Humbert Character Analysis Of Lolita

Humbert Humbert is a pediphile plane and simple. It has been argued that's Humberts unnatural love for what he calls “nymphets” originated from his childhood love Annabel. They sent one summer together when they were teens and he instantly fell for her. That summer ended in tragedy when Annabel died and Humbert was emotionally lost. Due to the fact that Humbert never had any closer in his relationship with Annable, his emotional maturity was eternally set at that of a teen. As he progressed through life his only sexual desires were directed towards children of smile characteristics of Annable. These were his nymphets; “between the age limits of nine and fourteen there occur maidens who, to certain bewitched travelers, twice or many times older

than they, reveal their true nature which is not human”(16). These were the children that Humbert fantasised about all the time and when he met Lolital all of his fanticys were brought to fruition. Lolita was the perfect embodiment of everything Humbert had lusted over his whole life. Through a series of events Humbert became Loitas legal gurdean and he proceaded to drag her across the country as his personal concubine, systematicly rapeing her from hotel to hotel all the while keeping her passive by giving her whatever she wanted except her freedom. Throughout the novel Lolita can be seen as a passive victim in this whole situation, but this might not be entirely true. Humbert’s monstrous personality can only surpassed by Lolitas skills of manipulation and faked innocence she uses on Humbert. In the end it is apparent that Humbert is not the monster that he was once perceived as because of his redeeming qualities like his true and deep love for Lolita.
Humberts monstrous ways can not be disputed. Without a doubt he is a vile creature who does deserve to rot in prison for his crimes against Lolita. Throughout their cross country travels Humbert endlessly seems to take advantage of both Lolitas emotional instability and her sexual imuchurety. When Lolitas mother dies she was at summer camp and had no idea it had happened. Humbert decided on his way to go and get Lolita that he would not tell her about her mother's demise. Instead he would lie to her as long as he needed to while he dragged the drugged Lolita from hotel to motel across the country. After the first time Lolita and Humbert has sexual relation at the Enchanted Hunters hotel Lolita demanded to speak to her mother for she feared that she might be in over her head with this man she hardly knew and wanted to seek her mother's help. Humbert told her she could not because her mother was dead. That night it became apparent how much control Humber really had over Lolita; “At the hotel we had separate rooms, but in the middle of the night she came sobbing into mine, and we made it up very gently. You see, she had absolutely nowhere else to go”(142). Lolita was backed into a corner. Her mother was dead and she had no other family or friends except for Humbert who could only fouce on his sexul disers for Lolita. She was alone with this monster of a man. Humbert continued to display his power over Lolita every day. Humbert boosted, “How sweet it was to bring that coffee to her, and then deny it until she had done her morning duty”(165). By retaining simple human need like food and water Humbert was dehumanizing Lolita from a happy young girl into his sexual object that he could do as he pleased with. This though could have been a way for Humbert to separate himself from what he was doing. Though Humbert's actions against the victim of Lolita could be seen as monstrous their would be a deeper reasoning for his actions possibly leading to a redeemable attribute in him.
Throughout the story Humberts monstrous personality plays a big part in who he is, but as the book comes to a close the reader can see a transformation in the character of Humbert and how he sees Lolita.

His first redeeming attribute is his real and true love for Lolita. Humbert infact confesses that, “I loved her. It was love at first sight, at last sight and ever sight”(270). If the reader thinks back to the beginning of the novel Humbert refers to Lolita as someone who only brought him lust. Humbert also makes it a point to tell the audience that he only like girls who fall into his nymphetic criteria and anyone who is too old does not appeal to him. When Humbert sees Lolita though after three years of being apart he says that “I insist the world know how much I loved my Lolita, this Lolita, pale and polluted, and big with another’s child, but still gray-eyed, still sooty-lashed, still auburn and almond, still Carmencita, still mine”(278). No matter how she has age and move past her nymphetic stage of life Humbert still loves her. Humbert even goes on to say that, “No matter, even if those eyes of hers world fade to myopic fish, and her nipples swell and crack, and her lovely young velvety delicate delta be tainted and torn-even then I world go mad with tenderness at the mere sight of your dear wan face, at the mere sound of your raucous young voice, my Lolita”(278). This is true love that he is feeling. No matter what happens to her he will still love her. Humbert has

never experienced anything like this before. In the past after a small amount of time he becomes fed up with the person he's with and he loses interest in being with them, but not with Lolita. With her he wants to be with her no matter what. Also he does not want to be with her in order to have sex, but to be with her so they can grow old together. The second reason that Humbert could be redeemed for his actions is because he actually feels bad for what he did to Lolita. Not only does Humbert come to realise that he was not a fitting father for Loita but he also realizes that “during our singular and bestial cohabitation that even the most miserable of family lives was better than the parody of incest, which, in the long run, was the best I could offer the waif”(287). Humbert realizes that he was not capable of giving Lolita that life that she deserved to have. It is also apparent to Humbert that Lolita has not grown up like every other child in the world. He has been the cause of so much misery and torture in her life and he feels bad about that. He came to this realization when he was sitting in his car watching a playground full of happy children: “I stood listening to that musical vibration from my lofty slope, to those flashes of separate cries with a kind of demure murmur from background, and then I knew that the hopelessly poignant thing was not Lolita’s absence from my side, but the absence of her voice from that concord”(308). Humbert realizes that not only did he steal Lolitas sexual innocence but he also stole her childhood. That is something she will never get back and Humbert regrets it. Humbert's actions were unforgivable, but the reasoning behind why he did what he did and the fact that he feels remorse when he looks back helps to redeem his character.
Lolitas victimization throughout the novel helps to paint the picture of Humbert as a horrible monster who does not care about his actions, but as discussed prior, this is not true.

Therefore, it only seems fair to entertain the idea that Lolita might not be as much of a victim as believed. Throughout the story on many occasions Lolitas perceived innocence can be called into question. Firstly the fact that Lolita has had sex prior to her relations with Humbert speaks to her lack of innocence. This little twelve-year old girl tell Humbert that “I am thrifty and I am absolutely filthy in thought, word and deed”(114) which is something that no normal twelve-year old world tell man. She is also experienced in ways that even HUmbert himself did not expect. This shows a lot of maturity on the part of Lolita that world not otherwise be their if she was as innocent as she is perceived to be. In addition to her sexual maturity with Humbert she also has many other partners throughout their cross country road trip. Lolita confesses to Humbert that “I’m so sorry I cheated so much, but that's the way things are”(279). Considering she is still only twelve she seems to know a lot about how “things are” in life. Lolita does have a strong understanding of how Humbert works though. While she was with him she started using what he wanted against him. Lolita started charging Humbert in order for her to perform sexual acts for him. She world then keep that money hidden from Humbert and

accumulated quite a bit. Lolita was also the mastermind behind her own escape. She plotted with Claire Quilty, another pediphile that Lolita had known earlyer inlife and was in love with, to take her away from Humbert. The plan worked and she escaped. In the eyes of Lolita Humbert never really meant much to her. Quilty on the other hand, “he was the only man she had ever really been crazy about. What about Dick? Oh, Dick was a lamb, they were quite happy together, but she meant something different. And I had never counted, of course”(272). Humbert was but a phase in Lolitas life. Humber recounts that “In her washed out grey eyes, strangely spectacled, our poor romance was for a moment reflected, pondered upon, and dismissed like a dull party, like a humdrum exercise, like a bit of dry mud caking her childhood”(272). Lolita does not hate Humbert for he did to her, she does not like him because she was not in love. She was perfectly happy running away to have sex with another older man. She was just not happy with Humbert. Lolitas power over Humbert is one that in many ways is stronger that his own.
It is vital to note that “while Lolita can be seen as a victim, she must also be seen as a powerful agent, in whom erotic desire and creativity are as closely intertwined as they are for Humbert himself”(Herbold 8). HUmberts true love for Lolita redeem him of only some of his monstrous attributes, but Lolitas skills of manipulation show that she is as much a threat as a victim in Humbert's life.