Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov Essay

This results in the narrative perspective of the novel demonstrating how Humbert attempts to conceal his true nature through, in his own mind, clever ‘adjustments’ to how the story is presented and references to historical figures who shared the same desires as him- ‘Oh Lolita, you are my girl, as Vee was Poe’s and Bea Dante’s’ (Nabokov 1955), yet often reverts to a disposition in which he laments about his monstrous desires. Not only this, but the comparison to famous literary greats suggests that Humbert considers himself to be of their status and thus possesses an idolized version of himself, a self which can easily transform language into ploys to conceal his true nature.

So far, so good. Having had intercourse with Lolita earlier that morning Humbert, not surprisingly, sees her as his victim, sees both her childlike innocence and the signs of his own brutal assault on that innocence. But at the end of the passage, Humbert's understanding of Lolita and her "lost innocence" changes radically as he proclaims her to

The relationship between Annabel and Humbert is one marked with sexual restraint. Humbert describes an important sexual encounter, when they escaped to a mimosa grove while their chaperones play bridge, in great depth and it is this encounter that haunts Humbert for the rest of his life. Shortly after this moment, Annabel is called away by her mother and Humbert never gets to reach his sexual climax. He also never sees Annabel again because she dies of typhus four months later. Because of her death, Annabel is kept sacred and perfect in Humbert’s memory. The unsuccessful first tryst plagues the rest of Humbert’s relationships with women. Ellen Pifer reiterates this in her book, Demon and Doll, saying that “It is Humbert’s longing for the unattainable, for ideal perfection – what he calls the ‘rosegray never-to-be-had’ – that fires his imagination and fuels his desire for nymphet beauty” (68). This unattainable perfection which Pifer speaks of appears to be the ever-young Annabel.

Furthermore, as Lolita can be considered an open text and this paper is concerned with bringing female perspectives to the forefront of the novel, it is reasonable to apply traditional feminist theory to the text to examine Humbert’s marginalisation of women. In particular, this reading will be formulated through applying the work of second-wave feminist Kate Millett, which focuses on exposing the reprehensibility of patriarchal oppression. To begin, Nabokov consistently constructs Humbert to display misogynistic views. To illustrate this, in the scene where Humbert recalls his sexual excitement when Dolores laid across his lap, he fantasizes about being ‘a radiant and robust Turk…enjoying the youngest and frailest of his slaves.’ Due to the reader’s knowledge of Humbert’s affinity for ‘nymphets,’ whom he defines as girls between the age of nine and fourteen, it can be deduced that these ‘slaves’ are female. The word ‘frail’ holds connotations of debility, fragility and vulnerability. Through these negative associations, Nabokov has positioned readers to understand that Humbert views women as inferior to men. This holds relevance to Millett’s theory of female inferiority, through which she explains that ‘the female’s inferior status’ is ‘ascribed to her physical weakness or intellectual inferiority.’ Millett published her work in 1969 during the second wave feminist movement, whereby women demanded equality and challenged patriarchal ideologies regarding sexuality,

Lolita is always an interest towards hitchhikers. Humbert realizes that their continual relationship activity has given Lolita an air that attracts other men and boys. He tries to prevent her to seeing other boys. Lolita wants to flirt. Humbert watches female children, when they were play in the ground. But Lolita has an interest towards ride on horseback or play tennis. Humbert watches a man speaking with Lolita. But, he tried everything show to Lolita. He is mainly concerned with affair should maintain secretly before the other people.

The point of view of Lolita is not unusual, what causes the emotional response is in fact who the narrator is. Humbert Humbert, the narrator, is a murdering pedophile, this perspective can initially be disturbing and even stopped a lot of potential readers from actually reading the book. In the article “Romantic parody and the ironic muse in 'Lolita.'” Brian Walter addresses how the author manipulated readers views on an admittedly criminal character. Walter claims that “If the romantic parody criticizes Humbert, it flatters him as well, to the point that, in Trilling's terms, "we find ourselves the more shocked when we realize that, in the course of reading the novel, we have come virtually to condone the violation it presents" (331).” Walter uses a quote from Trilling’s "The Last Lover." to defend his claim that readers do end up feeling a sense of sympathy towards a character that forms a

It not only threatens, but also breaks through. Betrayed by love once in her life, she nevertheless seeks it in the effort to fill the lonely void; thus, her promiscuity. But to adhere to her tradition and her sense of herself as a lady, she cannot face this sensual part of herself. She associates it with the animalism of Stanley's lovemaking and terms it “brutal desire”. She feels guilt and a sense of sin when she does surrender to it, and yet she does, out of intense loneliness. By viewing sensuality as brutal desire she is able to disassociate it from what she feels is her true self, but only at the price of an intense inner conflict. Since she cannot integrate these conflicting elements of desire and gentility, she tries to reject the one, desire, and live solely by the other. Desperately seeking a haven she looks increasingly to fantasy. Taking refuge in tinsel, fine clothes, and rhinestones, and the illusion that a beau is available whenever she wants him, she seeks tenderness and beauty in a world of her own making.

Humbert enacts Quilty as his double gradually as time goes on. First Humbert mentions that he is “said to resemble some crooner or actor chap on whom Lo has a crush” (43) as he described the ad on the wall above Lolita’s bed followed by a “Quine the Swine. Guilty of killing Quilty. Oh, my Lolita, I have only words to play with!,” Humbert said that “the resemblance was slight” (69). Soon enough, as he becomes Lolita’s abductor, Humbert notices so much as time went on such that the fact that the entries in the hotel registries showed “his type of humor... had affinities with my own” (249). Humbert’s “story” transitions from him denying his relation to Quilty to recognizing it and combining it with him. The double represents the essence of what one character wants to restrain, or make up for and what the other character has. Quilty has the courage to do and say things that Humbert can never. Humbert also states, “he swept by me in a purple bathrobe, very like the one I had” (294), and their two characters become one as he says “he rolled over me. I rolled over him. We rolled over me. They rolled over him. We rolled over us” (299). Quilty also had the courage to admit that he was penetrating Dolores rather than just saving her, “I had stolen the honey of a spasm without impairing the morals of a minor. Absolutely no harm done.” The plot does not only have a final confrontation of both Humbert and Quilty, but includes a scene where one finishes the existence of the double

Love and obsession are often misinterpreted to be the same thing, yet one can cause people to flourish, while another destroys the people involved. Humbert Humbert becomes obsessed with the childlike innocence in young girls and pursues a 12 year old girl, Lolita. Humbert and Lolita develop a sexual relationship that inevitably takes away her innocence more each time that they are together. Vladimir Nabokov uses irony and diction in Lolita to show how Humbert is obsessed with Lolita’s childlike innocence, and how his obsession leads to the destruction of the childhood that he is so desperately trying to obtain.

In Vladimir Nabokov’s novel “Lolita”, the titular secondary character, is used to satisfy Humbert Humbert’s (also known as H.H.) nymphet fantasies. Dolores Haze, or Lolita as H.H. calls her, is immediately stripped of her innocence. Lolita is not responsible for her experience because her being and actions are turned into perversions by H.H, and the relationship between H.H. and Lolita are skewed and ultimately normalized; however, she is responsible when she runs away from H.H., gaining control of her life once more. These pivotal events unfold before Lolita and directly affect her experience as a child and young adolescent. It was through chance that Humbert Humbert met Lolita.

In Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Humbert Humbert is a disgusting pedophile who took Lolita’s self-worth as he realizes his mistake as he is locked in prison until he dies. People are mistreated every day, but still rely on the abuser. Lolita may seem like a victim but she is really in control of everything which is seen in her controlling where they go, her manipulation of Humbert, and leaving right as soon as Humbert was not of any use to her. Reading through the story, people will think or see that Lolita is an innocent little girl who is a victim of Humbert. She was just a child who “knew nothing” (43).

Humbert Humbert has an obsession with what he calls ‘nymphets’ and later this obsession becomes fixated on a young girl by the name of Lolita. His interest in Lolita is both physically and intellectually obsessive and this can be related to Grenouille whose obsession also becomes physical. Humbert Humbert’s obsession is unique in that it doesn’t fit the society’s traditional view of paedophiles, but actually progresses further than that. He isn’t satisfied with just having sex with Lolita, but he wants to ‘fix once and for all the perilous magic of nymphets’. In the 1950s, when Lolita was written and published, attitudes towards sexuality were changing and people were becoming increasingly liberal. Through the evolution of psychology at the

(192). Humbert relates the pencil to a phallus and tries to penetrate Lolita; however, like a closed book, Lolita keeps her legs closed just like a closed booked can’t get written on with a pen. But here it shows the power Lolita has over Humbert which Lolita doesn’t discover just yet. When Humbert isn’t worrying or thinking about Lolita leaving him or having thoughts about other guys her own age, he mocks other people and

Humbert is incredibly self-conscious throughout the whole story, of himself and of his language; it is through this that the metafictional nature of the text shows itself, reflecting on the power of language and the story-telling process. Humbert reminds the reader constantly that his whole world is constructed: “Darling, this is only a game!” He does not have to abide by the restrictive constraints of truth because this is his game, this is his story. “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,” (9) he addresses the reader, inviting him, daring him, even, to judge the “tangle of thorns” he is about to lay down. Given the deliberate contrariety that is about to follow, the games, puzzles and fantasies, Humbert inviting the reader to judge for themselves

Some of these are highlighted by repetition like “very large, very dark circles”. The metaphor at the end of the paragraph on pornography conveys a feeling of vulgarity, violence and despicability. The idea of the body as a means for sex is a theme around which the passage also revolves and we are introduced to it by the inclusion of the term “pornography”. As a consequence, the reader is impacted and comprehends Tereza’s deep concerns and overall heaviness of her character.