Lolita

The entirety of Lolita is from the perspective of Humbert Humbert and makes extensive use of the male gaze. In feminist theory, the male gaze refers to the masculine perspective of literature and film that represents women as objects designed for the sexual pleasure of the viewer. Lolita is full of scenes of Humbert watching young girls and looking for nymphets. Upon meeting Lolita, Humbert describes her body and clothing in extensive physical detail, including her “honey-hued shoulder” and “chestnut head of hair” (39). Though Humbert suggests that his attraction to nymphets is not based exclusively on looks, he devotes much attention to Lolita’s appearance. That she is a child emphasizes the perversity of Humbert and Quilty’s male gaze and subsequent obsession and abuse.

At the pool in Colorado, late in the novel, Lolita appears aware of two separate male gazes; Humbert watches Quilty watch Lolita, and he sees her performing for Quilty, “with her obscene young legs madly pedaling in the air” (237). To Humbert, Lolita can exist as a sexual being that belongs to him, and he cannot tolerate neither Quilty’s gaze nor the possibility that she might return his gaze.