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Characters of Lolita

Page history last edited by PBworks 16 years, 1 month ago

Main characters:

 

  • Humbert Humbert - A middle-aged scholar with an obsession for nymphets, he is the novel's protagonist and narrator. While in jail awaiting his trial for murdering Clare Quilty, he writes Lolita as a confession. The narrative addresses the beginning of his affair with Lolita, the several years they spend together, her desertion, and his murder of Quilty, a pedophiliac porn king.
  • Dolores (Lolita) Haze - The daughter of Charlotte Haze and the step-daughter and lover of Humbert. She is described as a nymphet who holds an amazing sexual power over Humbert, essentially making him her slave. She eventually deserts him for Clare Quilty. She dies in childbirth at age 18.
  • Charlotte Haze - The mother of Lolita and wife of Humbert. A religious woman, she cannot stand her own daughter and tries to keep her away from Humbert, whom she marries in Part One. She dies when she is struck by a car immediately after reading in Humbert's diary that he hates her and lusts after Lolita.
  • Clare Quilty - A well-known writer who also produces child pornography. He bribes Lolita to leave Humbert and come and work for him. Humbert murders him at the end of the novel, even though Quilty is clearly insane.
  • Narrator - It is actually unclear as to who the narrator actually is.  The forward is written by the fictional character Jr. Jr.  who is the editor that took Humbert Humbert's writing and published it in the book Lolita.  Since it is unknown how much he may have changed, he could actually be considered the narrator, rather than Humbert Humbert himself.

 

Minor characters:

 

  • Valeria - Humbert's first wife. She divorces him after revealing that she is having an affair.
  • Jean Farlow - A married woman who lives in Ramsdale and is friends with Charlotte. We see very little of her, except when she helps Humbert deal with Charlotte's death. She obviously has a big crush on Humbert.
  • John Farlow - The husband of Jean.
  • Richard F. Schiller - An undistinguished, destitute man whom Delores eventually marries.
  • Miss Phalen - The owner of a boarding school to which Charlotte wishes to send Lolita.
  • Frederick Beale - The man who drives the car that hits and kills Charlotte. He later offers to pay for her funeral expenses.
  • Ivor Quilty - A dentist and neighbor of Charlotte and Delores. He is related to Clare Quilty.
  • Dr. Byron - A doctor and pharmacist in Ramsdale. He gives Humbert the sleeping pills that he uses to keep Charlotte asleep.
  • Holmes - The female head of Camp Q, which Lolita attends during the summer when Charlotte is killed.
  • Gaston Godin - A resident of Beardsley who secures a house for Humbert and Lolita. He is a homosexual pedophile, with whom Humbert periodically plays chess.
  • Mona Dahl - One of Lolita's friends at Beardsley, in whom Humbert attempts to become sexually interested.
  • Miss Pratt - The Headmistress of the Beardsley School, which Lolita attends.
  • Rita - A woman in her mid-20s with whom Humbert has an affair after Lolita disappears. Their relationship lasts exactly two years, and ends when Humbert is contacted ou
  • of the blue by Lolita requesting money.
  • Annabel - A young girl with whom Humbert Humbert had his first (aborted) sexual experience. She died of typhus four months later. Also notedly the justification behind Humbert's lifelong obsession with the 'nymphet.' Considered a minor character in the book only by her menial existence in the first few pages. However, it is arguable that because the experience with her on the beach, her character is paramount to the very genesis of the story.

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