Analysis Of Nabokovs Lolita And The Picture Of Dorian Gray

In Nabokov’s 1955 novel, ‘Lolita’, the fictitious foreword, presented by the equally fictitious John Ray Jr., Ph.D., describes Humbert Humbert as a ‘shining example of moral leprosy’ (Nabokov 1955). However, throughout the novel, Humbert appears to manipulate numerous characters, most of all Dolores Haze and her infatuated mother through his alluring good looks and his sophisticated British manner. Similarly, in Wilde’s 1890 novel, ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’, Dorian, also a hideously immoral main character, successfully disguises the true horror of his sins and uses his youthful charm to continue with his upper-class life of excess and perversion. Thus, both characters possess a comparable ‘dark side’, a side which is concealed to†¦show more content†¦This results in the narrative perspective of the novel demonstrating how Humbert attempts to conceal his true nature through, in his own mind, clever ‘ad justments’ to how the story is presented and references to historical figures who shared the same desires as him- ‘Oh Lolita, you are my girl, as Vee was Poe’s and Bea Dante’s’ (Nabokov 1955), yet often reverts to a disposition in which he laments about his monstrous desires. Not only this, but the comparison to famous literary greats suggests that Humbert considers himself to be of their status and thus possesses an idolized version of himself, a self which can easily transform language into ploys to conceal his true nature. Furthermore, Humbert further provides a dishonest narrative through his creation of a ‘grotesque theatrical character’ (Courtier 1996), in order to disassociate himself from the monster he truly is. This is aided by how Nabokov uses a diary-like structure to allow Humbert to experiment with his own format, for example ‘Main character: Humbert the Hummer. Time: Sunday morning in June. Place: sunlit living room.’ (Nabokov 1955) which resembles a script that Humbert himself has created when in reality he is reciting yet another lust-filled encounter with Lolita. Throughout this passage, and the novel, Nabokov switches from third person to first person narrative which further illustrates Humbert’s confusion over his desires, and how heShow MoreRelatedWhen Art Imitates Art757 Words   |  3 Pagessoul to him because of greed, is based on the story of Doctor Faustus, a person who sells his soul to the Devil to gain unlimited knowledge and all the worldly p leasures. o â€Å"Dont Stand So Close to Me† by The Police was inspired by Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita, as is clear in the lyrics: Its no use he sees her. He starts to shake and cough. Just like the old man in. That book by Nabokov. o â€Å"Samson† by Regina Spektor with lyrics such as:† Samson came to my bed. Told me that my hair was red.