Whirpool of Superego: A Lacanian Perspective of Humbert s Emotional Vicious Circle in Nabokov s Lolita

The present paper was an attempt to investigate Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita (1955) from the vantage point of Lacan’s conceptualization of the superego which is due to his reformulation of the central notion of Freudian psychoanalysis, the Oedipus complex. In so doing, this article casts some light on the newly-emerged bilateral function the superego performs, remaining unknown hitherto. On the one hand, its seductive manipulation, derived from jouissance,on the subject to infringe the law so as to get pleasure out of attaining or doing the prohibited and on the other hand its punitive function and destructive effect on him due to his transgression of the law that happened under its very duress. Not being able to find an appropriate mechanism of release from the superego’s seduction and demand, Humbert spirals out of mental control and into an ever-increasing psychologically debilitatingwhirlpool.