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Compare And Contrast Hummbert And Lolita

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The trial of Humbert Humbert versus Hermann Hermann; the seductive capabilities of Nabokov’s predators
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When thinking about Nabokov’s Humbert, the predatory paedophile as well as the murderer from Lolita, one does sometimes wonder if he is not a victim of his illness. Some may also argue in his favour claiming that he indeed was deeply in love with Lolita, which could justify his behaviour. Nabokov’s Hermann Hermann from Despair, the older and worse-known brother of Humbert Humbert, does not provoke feelings of sympathy, even though his crimes are on a similar, if not worse, level of cruelty. I will argue that although both characters are undoubtedly criminals, they do also possess some good qualities that make them less monstrous and more humane. As Nietzsche (51) says, “To be evil is ‘not to act in accordance with custom’, to practise things not sanctioned by custom, to resist tradition, however rational or stupid that tradition may be” and if that is to be taken into consideration while looking at both of Nabokov’s characters, they undoubtedly can be …show more content…

His skills are not as impressive as he believes they are, though, and he does not only commit a murder, but he also gets cheated on by his wife. The difference between those two criminals is, then, that Hermann believes he is more talented and therefore bound to succeed when it comes to him getting away with the murder, whereas Humbert acknowledges the fact that he is devious and he does not try to cover up his crime. Moreover, he pleads guilty and while doing so, he appears more vulnerable as he describes himself as a victim

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Waller also points out that many of the killers weren’t Germans, nor were all the victims Jewish, so the perpetration cannot strictly be blamed on German culture and people. Waller believes that his model of human evil encompasses many of Goldhagen’s points, but with a broader and more accepting platform. He thinks his approach is more logical because its framework is more encompassing in explaining the reasoning behind what led the Germany culture, but specifically the German people, to become so anti-Semitist and bent on the elimination of the Jews. While Goldhagen makes a very bold and unique claim, Waller suggests another approach that encompasses a degree of Goldhagen’s blame on German culture, while providing other blame on human

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Certainly not. And the same holds for other such novels in this series” (3). Nabokov does this in order to have his students think deeper about what fiction is compared to literature

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In “The Conscience of Huckleberry Finn,” Jonathan Bennett presents the difficulty between sympathy and morality. Although the fictional story "Huckleberry Finn" is in the title, Bennett uses also uses Heinrich Himmler, Jonathan Edwards, Wilfred Owen. Bennett described their morality as "bad" assuming the readers would agree with him. Most of the time the person does not realize their morality is bad because of social norms.

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The general theme of all humans are monsters is exhibited profusely through each of these pieces. Followed by personal experiences, and inference to summarize a devastating but a true issue in our world. Proven to subsist in the holocaust over eighty years ago, to our modern day society. As the human race living among monsters, these evils do not just reside within the criminals in the community, but each individual. The situation is just a matter of letting the monster escape and control mankind.

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When hearing the story of a murder, we seldom withhold our comments of how malicious the murderer is. The reasoning behind their actions might as well cease to exist, as we would not want to believe that they share the same state of mind as a criminal. However, in John Gardner’s Grendel, we see that Grendel has morals and feelings, contrary to how he is portrayed in the poem the novel is derived from, Beowulf. Similarly, the monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein shares the same emotional characteristics as Grendel, along with innocence at birth, the desire for a companion, and the pain of being an outsider.

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Fritz Lang’s M is a combination of a social film and a murder mystery—directed in 1931, in the midst of the Nazi movement’s takeover of German goverment, the film chronicles the public’s congregation to catch an infamous serial killer. Beckert, the child murder himself is presented to the audience several times throughout the film; he is shown to be involved with a constant internal struggle between allowing the darkest parts of his mind to overcome him and remaining sane. However, this film is, in some respects, making a statement less about murder and more about society at the time in which the film was released. More specifically, the film warns against and even mocks the competency and ability of the police to perform their jobs. There is a scene within the film involving an organization of beggars with the common goal of catching the child murderer.

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“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” Can love even be measured? It is such an intense feeling that can entirely transform the way that people view the world. It can be experienced more intensely for some compared to others.

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Serial killing is a kind of macabre art perfected by psychopaths, who are either on a pleasure trip or a trial of revenge, who kills at least three victims one by one in a series of sequential murders, with a form of psychological gratification as the primary motive. There is a deep connection between the actions and the psychology of a serial killer. Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon (1981) is a crime thriller and features a serial killer whose cleft lip is the primary factor motivating his murderous behaviour. With particular attention to the image of the mirror, this assignment is concerned with offering a psychoanalytic reading of the novel, through the Lacanian concept of the mirror stage. It also aims to analyse the reasons and motives of the serial killer Francis Dolarhyde in the light of psychological theories like psychoanalysis and behavioural theory.

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Peter Petrovich, the fiancé of Raskolnikov’s sister, first meets Raskolnikov when Raskolnikov is ill in his apartment. Raskolnikov’s preconceived dislike towards Petrovich conveys the idea that Petrovich is not likeable. A reader could understand why Raskolnikov and Petrovich would not work well together; Petrovich carries himself well and is confident in himself while Raskolnikov has a lot of self-doubt and avoids socialization. Whether or not Petrovich is an enjoyable person, his thoughts about self-importance and self-love are easily extendable to outside the world of Crime and Punishment.

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The two novellas “The Metamorphosis,” and “The Death of Ivan Llych” both describe the stories of two men suffering from dramatic events in their lives. The two men both suffer from the feeling of alienation from their families. The two stories can be compared in many ways, and give insight into the way these two characters found peace in their deaths. In the novella “The Death of Ivan Llych” Tolstoy shares a story of a man named Ivan Llych, who gave all his time and attention to his career, that drew a wedge between his marriage and personal life. When decorating the new home for his family, he slipped and hit his side on the window knob, which caused the decline of Ivan Llychs life and health to begin.

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The relationship between the mother and child is shown through the authors use of connotative language in words such as “wines” “monster” and “hatred” which mirrors the persona’s frustration and shows that their relationship is often one of hatred and resentment. Through the metaphor of “the devils burning in my brain” as well as the “monster grins”, Harwood conveys a metaphorical suggestion of her internal frustration. ‘Burning Sappho’ was written under the female

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Introduction Human history is abundant in examples of individuals who have amassed such power with themselves that have allowed them to control entire populations, and often unleash tyranny and oppression upon millions of people. Throughout history there have been individuals who have held an iron grip over entire nations, concentrating totalitarian power with themselves, denying any freedom to people, crushing any form of dissent, and often unleashing mass violence, terror, and in some cases genocide. These people have shaped the future of peoples, regions and continents, starting wars and conflicts, and determining the course of millions of lives. And because of this very fact, that a single person could such a huge impact over the lives of so many people, it is very important to study the very factors that caused these individuals to make the decisions that they did, specifically, the factors and that shaped up the personality of these

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The understanding that some people are good or bad widespread all over the world.” The evil comes from human history and continue until today” and even today this statement has existed. Moreover, when people want to explain why people do some evil acts, the discussion often end with words like “people initially are born evil”. However, some other people argued that people are born good. Because of these many critics has debates such as: are people born bad, good or just like naked board without any morality.

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Saint Petersburg, the setting of Crime and Punishment, plays a major role in the formation in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s acclaimed novel. Dostoyevsky’s novels focus on the theme of man as a subject of his environment. Dostoyevsky paints 1860s St. Petersburg as an overcrowded, filthy, and chaotic city. It is because of Saint Petersburg that Raskolnikov is able to foster in his immoral thoughts and satisfy his evil inclinations. It is only when Raskolnikov is removed from the disorderly city and taken to the remoteness of Siberia that he can once again be at peace.

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