Humbert humbert and his secret misogyny in nabokov

Lolita

Humbert Humbert, the narrator of Vladimir Nabokov’s infamous however beautifully created Lolita, is recognized as by most readers to become pedophile as a result of his affection of underage girls, whom he telephone calls “nymphets. inch The eponymous nymphet, Lolita, is, naturally , Humbert’s primary fixation, therefore the majority of the written text is dedicated to describing his interactions with her. Nevertheless , a few information of additional, fully-grown ladies can be found in Portion One of Lolita. Two of the novel’s most crucial female heroes, other than Lolita, are Valeria, Humbert’s initial wife, and Charlotte Haze, Lolita’s mom and Humbert’s second partner. Humbert’s points of these females ultimately reveal that he could be a misogynist as well as a pedophile. Not only does Humbert seem to possess a sense of utter disdain for females, but this individual views all of them in only 2 different ways: as bothersome obstacles in the way of his wants, or since objects which you can use to help him get what he truly wants.

Humbert’s characterization of Valeria in chapters seven and eight of Part You are an early signal of his contempt for ladies. Shortly in Valeria’s intro, Humbert not-so humbly brings up that this individual “could attain at the take of [his] fingers any adult female” to become his better half (25, emphasis added). Apart from the off-puttingly acquisitive nature of the statement, the term “obtain” appears to suggest that women are things and not people. Also, the very fact that Humbert uses the term “adult female” instead of “woman” is quite sharing with. Such a phrase much more commonly used to spell out an animal, not just a human being. As a result, this short passage creates that Humbert views ladies as subhuman.

At first, it seems that Humbert is relatively impressed with Valeria, perhaps women are not as unpleasant as he had once thought they were. However , he himself soon admits that this primary attraction to Valeria is only because of the “imitation she provided of a little girl” (25). He bears this one step further by having her wear a women’s nightgown on their wedding night time. But Humbert soon concerns realize that her imitation can easily go up to now, she is nonetheless a woman and never a nymphet. After this first fantasy, Humbert’s true emotions toward women are once more revealed when he refers to Valeria as a great “idiot” that is “big-breasted and practically brainless” (26). The truth that Humbert specifically highlights Valeria’s huge breasts is worth noting because the the girls in which he is truly interested are, of course , not fully developed and therefore do not have large breasts.

Humbert makes several other significant remarks regarding Valeria in chapter ten. He declares that her “only property was a moderate nature” (26, emphasis added). The word “muted” alludes for the inherently patriarchal notion that women should be calm or even quiet, an idea to which Humbert undoubtedly adheres. He also refers to Valeria as being a “stock character” and says that she has a “poodle head, ” both of which add to his characterization of her since distinctly inhuman (27). Lastly, it is important to note that these scathing remarks are manufactured in an incredibly causal fashion, as though they will seem properly normal to Humbert as though this individual makes these kind of comments alternatively frequently.

Despite Humbert’s disdain on her behalf, Valeria really does serve her purpose, to help Humbert cope with his “fantastic predicament” in a “legal” way, at least for some time, (26). When she shows as a great obstacle to him, he’s more than happy to shed her and head to america. There, this individual encounters Charlotte Haze, with whom he will have an identical yet even more blatantly misogynistic relationship.

From the moment Humbert meets Charlotte, it seems that this individual has made up his mind about her. At first, once detailing her physical appearance, this individual more sympathetically describes her as a “poor lady” with “not less attractive features” (37). But , at the conclusion of the section, he provides harshly labeled her as “one of people women in whose polished terms may indicate a book clubbut never her soul” and who is “completely devoid of humor” (37). Although he has only just manufactured her associate, Humbert assumes that this individual knows almost everything about Charlotte because she is one of “those women. inch However , his remarks regarding other girl characters claim that he landscapes all ladies in a similarly disparaging mild. Indeed. Valeria was described as humorless and unintelligent as well.

Humbert does not have intent to table with Charlotte now due to his immediate detest of her, yet this resolution quickly changes once he encounters her nymphet daughter, Lolita. After this function, his first aversion to Charlotte expands into a finish hatred of her, because she becomes an obstacle between him self and Lolita. Notably, this individual refers to her simply while “Haze” rather than by her first term. This method of addresses not only exhibits his refusal to be friendly with her, but as well emphasizes the meaning behind the name. A “haze” is usually something that obscures one’s look at, and Charlotte’s presence is usually similarly some thing of a screen between Humbert and Lolita, since your woman constantly interrupts their interactions. Humbert also refers to Charlotte as “mother Haze, ” which reveals another one of his misogynistic notions (43). By utilizing the particular word “mother” and not her first identity, he insinuates that her motherhood is her simply defining feature.

A particular scene through which Humbert uncovers his outrage for Charlotte occurs in chapter 9. He is trying to reach climax just by looking at Lolita, but is interrupted by “fat Haze” whom attempts to a start “a make-believe chat about a artificial book with a popular fraud” with him (43). Here, he views Charlotte since an overt obstacle among him fantastic pleasure, which in turn causes him this sort of anger that he is situated about her in a odd, internal episode. He telephone calls her “fat, ” but nothing in his initial information of her suggested that she was overweight. Most likely it is basically because she actually is adult-sized, rather than a child like Lolita, that he views her this way. He likewise insults her intelligence by simply completely disregarding the book that the girl desired to discuss. Instead of simply stating thier name, Humbert phone calls it a “fake book” written by a “fraud, ” implying that Charlotte can be described as fool internet marketing interested in this kind of a book.

This passageway also shows a distinct difference between Valeria and Charlotte. While Valeria was “muted, ” very much to Humbert’s satisfaction, Charlotte now is not. She has views and frequently states all of them, which Humbert despises, contacting her “obnoxious” (55). This individual also regularly ridicules her attempts in French, not even bothering to try to correct her. This style of behavior shows that Humbert places very little intellectual value in women.

It is just when Charlotte stops as an obstacle to him and becomes a way for him to get closer to Lolita that Humbert starts to show the tiniest amount of respect on her behalf. Once he receives her love notice and makes a decision to get married to her, this individual starts to speak about her in slightly gentler terms, calling her a “woman of principle” and in many cases using her proper term instead of “Haze” (70, 75). However , this should not be viewed as a switch in his watch toward girls. Humbert is just satisfied by simply his capacity to exploit Charlotte for his own gain, not by simply Charlotte very little. After all, a single cannot ignore that he non-chalantly views drowning her in the pond in chapter twenty. Certainly, a sceptical reader can even come to doubt the convenient timing and conditions of Charlotte’s actual loss of life, but the text provides very little evidence to point Humbert’s immediate involvement.

Though one may be tempted to focus entirely on Humbert’s relationship with Dolores Haze when reading Lolita, it is necessary to consider his associations with mature women as well. A close evaluation of these interactions reveals that Humbert does not view women as complicated individuals but rather as frustrating and simpleminded creatures who are only bearable when they can be manipulated pertaining to his very own gain.