his extravagant entrance in front of the tribe. He is fickle and unappeasable, "for he will do as he do do, there's no doing anything about it"; as Rum Tum Tugger's song fades, a shabby old grey cat stumbles out wanting to be reconciled. All the cats explain her unfortunate state. Grizabella leaves and the music changes to a cheerful upbeat number as Bustopher Jones, a fat cat in "a coat of fastidious black", is brought to the stage. Bustopher Jones is among the elite of the cats, visits prestigious gentlemen's clubs. A loud crash startles the tribe and the cats run offstage in fright. Hushed giggling sounds signal the entrance of Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, a pair of near-identical cats, they are petty burglars mischievous, they enjoy causing trouble around their human neighbourhood. After they finish, they are confronted by the rest of the cats; the Jellicle patriarch, Old Deuteronomy, arrives before the tribe.
He is a large old cat that "has lived many lives" and "buried nine wives". He is the cat; the Jellicles put on a play for Old Deuteronomy, telling a story about two dog tribes clashing in the street and subsequently being scared away by the Great Rumpus Cat. After a moral from Old Deuteronomy about the destiny of Jellicle cats and Pollicle dogs, a second loud crash from Macavity, sends the alarmed cats scurrying. After a quick patrol for Macavity, Old Deuteronomy deems it a false alarm and summons the cats back as the main celebration begins, in which the cats sing and display their "Terpsichorean powers". During the Ball, Grizabella reappears and tries to dance along, but her age and decrepit condition prevent her from doing so. Once again, she is shunned by the other cats. After the Jellicle Ball, Old Deuteronomy contemplates "what happiness is". However, the cats do not understand him, so he has Jemima, the youngest of all Jellicles, sing it in simpler terms. Gus — short for Asparagus — shuffles forward as the next cat to be introduced.
He was once a famous actor but is now old and "suffers from palsy which makes his paws shake." He is accompanied by his caretaker, who tells of his exploits. Gus remembers how he once played the infamous pirate captain, Growltiger a.k.a. the Terror of the Thames. Gus tells the story about the pirate captain's romance with Lady Griddlebone, how Growltiger was overtaken by the Siamese and forced to walk the plank to his death. Back in the present, after Gus exits, Skimbleshanks is seen sleeping in the corner, he is the cat, unofficially in charge of the night train to Glasgow. Sk
Rum Tum Tugger
Rum Tum Tugger is one of the many feline characters in the poetry book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot, published in 1939, in the musical Cats, which premiered in 1981 and is based on Eliot's book. Rum Tum Tugger is a rebellious cat; the role of Rum Tum Tugger was originated by Paul Nicholas on the West End in 1981, by Terrence Mann on Broadway in 1982. In T. S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, Rum Tum Tugger is described as a rebel cat who cannot help but be difficult, he is never satisfied with. He always does the opposite of what is expected of him and by the end of the poem the reader is left with the idea that the Rum Tum Tugger is deviously self-centered and relishes in being so; the three words that are used to describe his character given to each performer who plays the role are "perverse and independent". Rum Tum Tugger is a unappeasable cat, he loves the limelight, while at the same time enjoys being seen as an individual by separating himself a little from the tribe.
A ladies' man, the female kittens are in awe of him, he flirts with every female cat in the 1998 film adaptation, although Demeter seems to dislike him deeply. His older brother, the serious and responsible Munkustrap has to keep him in line. Rum Tum Tugger is portrayed as a rock star-esque cat, Andrew Lloyd Webber has stated that part of the character is intended to be an homage to Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones. In an attempt to modernise the show, Rum Tum Tugger was revamped into a street rapper in the 2014 West End revival; the role of Rum Tum Tugger requires a tenor with strong rock/pop vocals and a good falsetto register. Rum Tum Tugger is a black tom cat with leopard spots on a wild mane. In some Japanese productions, he is white, his cat breed was said to be Maine Coon, because of his wild mane and being portrayed as being much bigger than the other cats. The role of Rum Tum Tugger was originated by Paul Nicholas on the West End in 1981, by Terrence Mann on Broadway in 1982; the character was played by Antoine Murray-Straughan in the 2014 West End revival, by Tyler Hanes in the 2016 Broadway revival.
On screen, he was played by John Partridge in the 1998 filmed version, he will be played by Jason Derulo in the upcoming 2019 film adaptation
