The relationship between Nabokov’s Humbert Humbert (H.H) and Dolores Haze (Lolita) has provoked nothing short of critical outcry due to its taboo and ethically questionable nature. Although Nabokov advised readers to avoid searching for connections between his works and his personal life, the ‘nymphic fixations’ experienced in Nabokov’s previous works, such as Lilith (1938) contributed to the development of a public opinion in regards to his psyche. The psychological lens of literary criticism adopts numerous of Sigmund Freud’s principles from his work which can be applied when analysing the behaviour of Nabokov’s characters. Psychological critics view literary works as ‘dreams’, comprised of repressed and theatrical content to entertain the reader. By applying the psychological lens of literary criticism, H.H’s behaviour and adolescent ‘traumas’ can be dissected to exhibit how Nabokov’s own subconscious desires, fears and sexual repressions prevent most, if not all, romantic love from being genuine. Psychoanalytic approaches, such as Oedipal’s rivalry and the theory of libidinal development, allow for the reader to recognize that the ‘romantic love’ narrated within Lolita is the manifestation of Nabokov’s internal turmoil ‘bleeding’ into the text. Critics have attempted to justify H.H’s erotic attraction towards Lolita by claiming that it was reciprocated; however, H.H libidinal suppressions and the fact that Lolita is twenty-four years his junior render such explanations fruitless. Though Lolita is the title character, the major focus of the psychological lens is directly shining upon Nabokov’s protagonist H.H. rather than on Lolita. Lolita, however, is the necessary and primal catalyst for the manifestation of H.H’s stunted psychosexual urges. Lolita, as a character, can be viewed specifically through the psychological lens as events that occurred during her infancy have led to her precocious sexual desires. Lolita, as a whole work, denigrates romantic love. By invoking Freudian symbolism, love viewed solely as romantic is not a truth to be derived from Nabokov’s work.
Ancient Greek philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato represent the precursors to modern day psychology and psychoanalysis. Their theories in regards to the human psuchẽ (psyche) provided the necessary knowledge on top of which subsequent, distinguished psychologists constructed their hypotheses. Psychoanalysis, on the other hand, is widely credited to Signmund Freud, as numerous contributions antecedent to his were later discredited or valued as not being noteworthy. Freud’s theories of the Psychic Apparatus and Oedipus Complex are all of exceptional pertinence to the complex dynamics present in the novel Lolita. The Psychic Apparatus has three fundamental components that interact with one another to create an “energic economy”. In order to appease the “Pleasure Principle”, internally contained energy is released to prevent further sexual tension from being created. Said agents are defined as “Id”, “Ego” and “Superego”. The “Id” is classified as the compulsive and instinctual section of the psyche, unconscious to its host or the external world. Seeing as its central purpose is to please an individual’s most fundamental survival desires, it is present at birth and cannot be restrained. The “Ego” is defined as “that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world” (Sigmund Freud, The ego and the id). The “Ego” seeks to find just as much pleasure as the “Id”, but implements an element of rationality and premeditation in order to reach said pleasure in a civilized manner. It matures between the ages of eighteen months and three years, meaning that the child has been exposed to the concept of right and wrong. The “Superego” is the component of the human psyche that strives for ‘ethical perfection’ and has the sole purpose of suppressing the aggressive tendencies of the “Id” and immoral wishes of the “Ego”. It involves implementing mechanisms such as repression and Identification in order to temporarily inhibit the Id and Ego from disrupting a person’s life. Michael Karson, a professor of psychology at the University of Denver, delineates the “Superego” as the psychological component that regulates the “relationship between one’s conduct and one’s verbal façade”. An individual who does not successfully develop the correct agent at the appropriate psycosexual stage experiences a stunted, if not completely halted, psychological development. Another Freudian theory that branches from the psychosexual stages of development is that of the Oedipus Complex. It acquired its name from the mythical Greek king Oedipus of Thebes, who fulfilled a prophecy stating that he would kill his father and marry his mother. The Oedipus Complex illustrates the desire a child feels towards his or her opposite sex parent, as well as the jealousy experienced by the child towards his or her same sex parent as they fight for the opposite sex parent’s affections. Although the anger is typically repressed, a child that does not successfully develop to identify with the same sex parent is unable to move past the phallic stage of psycosexual development. This will lead to the child experiencing psychological burdens, such as hostility towards the same sex parent and attraction towards the opposite sex parent, that will be expressed through violent, sexually driven events. The psychoanalytic dream interpretation technique, pioneered by Freud, depicts dreams as manifestations of repressed desires. During one’s slumber, the veil separating the “Id” and the “Superego” subsides, allowing for typically repressed thoughts to approach consciousness. Both a dream’s latent and manifested content aid in the greater understanding of a person’s drives as they are brought to light without wreaking havoc on the life of the individual. Dreams serve as a medium for one’s primal and often questionable desires to be fulfilled psychologically, without the actual expenditure of energy or physical activity. The “Superego” and “Ego” implement Sublimation as promptly as an individual returns to consciousness, in order to convert one’s impulses to acceptable actions and behaviours.
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Renowned psychoanalyst Carl Jung (1875-1961) had contrasting opinions to Freud in regard to the concept of unconsciousness. Freud defined unconsciousness as a particular stage of the psyche compromising of “feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories” detached from our cognitive understanding. Jung, on the other hand, proposed the theory of Collective Unconsciousness, in which all humans experience, to a certain degree, primal instincts and archetypes that are genetically inherited from a universal ancestor. Although repressed by one’s conscience
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