A further explanation of the parallels betwen Lolita and various Fairy tales

The title says it all. I thought I would give a little bit of a better explanation on how Lolita corresponds to the various fairy tales we used in our skit (you remember the one).


Little Red Riding Hood
There are many variations of the the Red Riding Hood tale (the most commonly known being the Grimm version) but all are, basically, a tale of a young, innocent girl being preyed upon by a wild, hungry beast. Lolita is, on one level, the story of a young, maybe not so innocent girl, being preyed upon by a beast. Remember that red was a very prominent color in Lolita, and that Humbert describes himself as a beast, and makes mention of his hairy forearms.




The Little Mermaid
Little seems to be a common theme, doesn't it? But again this is a story of a young girl (even if she does have a fish tail) far from home in a strange place. The original version, written by Hans Christian Andersen, is a much darker and more tragic tale than the Disney version we are all familiar with, and it ends with the death of the Little Mermaid, who is then transformed into a "Daughter of the Air," a kind of beneficial spirit that watches over children. Now in Lolita Dolores was not killed, but Humbert did kill her soul (I would find the quote, but I have no idea where my book is) and after she is "transformed," into a mother and "normal" person.










Beauty and the Beast
Again you have themes of transformation (from man to beast and back again), captivity (of the body and of the soul), and a strong element of civilized vs. uncivilized. Once more we have a "beast" character and a young, pure woman. Now, in the original fairy tale their is no "Gaston" character, but one could argue that the movie is no less a legitimate version of the tale for having been made by Disney. The rivalry between Gaston and the Beast mirrors the rivalry between Humbert and Quilty, as does the fact that they both end up destroying her in the process. Humbert even refers to "the beasts lair" when contemplating his murder of Quilty.






On Frankenstein I can add nothing that Zach has not already said in his paper.