alliterative adjectives to reflect the harsh and brutal nature of Lolita towards her protector. Nabokov also suggests that Lolita does gain some power through taking advantage of the narrator’s desire for her, implying that she is aware of and exploits her sexual appeal, shown through the addressing of Humbert as ‘dad’ throughout the text. Further, her confrontational and argumentative character is evidenced to reflect her strength, ‘I ought to call the police and tell them that you raped me’, however this phrase ultimately has a poignant effect on the reader, making it clear that she is aware of her suffering and hopelessness. As a result, while Nabokov suggests that Lolita attempts to take back some power against her abuser, the reader can fundamentally only sympathise with her pain, supporting the inability to accept the monstrous protagonist.

To conclude, it is evident that, though Nabokov does encourage the reader to accept his monstrous male hero, this is only to emphasise the tragic and catastrophic consequences of his text and warn against such manipulative behaviour. While Humbert’s use of elaborate language, addresses to the reader and elusive portrayal do indeed result in his readership accepting and identifying with the horrifically manipulative character, they are unable to ignore the contradiction within his narrative and ultimately sympathise with Lolita. Metcalf concludes that ‘We are clearly meant to regard Humbert as a moral abomination’ , acknowledging that the unimaginably monstrous actions of Nabokov’s narrator restrict the reader from viewing him as anything tenuously acceptable. However, it cannot be overlooked that the very naming of Lolita as this rather than Dolores clearly reflects the reader’s approval of Nabokov’s narrator and his manipulation of his readership to force them into a state of inadvertently accepting his paedophilic and murderous actions. Therefore, the narrative style of Lolita constrains the reader from condemning Humbert, regardless of how much of a ‘moral abomination’ they may regard him as.