Hubba Hubba: Humbert Humbert as the American Anti-Hero

 Quite reasonably, when I requested suggestions for an antihero to write about, Humbert Humbert never came up. One of the most despicable characters in modern literature, the reader is reluctant to describe him as a hero at all, but Humbert cannot be stripped of this status just because one is loath to assign the title.

Yep. This guy.

An antihero is a main character who lacks some or any heroic characteristics. Humbert Humbert fills that description with ease, and indeed surpasses it. Not only did Nabokov subvert the traditional hero with the repulsive Monsieur Humbert, he subverted one of the classic narratives of our culture.

Yes, I realize that describing the story of a pedophile and his victim as a classic narrative is unusual, but give me a moment to explain. You enter a movie theater halfway through the film, no idea what the movie is about or any of the characters. You look up and see a tall, dark, handsome man (as Humbert is described) waxing poetic about his love, a woman of whom he is in desperate pursuit. The world is against their union and the object (this word choice is intentional) of his affection lacks any real agency or personality. Suddenly, the fire alarm goes off, and you must leave. You never finish the movie, but you're discussing it with a friend and have to determine a hero and a similar film. Of course, the man is the hero, and if pressed for a similar film for comparison's sake, you'd likely choose the leading romantic drama of the moment.

Or, you'd compare it to Lolita, as this is the essential storyline.

Basically the same movie

An antihero is created by the casting of a villain in the role of a hero, and Humbert Humbert has created that narrative for himself. He is deranged, potentially gay (according to the novel), murderous, pedophilloic, abusive of the girl in his care- yet he is the closest thing Nabokov gave the audience to a hero. Worse, he knows what he did was wrong, as he proves again and again, but still he forces empathy from the reader. Millions of otherwise intelligent readers have come away from Lolita with the impression of it as a love story, when really their reactions should have been more similar to Figure 1 than Figure 2. 

Figure 1

Figure 2

How did the abhorrent Monsieur Humbert elicit such a reaction? Simple. The same way Ichabod Crane became a hero- he was placed there. However, no hero is as misplaced as Humbert Humbert.