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
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