The problem with an unreliable narrator often lies in choosing what to believe. In the case of Vladimir Nabokov's incestuous and illicit novel Lolita, the situation turns out to be an intriguing one, as the narrator Humbert Humbert's unreliability is undeniably serious, but his compelling intellect persuades the reader to at least consider his point of view. view and its reasoning. Since one of Humbert's main goals in his testimony is to persuade his "jury" that he was actually in love with his prepubescent stepdaughter - whom he essentially kidnapped and took sexual advantage of on several occasions - he is somehow capable of making us consider his disorder as worrying. and inconceivable statement as being true, an indicator of its powerful strength. So, is it possible that this obnoxious and unreliable pedophile loved Lolita as he claims? Unlikely as it may seem, there are many indications that his feelings were more than carnal. He even tells his audience at a moment when he has nothing to gain by pleading: "You can mock me and threaten to empty the court, but until I am gagged and half strangled, I will scream my poor truth. I insist that the world knows how much I loved my Lolita, this Lolita, pale and polluted, and tall with someone else's child… but still mine” [Nabokov, 278]. Indeed, there are many signals (like this one) that point to the truth behind the pathological pedophile's claims; in fact, there is enough evidence in his thinking to prove that Humbert actually loved Lolita. Or rather, he loved her in the sense that he understood love to be. In conventional terms, Humbert had no right to call his relationship with Lolita love, but from the twisted perspective of a man suffering from an obvious mental imbalance, it was love in the only way that he knew how to express it. Since love is a very difficult abstraction to define, Humbert's aberrant obsession with Lolita illustrates his personal perception of love and further allows the audience to probe the roots and logic of the misconception of love of a deranged pedophile. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essay Humbert's unconventional and horrifying understanding of love can only be understood by observing the twisted fate of his childhood . When he was around the same age as his beloved Lolita, he began a relationship with a young girl named Annabel Leigh, whom he also considered love interest, saying: "Suddenly we were madly, clumsily, shamelessly and terribly in love with each other. » [Nabokov, 12 years old]. This infatuation certainly turned out to be nothing more than a teenage crush, who, by Humbert's own account, was prone to sexual experimentation. When Annabel tragically died of typhus, just months after Humbert's second and final chance to "possess" her, he found himself trapped in the youthful understanding of an incredibly powerful emotion. Early in his adolescent life, Humbert had already begun to use the term "love" loosely, and his understanding of the word's connotation was not fully realized. From his own account of their relationship, it appears that their simple passion for competitive tennis as well as their sexual curiosities were the only interests shared between the two; and because of this premature romance (his sudden death did not allow it to blossom into something truly affectionate), Humbert began to associate love and lust asinterchangeable. After his death, Humbert was never able to get rid of his unquenchable desire for the young “nymphet” whom he never managed to “possess”; nor did he succeed in ridding his psyche of the fallacious perception of love that had developed within him. This false sense of love, rooted in both lust and nympholepsy, follows Humbert throughout his life and finally reaches its peak with Lolita. Early descriptions of his emotions towards Lolita are all motivated by the physical, as he is incapable of focusing on anything except her "honey-colored shoulders" or her "youthful breasts" [Nabokov, 39] and his passion for Lolita seems to parallel to his love for Annabel – although more extreme. Ironically, he even spends a good time trying to teach Lolita how to play tennis competitively, which symbolizes the relentless cycle of destruction that his obsession was imposing on him, through his correspondence with his pubescent relationship with Annabel. However, having already had sex with Lolita, seeing her become pregnant by another man, and contemplating what he calls "the nymphet's faint violet odor and echo of dead leaves" [Nabokov, 277 ] – only then does he finally and completely profess his true love for Lolita. This statement makes the reader wonder if he has actually undergone a change – if he has indeed developed a true understanding of love, distinct from the youthful one he had carried with him throughout his life . If he claimed to still love her at the age of seventeen and she was carrying another man's child, this indicates that he had undergone some sort of change and that his feelings for Lolita were more than a carnal obsession with his youthful appearance. Humbert's transformation is undeniable, but does it represent love? The truth is that Humbert wasn't lying when he said he loved Lolita, because in his mind, he loved her to the fullest. The problem is that Humbert didn't know what true love meant and his way of expressing his love was terrible. According to the prevailing perception of the word, Humbert did not love Lolita, but despite his contemptible attitude, it is unfair to assume that he did not believe he loved her. Clearly, the debate over whether Humbert actually loved Lolita is not simple; this is a very complex question. The question that is impossible to ignore arises: How can a man who plotted the murder of his own wife in order to have sexual freedom with his twelve-year-old stepdaughter say he loves her? ? Furthermore, how can he defend this claim after controlling her, sexually abusing her, and murdering the first man she claimed to have real feelings for [Nabokov, 279]? But what does he have to gain by pretending that he loves her, when his grave fate is already sealed? Nothing. And this, more than anything he says directly, proves that he believed he loved her, because he had no reason to lie. So what did love look like for Humbert Humbert, and how did it differ from the established connotation? Mainly, love as he understood it knew no boundaries. Even though he was aware of the abnormal and illegal nature of his desire, he did not consider it forbidden. The age difference between him and his beloved was not an obstacle, because this usually forbidden “love” was not to be deterred. The second and most important element of Humbert's perception of love was the lack of reciprocity that it required for him. The fact that Humbert was capable of loving without being loved in return, as well as the fact that he attempted to extract love from Lolita, illustrates the radically flawed understanding of affection that he possessed. Finally, as mentioned previously, a, 1991.