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Academic English 3 Sexual Seduction Through Lolita’s Unconsciousness

June 19, 2009

Can the average person seduce the mate of his/her dreams unknowingly, or for that matter choose any

man/woman to become his/her lifelong partner inadvertently? Imagine walking out of your house and all it takes is a

split second to glance at anyone and he/she is yours forever! It sounds like a dream come true, but in the novel

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, a young child has the power to do that. Throughout the novel Nabokov creates a

vivacious; sexual, compelling “nymph,” twelve years of age, nicknamed Lolita who happens to unknowingly seduce

an immoral fraudulent character that is corrupt in the mind; he goes by Humbert Humbert. Lolita mesmerizes

Humbert at her first glance towards him, immediately causing Humbert Humbert to become obsessed with every

action that she makes. Nabokov further involves her every move, action, and detail that entails her unintentional

seduction; while Humbert Humbert becomes infatuated to the point where life and death does not matter.

Throughout this novel a great number of theories are shown like the ambiguity of transference, Freud’s structural

elements including the “id,” and the Freudian Psychoanalysis, which are all incorporated into a young child named

Dolores. She leads the reader to see that sexual desire and seduction unknowingly can be brought out through

unconscious cognition.

In general, people usually never discuss their inner taboo thoughts, or in their wildest dreams believe that

these thoughts will lead to action. In order to fully comprehend this idea, as an example, Lolita, who demonstrates

all of these concepts and is the base of the novel along with the reasoning that led to Nabokov’s breakthrough,

must further be explained, starting with Nabokov’s early childhood. Vladimir Nabokov was born into a very

prosperous life. Growing up where money was never an issue should have given Nabokov the opportunity to lead a

more free – willed life, but instead it only granted him a strictly guided one. He grew up wealthy and was forced to

love to learn by his father, along with the fact that his family was always moving, running, and fleeing from the

Germans. Though this created a tense environment to be brought up in, he tended to focus on certain activities that

let him express himself. These important personal experiences involved growing up to have a fine appreciation for
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art, leading up to his passion to draw and color. He treasured butterflies and collected them throughout his

childhood to his adulthood. As a result he loved going on safaris as often as possible to catch them. Therefore this

was important because art, coloring, writing, and butterflies all represent a type of freedom that Nabokov longed for

from his strictly guided life. He started acting in plays, and eventually went to meriting (e-books O’Connor

Thereupon stating a quote that rounds up all his personal experiences, “ I have never been that interested in what is

called the literature of social environments” (e-books page 3 O’Connor 152). Thus, this statement explains the

originality of his novel Lolita and why he decided to write a novel with such a profound theme.

In the period of time during the 1950’s that Nabokov’s novel was written and released, sexuality was not

appropriate to be talked about. The 1950’s were an age of plenty, where people enjoyed more leisure for personal

comfort and entertainment. Although Americans new materialism aspect resulted from their eagerness to forget the

hardships of the Great Depression, open talk about sex was not prohibited from women, but in the 1960’s sexual

freedom came around (e books online O’Connor). These events affected Vladimir Nabokov’s work tremendously.

Nobakovs upbringing was controlled (in a good way) by his father wanting him to constantly learn new languages

and other information that would help him succeed. His family was always finding ways to avoid the German war

party because they were Jewish, so little freedom was awarded. This caused Nabokov to long for freedom, so he

turned to art, drawing, writing, and coloring to convey his emotions. He loved to collect butterflies, which were also a

symbolism for freedom. This may have been represented in the novel Lolita. She longed for freedom but was

trapped following Humberts orders, and constantly running from everything that posed a problem for their

“relationship.” The time he published Lolita was a bad timing because “sexual references were thought to be a

curse, leading to his book being band for sexual explicit content” (e-books 151). This book contained one of the

most compelling characters that holds the theme of sexual seduction unknowingly brought out through the

unconscious cognition. Therefore a deeper explanation of the characters and theme will lead this essay into the

psychoanalytic standpoint of the novel.

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First off, in the novel Humbert sets foot in an old, tiny, Spanish house that belongs to a

once married widow and a young child named Dolores. H.H instantly falls upon Dolores’s gaze,

which instigates a suppressed memory for Lolita. A suppressed memory is “ to consciously inhibit

an unpleasant idea or memory to avoid considering it but yet acting upon it without realization that

the individuals motives are resulting from that” (Dictionary 1). This is represented through her

unconsciousness. It is triggered from her repressed memory that is about an older actor whom Lo

has a crush on, but knows it is unacceptable to be of her young age and to be fond of someone

that old. A repressed memory is “motivated forgetting, not being able to recall a threating situation

for example I repressed a traumatic event –the shed incident—but seeing spiders aroused the

anxiety of the event without arousing the memory”(webspace edu). Therefore she pushes the

thoughts of her and the actor into her unconsciousness, because she knows it is morally wrong.

Except these thoughts come back out when Lo places her eyes on Humbert Humbert because in

the novel it states, … “Moreover, I am said to resemble some crooner or actor chap whom Lo has a

crush…the resemblance was striking (Nabokov 69).” This quote is explaining why these thoughts

are brought out, because Lolita identifies a resemblance between Humbert and the actor, along

with the sinful thoughts that followed him. Yet again she knows it is wrong, but Lo has no control

over these thoughts or how she acts upon them. This is because … “When wishes are denied

access to consciousness they remain buried in the mind as unconscious residues which distort

perception of self and others…repressed unconscious thoughts remain active and even guide

conscious activity…”(Humboldt 1). Lolita’s wishes that she repressed are guiding her to seduce

Humbert, as she wished to do the same to the actor. Hence, Lo is bringing out sexual seduction

towards Humbert that is meant to be kept aside. She can not see herself acting in this way

because the unconscious wants are distorting her own perception of herself, making her only see

what she can notice only through her consciousness.

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Through one source, “The Ambiguity of Transference,” it states, (this is the definition to)

“Through repressed memories and fallbacks in ones, childhood, vivid events are pushed back into

the unconsciousness, and later brought out and acted upon when unknowingly transferred to the

conscious when certain smells, people, and events etc. happen and trigger the stored emotions”

(outline par 1). The drawbacks in Dolores’s life included not having a father growing up, but only

being raised by a jealous mother who only likes attention on herself. Lo’s mother never put any

time into demonstrating how much she loved her. She also showed her no physical or emotional

attention. As a result, Dolores pushed her hurt feelings and painful memories of her upbringing into

her unconsciousness. Later reacting on the pushed back memories through her unconsciousness,

and her desire to obtain the attention that she was neglected from. Also, her crush on the much

more mature actor was being acted upon unknowingly; along with the event which triggered Lolita’s

recognition that her mother would take Humbert (a potential new friend to her away) because of

her jealousy. All these different reasons are why, that through the ambiguity of transference her

unconscious worries and memories were triggered through the sight of Humbert looking familiar to

her crush. Subsequently triggering the thoughts she had for him that were morally wrong, while

also triggering the pain from her mothers jealousy and afraid of being neglected of attention from

him too because of her mother. So the event that was in play made Lo realize that her mother

would take the opportunity to make a friend for herself. Therefore the stored memories of her

neglect before had arisen and transferred into her consciousness for her to act on, but still not in

the knowing manner in which she would use to gain attention (her own seduction), because

nothing triggered Lo’s deeper reasons and feelings for those painful memories. Furthermore, the

literary element is symbolism, which is represented through Lolita by symbolizing the innocent

seduction of the young adolescent mind and the theory of the unconscious mind. It supports the

theme by showing the confused temperament of a young girl whose thoughts and emotions
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(suppressed) tear her apart forcing her to make different choices with Humbert. Her seduction

comes from a feeling of want and desire that nobody ever gave her. For example in the novel

Charlotte and Humbert are about to run some errands while Lo is left home alone because

Charlotte once again does not want her daughter with her but Lolita retaliates by shouting …”You!

Where are you going? I’m coming too! Wait!” “Ignore her yelped Haze (killing the motor)… This is

intolerable said Haze…”Move your bottom over you” (Nabokov 50). This quotation shows that

Lolita is rebelling against being alone and yet ignoring being put down by her mother just so she

can be between Humbert and her mom. Lolita’s un- aware seduction was just bottled up pain

caused by early childhood experiences that made her feel out of time with the world. In the book

she expresses this pain to Humbert through multiple ways including at one point as her mother

leaves the house, she runs to H.H for comfort. In novel it states “ Lolita whimpers in my arms”

(Nabokov 53), this shows Lo’s bottled up pain being released to Humbert and the closeness of the

bond of their relationship for Lolita.

Secondly, Lolita’s unconscious cognition brought out not only nonchalant verbal phrases or

motives, but also seductive movements. Those movements were directed towards Humbert

Humbert, but she looked upon them with a friend-to-friend kinship; she used him for comfort from

her mom’s jealousy. Once that stage of her relationship with him was in tact, her repressed

memories were activated causing sexual actions. For instance, … “Suddenly her hand slipped into

mine and without our chaperons seeing, I held…the little hot paw all the way to the store (Nabokov

51).” Dolores already has Humbert wrapped up in her seductiveness, that more attention is being

wanted because she has never felt/had attention given to her. She is overwhelmed and wants

more. According to Freud what is causing her overwhelming want for more attention is coming from

Lo’s “id” which relies on the pleasure principal. This is causing demands for immediate gratification,

engaged in primary process thinking which is crazy thoughts, and fantasy of the imagination. Thus
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causing Lo to make moves on Humbert no realizing to the extent at which they are being done.

When she takes his hand in hers they are sitting in the back of her mom’s car and she feels

intimidated that her mother will take Humbert away form her. So she clasps his hand in hers for

comfort and realization that he is “hers.” To demonstrate just how far Lolita’s sexual seduction is

acted upon from the unconscious, here is another quote: “…my Lolita peeled off her sweater,

shook her gemmed hair, stretched towards me two bare arms, raised one knee: “Carry me

upstairs, please. I feel sort of romantic to-night” (Nabokov 207). Particularly in this quote it sounds

like she is asking for it, but it is just the opposite. For her to gain a feeling of acceptance her

cognition is telling her to act upon the pleasure principal that her id is controlling. Otherwise she is

just putting a “lock” on a type of attention that she may be afraid of loosing still. Not noticing that

what she is doing is sexually seducing Humbert to believe everything she says. By asking him to

carry her up to bed, she means for him to help guide her in life, to never disappear because at this

point in the novel Lolita has lost her mother and H.H is the only one left. Even though the

mother/daughter bond was not good, Lo still seeks comfort now more then ever for the fear of

being alone.

The online source “The Theory of the Unconsciousness Mind,” explains Lolita’s actions by

stating, “ When we make a choice we are governed by hidden mental processes of which we are

unaware of and over which we have no control”(Psychology 246). Consequently, Dolores has no

control over her motives because her Eros governs her hidden mental processes, which is the life

instinct. It reflects all the conserved thoughts and erotic intuitions. The Eros is one of two parts

found in the Unconscious. The Eros caused Lolita to play those actions on Humbert. The literary

element supports the main theme of work because Lo stands for not just a character that shows

unconscious seduction but also maybe not even necessarily a character. She may be an image of

Humbert’s unconscious cognition. Which is showing what repressed memories that he may have
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had and that he was Lolita in his childhood. These emotions are brought out through the road trip

they go on when Humbert takes Lolita after her mother dies and does not know where to go so he

decides to take a long road trip, along with the events through a travel by himself. Lolita can

symbolize his repressed memories and tragic events that he pushed back and she is just a figure

of his own unconscious awareness. If so, he is fighting an internal war with himself over what has

truthfully happen in his life or showing his unhealthy mental state. Therefore this shows the reader

how the unconsciousness memories that become transferred into the consciousness work. Lolita

can be a figure of speech, an imaginative, unconscious seduction that he dwells and dreams.

Therefore he does not know who she really is and because she is still in the unconsciousness. So

from a different prospective Lo can be a representation of his true – self-struggles.

Thirdly, literary element number three is shown through Charlotte and her timid ness along

with her self - centered issues that are taken out on Lolita. To illustrate this in the novel Charlotte

sends her daughter to summer camp and tell H.H., it is because “ It is so much more reasonable,

as I say then to use mama’s lipstick and pursue, shy, studious, gentlemen, and go onto tantrums at

the last provocation” (Nabokov 64). Charlotte’s jealousy of her own daughter has caused Lolita

most of her troubled problems that are acting out in her consciousness as rebellious for a child

twelve years of age. As a consequence of her mother’s horrible parenting, Lo is stuck in the anal

phase of growing up. “The anal phase can manifest itself later in adults and rebellious personality”

(ccrma 2). In this matter Lo is not quiet an adult but going through the Freudian structure of

development she stopped progressing fully because the needs as in love and security to complete

each stage were not met. Her mother’s resentment about her daughter instigated her sexual

unconscious ways, setting off her ability to seduce Humbert using her unpleasant thoughts and

turning them into something pleasurable (this also occurs during the anal stage). Charlottes neglect

was so bad to her daughter that that in the book she filled out an article on Lo’s birthday checking
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off all negative hateful words to represent her daughter. A quote to exemplify what exactly she

called her own daughter is“…on Lo’s twelfth birthday she checked off aggressive, boisterous,

critical, distasteful, impatient, irritable, etc. She ignored thirty more adjectives that were cheerful”

(Nabokov). Granted after she checked these off is when she sent Lo to a summer camp, causing

Lolita grief about not obtaing attention form the people that mean the most to her.

Nevertheless, the cause of neglect influenced Dolores’s behavior in a less proactive way

then a mother should acknowledge. Charlotte’s ignorance may have come about because of

previous marriage. Although the reader has no clue what happened to her ex, we could confide

that Charlotte became jealous of Lo because she felt it was competition over who got the most

attention. For instance in the novel Humbert says “…the Haze woman who as the reader will mark,

was more afraid of Lo’s deriving some pleasure from me than of my enjoying Lo” (Nabokov 56). In

this quote there shows the jealousy that her daughter will develop a better bond with Humbert then

she will and even he notices that. Therefore jealousy sparked between her daughter causing her to

have disgust and set mind about her “evil” daughter. To support this, the Freudian Psychoanalysis

states that the id, ego, and superego, are critical to any kind of human development. The id “…

operates on the pleasure principal which demands immediate gratification of its urges.” “The ego is

the mediator between the Id and Superego and it acts as a reality principal which is to take care of

a need as soon as possible but in the appropriate manner.” The superego is the moral component

of personality that incorporates social standards about what represents right and wrong”

(Psychology 481). This related to the Freudian Psychoanalysis because Charlottes ego overlooks

her superego with thoughts of how to satisfy her id. While ignoring the needs to even out the

demands between the superego and id, making her go above and beyond to perfect her life in a

more then greedy way because she is stuck operating on the pleasure principal. For example in

the book she writes Humbert a love letter telling him that she is deeply in love and if he does not
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feel the same then to leave her house immediately. Then she writes about marriage to him and

how she longs for it. H.H. only agrees so he can be closer to Lolita forever! Ironically, Humbert had

no clue Charlotte had planned for Lo to exit their lives once they became united. In the book she

states “ Little Lo, I’m afraid does not enter the picture at all. Little Lo goes straight from camp to a

good boarding school…and then Beardsley College” (Nabokov 83). Charlottes only worried about

meeting the needs for her id, which consists of ridiculous thoughts. Her ignorance towards her

daughter gives Lolita a strong desire for attention. So Lolita ‘s id just like her mothers but in a

different sense (a want for a human connection rather than acting upon jealousy) overpass her ego

and superego with thoughts on how to satisfy each stage at the same time, causing Lo to act out

towards the opposite sex in a way where her needs were not met. This is because her need for

attention has been neglected for so long that it becomes “irrational” fantasies of how to get it.

Although at the same time Lo needs to satisfy her ego with the “reality principal because she has to

get along with friends at camp and school without getting (differentiate right from wrong) in trouble

but also giving into the needs of her superego by “meeting the social standards” (Psychology 481).

In conclusion, the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov symbolizes sexual seduction though

the unconscious cognition from a young child named Delores Haze. She proves to represent a

great amount of theories like the ambiguity of transference, Freud’s structural elements including

the id, and the Freudian psychoanalysis, along with being the main symbol of the novel herself.

Lolita is represented as Hubert’s unconscious cognition; that causes her to have suppressed

memories that she acts out unconsciously through her verbal and physical motives. Throughout the

novel as Humbert Humbert, let’s the reader see his sexual desires become stronger for Lolita

he/she also see Lolita’s seductive actions towards him become more direct. Just as Humbert

states that his opinion about the school Lo is attending to be bogus and the play she is in stupid. Lo

suddenly stated she wants to leave because she dislikes the school and school play. Lolita’s verbal
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phrases are very similar to Humbert’s throughout the book, and often reflect his own opinion. After

that his desire to make Lolita happier rises, and Lo actions reflect off his own feelings. This is

shown in the novel when she tells him to “ Carry me upstairs, please. I feel sort of romantic tonight”

(Nabokov 207). This could be just a fantasy from Humberts unconscious cognition really directed

towards another “nymph, or this could be Lolita’s sexual seduction through her unconscious

cognition infatuating Humbert with her actions. Both Lolita’s and Humberts psychological makeup

determined their actions toward one another differently. Lolita’s psychological makeup consisted of

neglect, and an overpowering “id” that caused sexual seduction through the unconscious cognition

that was just bottled up wants and desires that escalated into seducing H.H. for her need for

attention. While Humberts Psychological make up consisted of an un healthy mental state that may

be caused by repressed memories (traumatic memories) that he acts out unconsciously on Lolita.