University of Novi Sad

Faculty of Philosophy
Department
language

of

English

Humberts Image of Dolores Haze

Mentor:
dr Zoran Paunovi

Introduction

June, 2016

Student:
Anelka Gemovi

There are three points of view from which a writer can be considered: he may be
considered as a storyteller, as a teacher, and as an enchanter. A major writer combines these three
storyteller, teacher, enchanter but it is the enchanter in him that predominates and makes
him a major writer. (Nabokov)
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin was a
Russian-American novelist. His first nine novels were in Russian, and he achieved international
prominence after he began writing English prose. Nabokov's Lolita or The Confessions of a
White Widowed Male was written in 1955. It is Nabokovs most famous novel in English and it
was ranked fourth in the list of the Modern Library 100 Best Novels. He was a finalist for the
National Book Award for Fiction seven times. Nonetheless, Lolita caused many controversial
discussions since it is by some considered brilliant whereas according to others it is a disgusting,
perverse and pointless novel.
Lolita is innovative and shocking regarding both the technique of writing as well as the
content. Some of the themes Nabokov elaborated on are the power of language, incompatibility
of the old and the new world, exile and homelessness as well as societys and individuals morale.
Regarding individual behaviour and morale, it is most prominently depicted through the
relationship between Humbert Humbert and Dolores Haze. Therefore, this seminar paper will
further discuss and describe Humberts image of Dolores Haze through careful observation of
characters actions as well as their often perplexing relationship.

Dolores name and nicknames

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Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue
taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo,
plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was
Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita. Did
she have a precursor? She did, indeed she did. In point of fact, there might have been no Lolita at
all had I not loved, one summer, an initial girl-child. In a princedom by the sea. Oh when? About
as many years before Lolita was born as my age was that summer. You can always count on a
murderer for a fancy prose style. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what
the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look at this tangle of
thorns.- (Nabokov, 1995:1)
Lolita is a nickname given to a twelve-year-old Dolores Haze by the narrator Humbert.
Throughout the novel it is most commonly used. However, it is not just a naive nickname given
to a girl. Lolita is Humberts construction, his artistic and divine creation. Since Humbert, as well
as Nabokov were both keen on literature and art in general some may even interpret Lolita as a
metaphor for artistic creativity which undertakes and rises above everything else. Lolita is a
desired work created by the author. (Gomez, 2000:12). Even Humbert, the narrator states that
she is his creation rather than a human being with the life of its own.
What I had madly possessed was not she, but my own creation, another, fanciful Lolitaperhaps, more real than Lolita; overlapping her; floating between me and her, and having no will,
no consciousness-indeed, no life of her own. (Nabokov,1995:62).
Furthermore, Lolita is often referred to as Carmen by Humbert. It is believed that
Humbert uses it to make connections to Prosper Merimees Carmen. In the aforementioned work,

Carmen is killed by her partner after being unfaithful and leaving for another man. Although
being rejected by Dolores at the end of the novel, Humbert does not murder her but the only
person she has ever loved, Quilty. Moreover, Latin word carmen stands for a composition,
literary creation, poem or even formula magica. Therefore, the nickname is related to certain
notions that have magical properties implying that Dolores is Humberts creation of magic and
art.
His instincts and his amazing talent for picking out nymphets from ordinary young
girls stands him in good stead: A normal man given a group photograph of school girls or Girl
Scouts . . . will not necessarily choose the nymphet among them. You have to be an artist and a
madman, a creature of infinite melancholy, with a bubble of hot poison in your loins . . . in order
to discern at once . . . the little deadly demon among the wholesome children . . . (Nabokov
1995: 19).
A term nymphet is quite prominent throughout the whole novel. According to Humbert,
the term is used to denote girls between the ages of nine and fourteen that are blessed with
certain qualities that differentiate them from other children. The narrator shows great respect
towards nymphets as if they are not part of this world but some other, magical and mythical.
Nabokov plays with the language tones in order to achieve fairytale connotation. He adapts the
term nymph that denote divinities from classical mythology that are usually represented as
young girls in natural environment. That is why he observes nymphets in park as it is
consequently the common place for girls. Nymph denotes as well insects larva. He states that
they his nymphets are a danger that can seduce any man if they cast their charming spell. By
often implying their mythological properties Humbert actually tries to justify his malevolent
deeds.
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I have but followed nature. I am natures faithful hound. Why then this horror that I
cannot shake off? Did I deprive her of her flower? Sensitive gentlewomen of the jury, I was not
even her first lover. (Nabokov, 1995:135).
This part of the novel is by many considered defense for his behaviour, since the narrator
claims that he is sensitive, only following natural course. According to him, the spell is cast
upon him and the fact that Dolores had lovers before him goes in favour to his point. Humbert
states that Lolitas running upstairs interrupts the motion of fateand that in his blood she is
the eternal Lolita. According to him, she is above time, ageless nymphet that returns to him at
the fated points. He observes her all the time, she is the only point of his interest and he patiently
analyses her until he eventually discovers her qualities that would, in his world make her a
supreme, predominant nymphet.
Finally, Nabokov deliberately names the character of a young girl Dolores. Dolor is a
latin word describing grief and pain. Although Lolita is supposed to bring joy and happiness to
Humbert she is not real. Dolores however is horrifying reality that finally strikes Humbert when
he realizes she is not going to run away with him. To him, Dolores is exactly what her name
describes - painful awakening from the dream he believed in.

Symbolism
Apple as a symbol is quite subtle throughout the novel but is still very important. By
giving the story the Edenic framework, Lolita, as Eve is guilty of Humerts fall from innocence
and metaphorically heaven. The apple appropriates Humbert and Dolores into a myth and thus
the he imposes the elements of Eden into the modern world representing the loversas if they do
not belong to this world, society, morale and common sense. Moreover, Humbers romantic
aspect begins in the garden with Annabel and continues with Dolores and his first encounter in
the garden of the house Haze. Thus, he relates his love story to the very gardens of Eden. The
apple symbolism continues and more and more allusions are drawn. Firstly, Dolores eats apple
while playfully sitting in his lap. Humbert describes her holding in her hollowed hands a
beautiful, banal, Eden-red apple (5758). The scene on Humbert's lap parodies the Garden of
Eden story. Dolores, as Eve, devours the red apple, yet she remains ignorant of Humberts
reactions and desires, as Adam. Moreover, when Humbert and Dolores move to Beardsley and
she becomes interested in boys, Humbert finds certain similarities between her and Parisian

prostitute. She has some lipstick left on her teeth and Humbert compares her rosy cheeks to
prostitutes pommetes"1. He relates the image to post-lapsarian Eve, a fallen woman since he had
already known about Dolores previous sexual activities. Even on their road trip the apples are
subtle but consistent.

That day or the next, Humbert notes, after a tedious drive through a land of food crops,
we reached a pleasant little burg and put up at Chestnut Courtnice cabins, damp green grounds,
apple trees, an old swing []. Lolita as Humbert remarks has an insatiable desire for fresh
fruits.
Additionally, even more important than Biblical connotation is the sensual, even erotic
description of apple- red and delicious. It implies Humberts passion and lust as well as his sexual
tension being built gradually alongside with his very own language.
Butterflies are another symbol that Humbert relates to his Lolita. Lepidopterology, the
study of butterflies and moths is a common interest of both the narrator and the very writer. The
similarity between fragile insect and Lolita is emphasized. When describing nymphets he uses
adjectives such as fragile, frail and fairy-like all of which are often used for butterflies. Like
butterflies, nymphets alter with the passage of time finally becoming just ordinary teenagers.
Lolita passes through metamorphosis, from fragile nymphet into mother-to-be. Next to such
delicate beings, Humbert is even more aware of his own deviant behaviour thus he often refers to
himself as lumbering brute. Furthermore, at the end of Chapter 33 Humbert states: "You see, she

1 in French pommetes are literally little apples

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had absolutely nowhere else to go." He behaves as a true predator, the lepidopterist that has
patiently waited and finally captured the subject of his interest.
However, for her vulgar and inappropriate acts, Lolita often resembles a larva that
eventually becomes butterfly. When the narrator learns that she is already sexually
metamorphosed in impure manner he shows slight disappointment. Humbert tries to cease the
natural process of maturation and metaphorically metamorphosis and wishes that nymphets never
grow up. Especially by the end of the novel it is noticeable that the process goes in reverse. Lolita
gets more vulgar and ages which results in losing her nymphet powers. Still, he sees her as a
divine butterfly rather than disgusting larva.
The car that Humbert and Dolores use in the novel represents homelessness and exile.
Humbert considers Lolita a partner in his immoral deeds since they share the same situation of
being alienated from the societies with which they have once been familiar. He willingly chooses
exile when he moves from Europe to America whereas Dolores was forced into exile due to her
mothers death. They are constantly moving without a fixed endpoint and purpose. In unfamiliar
territory the only familiar thing they have is each other and all that eventually leads to corrupt
familiar relationships and sexual acts. Detached from societys morale they are unaware how
depraved they are. For Humbert, the car is freedom and dream coming true, an escape from
unavoidable wakening, the only place where his secret is safe as well as comfortable. However,
as much as the car is freedom for Humbert, for Dolores it is a prison she eventually manages to
escape.
Games are rather important for Humberts perspective of Dolores Haze. He constantly
tries to entertain in order to approach. From the very beginning of their relationship, Humbert

plays with the girl or defends her from her crude mother when shes playing (sometimes very
inappropriately and not lady-like). The games are at first innocent and child like such as their first
kiss before Dolores leaves for the summer camp. However, they soon become deadly
manipulations and take vital role in the development of the story as it can be perceived from the
example of tennis double. The characters play games in order to hide their true desires and while
the game of manipulation continues both lose their identities and become puppets of their own
deceit.
Lolitas interest in movies and theater is also a symbol of their complicated relationship.
At Humbert purchases her attention by taking her to cinema which can be interpreted as means of
payment for her sexual activities. Regarding theater, he doesnt want her to be involved in the
play Enchanted Hunter in Beardslay. As he is eventually advised to let her participate, Lolitas
acting is not situated only on the stage. She learns how to act deceit and manipulate her path out
of the prison Humbert created. Metaphorically, the both become willing participants in the play
they themselves wrote. At the beginning theater is just a symbol of Lolitas interest in art but it
further develops and takes on a darker tone. Nabokov even manages to make an incestuous
pedophile not only understandable but awkwardly sympathetic. Humbert acts in front of Lolita,
Charlotte and all the people they meet. He presents himself as a father willing to sacrifice for the
wellbeing of his daughter whereas the truth is carefully obscured. On the other hand, Lolita acts
even better before society by fitting into the role of daughter even in front of Humbert. Moreover,
she manages to trick Humbert into a world that never existed while planning to disappear as soon
as possible. She even makes him believe in her purity and he romanticizes her image despite
many vulgarities he had already discovered.

The aforementioned play, Enchanted Hunter is extremely important as it is one of the

essential symbols the story develops around. It is the name of the hotel in which the Haze family
stayed. Furthermore, it is the very place where Lolita and Humbert shared sexual experience. It is
also the name of the play in which Lolita participated. The play was written by Clare Quilty who
was, according to Lolita the only man she truly loved. However, the consequent repetition of the
Enchanted Hunter has deeper meaning linked to the complicated relationship between Humbert
and Lolita. The narrator makes comparison between himself and the enchanted hunter. He the
aforementioned to justify his deeds and empowers the status of a seduced man who has fallen
under the nymphet spell. Humbert desires to convince the readership that he is not fully aware of
his actions since he lost control in his obsession with the divinity.
All these symbols are used to depict Humberts desire to create myth, fairytale and a work
of fate out of ordinary girl and his pedophilic lust for her. He constantly believes in coincidence
and interprets it as a sign of destiny. Furthermore, he tries to validate his actions in front of the
jury, society and finally himself.

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Annabel and Lolita

Annabel Leigh is an allusion to Edgar Allen Poes poem Annabel Lee. It is an ode for a
young lover who was prematurely taken by death. Humbert recreates the image of his first love
and finds objective, absolutely optical replica by closing eyes which is the way he truly sees
Lolita. Even Lolitas sunglasses remind him of those in the cave where he almost had his first
sexual experience with Annabel. The appearance of Charlotte Haze reminded him of Annabels
mother due to several subtle common characteristic. He genuinely believes that Annabel and her
traumatic death and unsatisfied sexual desire is the cause for his admiration of nymphs and his
love for Lolita. He implies that fate brought Lolita into his life since it has taken Annabel.
Humbert uses words spell and incarnating to depict Annabels long lasting spell over him and
his replacement embodied in Lolita. Since these words also possess magical connotation the
divine relationship between the two is implied. However, Annabel can be considered the one that
triggered the pedophilic desires in Humbert whereas Lolita may have been the one that vanished
the.

The image and the reality

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Lolita is Humerts obsessive desire. The lust is in the novel presented in two ways. In Part
One it is depicted as an unstoppable drive for sex whereas in Part Two it is related to violence as
the way of fulfillment. These two are on the opposite sides, deliberately contrasted since sex
creates life while the violence represents its end.
Humbert usually gets what he wants but certain desires are impossible to happen such as
his wish for nymphets to stop maturing. He releases his desires and morality issues through
various forms namely crying in Lolitas presence during the act of intimacy. Humberts image of
Lolita is immortalized in a work of art written in pain and misery. Art is the therapy that not even
sanatoriums manage to provide.
Lolita is the first and the last word in a novel. By defining the boundaries of his writing he
also defines and surrends his life to its notion. When he meets Lolita he feels as if he has finally
found a goal and a purpose. It is later clear that Lolita has noticed Humbert's desire for her as
well as that she knew how to manipulate with it. She still reciprocated at least some of his
feelings. She realized that Humbert is not just a replacement father figure. However, her feelings
are confusing and and moody, prone to changes. Humbert continues to believe they are connected
by fate. Lolita remains indifferent to Humbert's adoration, but he is still blissfully happy. She is
also aware that he is the only person she can rely on.
Contrary to divine and magical being Humbert created, Lolita is simply a stubborn and
moody twelve-year-old. She is neither breathtaking nor particularly charming. Even Humbert
often describes in pure honesty her skinny arms, freckles, vulgar language, and unladylike
behavior. She attracts Humbert not for her beautiful appearance but rather for because she is a
nymphet, Humberts ideal combination of childishness and the first blushes of womanhood.

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Moreover, her ordinary look and behaviour frustrates Humbert since she manages to evade his
attempts to educate her and make her more sophisticated. She is only more frustrated than an
ordinary teenage girl because she is bound to him and is powerless release herself.
Lolita alters and matures throughout the novel. At the beginning, she is an innocent and
immature young girl2. Humbert engages her into a more fully sexual being, but she never seems
to acknowledge that her sexual activities with Humbert are very different than any other before.
By the end of the novel, she has become a worn-out wife and mother-to-be. Throughout her
lifetime, Lolita is almost completely lacking self-awareness which can be correlated to the fact
that she never actually belonged. The absence of self-awareness seems tragic although Humbert
finds it somehow charming while putting effort to posses her body and later on very own essence.
However, Lolita takes advantage of Humbert's love for her. She receives both money and
gifts for her sexual cooperation. She is growing independent and Humbert feels as if his image
starts to disfigure. She is growing up constantly and he does not have means to put the stop to the
process.
Nabokov does not describe the very act of sex. As Humbert says, he is "not concerned
with so-called 'sex' at all," but rather the mere touch and shared intimacy with his beloved
nymphet. According to the narrator, sex releases desire. Instead, Humbert enjoys the painful
desire and lust and tremendous maelstrom of feelings and sensations the act provides. Desire is
simple and unidirectional whereas the pursuit of oneself deep into emotions warped in insanity
brings complete satisfaction. Humbert reminds the jury that he was not Lolita's first lover. Her
impurity is for him less devastating than expected. He adores her for nymphet others fail to

2 although she had sexual experinces

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recognize. Her sexual experiences do not greatly influence or weaken his desire since his goal is
not just to enjoy in the intercourse but rather to add higher, divine meaning to the connection
destined by the fate.
As Lolita and Humberts relationship continues, she realizes that they dont share the
same desires and thus plans to escape. The fear of losing her eventually causes him to become
paranoid and extremely insecure of himself. In the beginning Lolita felt endangered and now it is
Humbert.

Since he clearly doesnt intend to stop the inappropriate and according to her

unsatisfying relationship she decides to conducts her own fate and eventually escapes the prison
she once considered her only haven.
Unless it can be proven to meto me as I am now, today, with my heart and my beard,
and my putrefactionthat, in the infinite run it does not matter a jot that a North American girl
child named Dolores Haze had been deprived of her childhood by a maniac, unless this can be
proven (and if it can, life is a joke) I see nothing for the treatment of my misery but the
melancholy and very local palliative of articulate art.- Nabokov (1995:256)
In this paragraph Humbert clearly confesses his sins towards Lolitas destroyed
childhood. Throughout the novel Humbert has been selfish and concerned only with fulfillment
of his desires while lacking any interest for Lolitas personal development. He did not perceive
her as an individual but rather as a rare being worthy of being kept as long as it satisfies the
craving. He has been blinded by her nymphet characteristics that he was not able to focus on her
personality. She has been an object of the insatiable desire. At first he restrains from sexual
implications and thoughts of vandalizing Lolitas purity. However, he overcomes these
reservations and his morality conflicts with his desires.

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Humbert eventually confesses guilt for not being a good father and role model. After
realizing that he loves not just the long gone nymphet but a mature woman Lolita as well he
blames himself of not being interested in her needs and aspirations. He also believes that his
unwillingness to honestly communicate and direct her have left them both empty and led to the
final outcome.
Humberts image of Dolores Haze also goes to process of metamorphosis. Humbert
gradually flies his blind lust for the twelve-year-old nymphet girl and alters it into genuine and
everlasting love for a worn-out adult woman. However, he does not lose his pedophilic interest
completely. And while they eventually escape into different settings, one to prison and the other
to simplicity of laborers wife life Humbert comes to realize that although his accursed nature
could not change (Nabokov 234), his love for her influenced them both. Humbert feels closely
related to the young woman and in order to praise her essential beauty he writes this novel. When
he finally meets Lolita again, he sees her ruined looks and her adult, roped-veined narrow
hands . . . unkempt armpits . . . hopelessly worn out at seventeen . . . he knew . . . that I loved her
more than anything I had ever seen or imagined on earth, or hoped for anywhere else (Nabokov
1995: 253).
As the story develops, a reader cannot help but notice Humberts repulsion for the adult,
mature women. Now, he states: She (Lolita) was only the faint violet whiff and dead leaf echo
of the nymphet . . . but thank God it was not that echo alone that I worshipped (Nabokov 253).
I loved my Lolita this Lolita, pale and polluted, and big with anothers child . . . (Nabokov
253).

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Conclusion
In order to completely understand the two main characters in their perplexed relationship
in Lolita one must take into consideration and focus on the following: symbolism behind the
everyday situations, Dolores nicknames and what they represent, Humberts belief in fate and
Annabels resurrection in Lolita as well as comparison between reality and Heberts image.
Regarding symbolism, the constant appearance of certain object and notions is essential
for several reasons. Firstly, symbols are vital for the very technique of writing since the whole
story is wrapped around them. Some of the symbols are apple and car that occur in all the
essential moments in order to emphasize the significance of the scene and bring a unique sense to
the situation. Secondly, they all connect divine and mythical elements as well as ordinary life to

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the scene described in the book. Thirdly, they are hints that point to the gradual solution of the
mysterious process and unpredictable epilogue of the novel.
Dolores nicknames are engaged in the novel in order to uncover Humerts emotions and
thoughts. Each nickname represents and symbolizes the feeling Lolita wakes in Herbert.
Depending on situations Humbert chooses the appropriate nickname that the reader can relate to
the sensation it woke in him/her as well as the sensation Herbert had felt before.
Herberts belief in fate and Annabels reappearance in Lolita is crucial for understanding
Herberts obsessive desire for Lolita. He doesnt just observe certain characteristics the girls share
but he as well strongly believes that Lolita is fates compensation for the lost lover.
Lastly, his delusion, the untrue vision of Dolores Haze leads Herbert to downfall. Though
he states that to nonpedofile the girl would seem unladylike, dirty and not particularly beautiful
he still worships her as though she is some mythical creature sent to him by destiny. Furthermore,
his metamorphosis of the relationship and altered and quite confusing feelings towards Lolita
imply the hopeless position Humbert as a father and a lover obtains. Finally, Humberts deeds and
thoughts entail the very nature of human beings as well as their entangled, unrevealed emotions
that each of us can sense but not uncover.

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References:
Brand, Dana (1987). "The Interaction of Aestheticism and American Consumer Culture in
Nabokov's" Lolita"." Modern Language Studies pp. 14-21.
Gomez, A. M. (2000). Reflexive Narrative in Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov. Universidad de la
Rioja. pp.1-12.
Mulready, E. (2010). The Deceptive Veil of Language in Lolita. ENL 258: pp 1-2.
Nabokov, V. (1995). Lolita. London: Penguin Books.
Nabokov, Vladimir V (1991) . The Annotated Lolita. Ed. Alfred Appel. Vintage Books.
Pifer, E. (2005). The Lolita Phenomenon from Paris to Tehran. The Cambridge Companion to
Nabokov, pp.185-199.

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Rampton, D. (1984). Vladimir Nabokov. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.

Winston, Mathew (1975). "Lolita and the Dangers of Fiction." Twentieth Century Literature 21.4
pp. 421-427.

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