| Humbert Humbert |
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Humbert has been enamored of "nymphets," or attractive pubescent girls, ever since his first love, Annabel, died when they were both in their early teens. In Lolita, he sees his dead love come back to life, and will do anything to possess her. A relationship forms beneath the ignorant eye of her mother, Charlotte Haze. He marries Charlotte, just to be close to Lolita, and after Charlotte dies in a car accident, he removes his "Lo" from the summer camp she has been attending for a month, and travels around the country with her for over a year. Throughout this journey, Lolita and Humbert begin a strong sexual relationship and personify two contrasting relationships; husband and wife, and father and daughter. When Lolita runs off with Playwright Clare Quilty, who is also a Pedophile , Humbert becomes even more obsessed, determined to hunt her down, win her back, and kill his rival. When he does find her again years later, however, she is no longer the nymphet of his dreams but a Pregnant housewife, living in a dead-end town. Realizing he still loves her and finally feeling Guilt for corrupting her, Humbert finds and kills Quilty and goes to Prison , where he dies after dictating his life story to his lawyer. As a ''hombre'', "man," and the French ''ombre'', "shadow" — much as the name of John Shade , central character in Nabokov's later novel '' Pale Fire ''. It also suggests a Portmanteau of the English words ''humbug'' and ''pervert''. Furthermore, the double name hints at the novel's Doppelgänger motif. Humbert Humbert has been portrayed on film by James Mason in Stanley Kubrick 's 1962 movie adaptation of the novel, and by Jeremy Irons in Adrian Lyne 's 1998 film. ''Book'' magazine ranked Humbert Humbert third on its list of the 100 Best Characters In Fiction Since 1900 . |
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