Vladimir Nabokov's work, Lolita, is a reflection of his aesthetic literature. Nabokov is able to construct a character capable of stimulating and seducing his audience through his fluid and articulate use of language. A language capable of masking the taboo relationship between a man and a young girl. For over half a century, Nabokov's Lolita has been considered the quintessential perverse love story romanticized into something beautiful through the careful use of poetic, deceptive and contrasting language, illustrating power words to influence others. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Humbert Humbert begins his narration with his vivid description of Lolita, “light of my life, fire of my loins.” My sin, my soul, Lo-lee-ta. (Nabokov 1) In doing so, the tone is already set. Humbert Humbert's passion is already identified through the poetic description of his love. The initial introduction places the reader directly into HH's state of mind and understanding of his feelings towards his love interest. By doing so, he is already able to establish a connection with the reader. The feeling of love and immense passion, even lust, is familiar to almost everyone. As Mulready points out, "from just the first paragraph of the novel, the reader understands how truly fascinated Humbert is with Lolita, regardless of their age difference." (Mulready 1) Humbert's idealistic and romantic imagination of Lolita reinforces his use of poetic language. Humbert uses his immense passion for nymphets to transform a normally obscene obsession into art with his prose. The excruciating detail that HH goes into in describing an ordinary prepubescent female character serves to distract from the nature of his passion. He is able to effectively distract his audience by creating an aesthetic description of how he perceives his love, to allow the reader to identify with his passion. Humbert's poetic description allows the reader to delve into Humbert's passionate desires without any doubt. The use of the French language also adds an attractive meaning to the novel. Humbert is able to articulate his English descriptions with parts of the French language. This in turn reinforces the general atmosphere of romance that surrounds the novel. The way Nabokov implements the use of French, however, is more intended to portray a kind of eloquent and delicate beauty to the female characters. For example, in his encounter and description of an underage prostitute, he incorporates French adjectives. “I loved her long eyelashes and her fitted, fitted dress sheathing in pearl gray her young body which still retained… something childish mixed with the professional wiggle of her lithe little rump (Nabokov 22).” He later continues through the chapter, constantly switching between French and English, creating a romantic and delicate story with this one individual character. Besides the use of poetic language, aspects of deceptive language are easily identifiable. As the novel progresses, two types of language can be identified in Humbert. The most immediate is Humbert's idealistic voice. He uses this voice to captivate his audience with his language. As Mulready points out, “this voice, designed by the narrator to distract his audience from the morally unacceptable aspects of his writing, is merely a diversionary tactic that embellishes his story” (2). Moore also references Humbert by saying, "Oh, my Lolita, I have only words to play with!" " (Nabokov 32), and identifies his apparent acceptance of ideal and "performed" language as a "truism seasoned with melancholic lyricism» (Moore 74). Intertwined with his idealistic language are reflections of HH's true voice. In doing so, aspects of perhaps unintentional comedy slip into this language. This so-called true voice of Humbert serves to remind readers of Humbert's true self; a middle-aged man with a passion for nymphets. The indication of his real voice also serves to show readers Humbert's artistry with language. It presents itself with a clear identification of Humbert's intentions to deceive his audience with his aesthetic language. This misleading veil of language used by Humbert leaves the reader wondering what style Humbert is presenting. Moore admits, "It takes time to adjust to his double stylistic bluffs, and even readers who know the book well wonder, as with the Cretan Liar, whether he is telling the truth by lying or lying by lying." telling the truth” (Moore 75). The reasoning behind his ever-changing speaking styles becomes evident early on, when HH begins his speech with “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury” (Nabokov 9). Humbert's underlying goal is to convince his audience. His intentions are aided by his artistic prose as he is able to communicate his anecdotes effectively by providing fantastical details intended to charm. Its sole aim is to connect with its audience through the use of rich and elaborate language which will ultimately enhance and stimulate the senses of its audience. He captivates his audience with his initial description of a simple name that has almost no meaning to his audience, but means the world to him. His fascination and the breakdown of the name, Lolita, by saying “Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue takes a three-step journey along the roof of the mouth to tap, at three o'clock, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Your. (Nabokov 9).” Humbert fascinates his audience by guiding them through his thought process and breakdown of the name Lolita. After his hook and initial stimulation, he describes the meaning of the name in more detail: “She was Lo, simply Lo, in the morning, four foot ten in a sock. She was Lola in pants. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms, she was still Lolita” (Nabokov 9). This guidance through his mind, in fantastic detail, captivates his audience under his spell with words and places them exactly where Humbert Humbert wants them to be; trapped in her web of deception, bound by her impressive aesthetic language to deceive her audience, the jury, into falling in love with her Lolita ideal. The last element used by Nabokov in Lolita is that of contrasting language. The cleverly instilled contrasts are done with the aim of breaking the illusion of Humbert's charm. The way these key contrasts are presented also adds comedy to this taboo love story. Humbert's eloquence and frankness are directly identified when he shifts from a descriptive tone to a rather harsh and truthful tone when describing a woman: "...Monique elegant, slender, as she was for a minute or two; a delinquent nymphet shining through the down-to-earth young whore” (24). This frankness completely changes the tone and brings the reader back to reality. In another instance, Humbert begins to describe several idealistic and fantastical accounts of his encounter with nymphets. He begins to remember a particular account of his lustful excitement when: "It happened to me, for example, that from my balcony I noticed a lighted window on the other side of the street and what looked like a nymphet undressing in front of a cooperative mirror. Thus isolated, thus distant, the vision acquired a particularly lively charm which made me run at full speed towards the gratification of my loan” (21). The meaning of this memory contrasts.