Emily: Nymph or Demon?

Close Reading

Text: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Lens: Feminist

Humbert Humbert enjoys the company of young girls, a little too much. He attempts to explain his infatuation to the reader.

From: wordpress.com

Now I wish to introduce the following idea. Between the age limits of nine and fourteen there occur maidens who, to certain bewitched travelers, twice or many times older than they, reveal their true nature which is not human, but nymphic (that is, demoniac); and these chosen creatures I propose to designate as "nymphets."

It will be marked that I substitute time terms for spatial ones. In fact, I would have the reader see "nine" and "fourteen" as the boundaries--the mirrory beaches and rosy rocks--of an enchanted island haunted by those nymphets of mine and surrounded by a vast, misty sea. Between those age limits, are all girl-children nymphets? Of course not. Otherwise, we who are in the know, we lone voyagers, we nympholepts, would have long gone insane. Neither are good looks any criterion; and vulgarity, or at least what a given community terms so, does not necessarily impair certain mysterious characteristics, the fey grace, the elusive, shifty, soul-shattering, insidious charm that separates the nymphet from such coevals of hers as are incomparably more dependent on the spatial world of synchronous phenomena than on that intangible island of entranced time where Lolita plays with her likes… the little deadly demon among the wholesome children; she stands unrecognized by them and unconscious herself of her fantastic power. (Nabokov 16-17)

Humbert Humbert’s taste in females ranges from the age of “nine and fourteen” when he is at least “twice or many times older than they.”

From: images.fineartamerica.com
A Nymph (which I assume
is the root of Nymphet)

Humbert admits that his taste in female entities is a bit strange. He calls himself and other like him “bewitched travelers” and “ lone voyagers.” Both indicate that he realizes that his behavior is not in the societal norms. However, he attempts to lessen his guilt by dehumanizing his objects of desire. 

Instead of describing Lolita and other girls that catch Humbert’s fancy as just young girls, he instead calls these girls that he craves so much as “nymphets” and “fey.” These two words are connotatively positive words for magical creatures, which removing the image of a feminine entity and replaces it with a less human identity. His allusion to these magical creatures takes the girls out of the normal world and turns them into more of an animal to capture.

In his entire explaination about “nymphets” he only thinks of Lolita and other people like Lolita as girls to be dominated over -- girls to please him. His sexual fantasies include a paradise island where he protectively keeps his “nymphets of mine” on “an enchanted island… surrounded by a vast, misty sea.” He wishes to be surrounded by the objects of his fancy.

From: polyvore.com
A demon

At the same time, Humbert realizes that his desire for these girls is evil, calling them “demoniac” and “insidious.” He places the blame on the girls, not himself stating that it is “her fantastic power.”

Humbert Humbert dehumanizes the young girls by calling them nymphets and turning them into objects of affection, but blames the nymphets for his desire.