True Lust

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True Lust

Romantic love is both an inward and an outward admiration and investment in another person. When a person loves another person, he or she displays admiration and respect for that person’s body, personality, emotions, and desires. On the other hand, when a person’s only admiration for another person is for their body, such desire cannot be defined as love. For example, a rich, middle-aged man may truly admire and enjoy his prostitute’s body, but his investment in her aesthetic beauty does not equate to love for her as a person. His fixation is purely visual and tangible, yet his regard for the prostitute’s personality and emotions is, most likely, almost non-existent. Final diagnosis: the rich man does not love his prostitute, but lusts for her.

Vladimir Nabokov’s novel, Lolita, portrays this distinction between love and lust through a morally complicated and controversial story. The story consists of many layered themes, which a reader must first sort through in order to make sense of the question of love. The subject most explicitly present in Lolita is pedophilia. Because we live in world of pre-conceived and ingrained societal norms regarding what is “morally acceptable” and “kosher,” and because pedophilia is generally considered one of the most heinous and immoral of crimes, many readers cringe at the very mention of such a topic and, therefore, fail to recognize the underlying and essential question of love verses lust present in the novel. In order to achieve a true understanding of Lolita, a reader must set aside such societal norms and pre-conceived notions. Gaining a true understanding of Nabokov’s novel requires an open and unbiased mind.

Through objective eyes, then, pedophilia is nothin...

... middle of paper ...

...sely acquainted with Dolores Haze by the end of the novel, despite the lengthy descriptions offered about her. Humbert never offers the reader a true portrayal of Dolly as a person with life and feelings, but only a distorted physical portrait of the nymphet, Lolita. Aside from the controversial pedophilia issue, Lolita still remains a lust story. Nothing proves this point more effectively than Humbert’s own statement: “You see, I loved her. It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight” (Nabokov 270).

Works Consulted

- Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. New York: Random House, 1997.

- Ostermiller, Marcus. “Love: a disguise for Lust.” 2005.

- Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1996.

- Warner, Jennifer. “Is there a ‘Gay Gene’?” WebMD Medical News. ONLINE.

http://my.webmd.com/content/Article/100/105486.htm.

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