Lolita Research Paper

When looking back at the history of psychopathology, many would consider Sigmund Freud, a Viennese neurologist, to be the father of psychoanalysis. Making strides in the field of mental health, Freud became well known in the early 1900’s for his various techniques and theories. It was he who revolutionized methods such as talk therapy, free association, and dream analysis along with theorizing how our sexuality is so strongly connected with our development as children (“Sigmund Freud Biography” n.p.). Although his beliefs are still extremely controversial, psychologists remain influenced by his ideas today. Furthermore, this influence extends past just the fields of science; art, literature, and film are all ripe with Freudian impressions. Both Marnie, a film produced by Alfred Hitchcock, and Lolita, a novel written by Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov, are psychoanalytic by nature. In Marnie, a young girl who likes to steal from the companies she works at suffers from deep psychological struggles. At one of the companies she plans to rob, the owner, Mark Rutland, falls in love with her. Noticing her paralyzing fear of the …show more content…
Initially, Lolita herself seems to show hints of the Oedipus complex—a natural incestuous desire for an intimate relationship with a parent of the opposite sex (Cherry, n.p.). Seeing as Lolita did not have a father figure until Humbert Humbert came around, it would make sense according to Freud’s Oedipus complex that she would initially feel a sexual attraction to Humbert. In fact, Humbert claims it was she who seduced him in the Enchanted Hunters hotel the first night that he raped her. However, it is clear by the second part of the novel that any initial attraction Lolita had for Humbert transitioned to disgust. This short lived attraction and “parody of incest” as Humbert calls it, further adds to the satirical tone of the novel (Nabokov