From the beginning of Lolita I have felt no sympathy for Humbert Humbert. I see him as a villain who purely thinks of himself. In many scenes he has tried to make himself seem like a good guy but I feel as if I read into everything he says and see his actual motives.No matter the language Humbert Humbert uses to sound intelligent we must not forget his intention. H.H's intentions is to sleep with a 12 year old girl, and he is on trial for murder. H.H is a man of impulse and this obviously does not work well in his favor. He decides to marry Lolita's mother to become closer to Lolita not even thinking out the obstacles that his new marriage will put in his way.
H.H's only concern is Lolita and he does not care about anyone else. He has a sick and twisted mine and in my head he can only be viewed as a villain. Even though H.H talks about saving Lolita's innocence he only has himself in mind. If H.H is a hero he is only saving his attraction to Lolita. He acts as if he is in love with Lolita but I believe he is only obsessed with her appearance. In reality he only plans on taking away her innocence to get what he wants. The fantasies he has of Lolita are sick and can never make me feel any type of sympathy for H.H because in my opinion his thoughts are evil. The temptation he faces is wrong and because he has no intentions of denying his lust for Lolita it makes him a villain.
Besides, his lustful thoughts towards a young girl H.H fantasizes about murder. He has violent thoughts and is deceitful and rude. He calls people rude names and says the most hateful things. He tells us all the ways he would hurt Valeria, and even plots a way to kill Charlotte. It is hard to see a good side to Humbert Humbert because of all the secrets he reveals about his inner thoughts. Not only does he want sleep with Lolita, he wants to kill her mother so he can be alone with her.
Micheline, I completely agree with what you are saying. As much as he tries to defend and justify his actions, Humber Humbert seems more villain-like as the book progresses. From his testimonies, we see that Humbert Humbert will do anything to keep close to Lolita. He will even go to the extent of marrying her mother, Charlotte, whom he clearly despises and wants dead. His manipulative actions just as setting traps for Lolita’s attention and plotting the death of Charlotte in his head made Humbert Humbert seem like a true villain. Although he is trying to make it seem so, nothing he has done so far is in the best interest of his new step-daughter, Lolita. HH attempts to make us believe he is innocent by mentioning other incest and inappropriate relationships. Also, what makes the situation worse is that HH evidently plans on leaving Lolita when she gets older. He expresses his concern for her age and questions whether or not she has hit puberty. This means, if Lolita does actually grow up to love HH, he may just end up breaking her heart, making him seem more like a villain.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree on some level. Humbert Humbert is without a doubt a sick, twisted man but that is what makes me sympathize for him. Humbert does realize he is wrong and I feel he is always at war with himself because of his disturbing thoughts. I have realized though throughout the novel, Humbert is not a confrontational person as I mentioned in my presentation. He does fantasize about murdering Charlotte and severely hurting Valeria’s new husband but never goes through with any of it. Humbert is a man of talk and is very smart and good with his words. The only thing he will most likely go through with is taking Lolita’s innocence, which of course is completely wrong especially considering she is 12 years old. Without morality in the equation he is a desperate, hopeless man that will never fit in with society. There are some moments in the novel where I feel utter disgust and then other times where I truly pity him. Humbert is not a happy man. He is constantly chasing after something he cannot have and if he is satisfied he will be labeled and put down for it. I am not stating that he does not deserve to be because his actions are unjust but his over all life in general is sad. I do think we can relate to him on some level though because everyone wants something or someone one cannot have. Humbert takes it to another level but once again, I can’t help but feel some sympathy for him.
ReplyDeleteI have sympathy for Humbert AND Lolita, As well as understand them both. Maybe I am wrong or I am just open minded.
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