An “Old-World” Humbert Humbert

Humbert Humbert, being the detestable character he was, still managed to carry himself with a distinct European swagger in Lolita. Throughout his perverse journey, H.H. maintained a peculiar code of ethics, given to him by Vladimir Nabokov. In this, Humbert recognized “old-world” when he saw it- for it was the highest of all acknowledgment or compliment he gave, despite his own troubling ventures. His European disposition gave him the ability to recognize the value and significance of the “old-world” manners he believed to have embodied, and also referenced in others so often.
The first time readers encounter Humbert’s idea of commendable action, he is in an already unusual situation: while his newly ex-wife gathers her belongings to leave for good, her taxi-driving boyfriend makes himself comfortable in Humbert’s abode. However crude the driver truly was, Humbert still “[could not] say [Taxovich] behaved insolently or anything like that; on the contrary, he displayed, as a small sideshow in the theatricals [H.H.] had been inveigled in, a discreet old-world civility” (29). H.H. seems to acclaim Mr. Taxovich’s antics perhaps because his Russian “ethics” are familiar, in the European sense, as well as completely blithe in the chaotic situation, as if he had known the Humberts for years.
Humbert also enjoys noting his own very “old-world” characteristics, probably to make himself seem more alluring. Upon arriving at 342 Lawn Street, Charlotte Haze showed Mr. Humbert around her home, while Humbert remained disinterested, and yet, “old-world politeness…obliged [him] to go on with the ordeal” (38). Charlotte Haze, soon after, even writes H.H. about his “old-world reticence [and] sense of decorum” (68), proving to readers that Humbert truly does radiate the European way he admires most.
After marrying Charlotte, Humbert tries his utmost to be sure she is satisfied so as to not interfere with his Lolita obsession. In this, H.H. “amply compensated her by a fantastic display of old-world endearments” (74).
Upon his abduction of Lolita from Camp Q, Humbert learns Lolita’s sexual past is not all-together virginal. “Of course,” in Humbert’s “old-fashioned, old-world way…[he] had taken for granted, when [he] first met her, that she was as un-ravished as the stereotypical notion of ‘normal child’ had been since the lamented end of the Ancient World B.C.” (124). Humbert feels the need to blame his naivety on the “old-world way” in attempts to not seem ignorant to modern affairs.
Lastly, whilst meeting with Pratt, Lolita’s principal, she, too, noted Humbert as “an old-fashioned Continental father” (193). His obsession with keeping the affair quite created sternness, mistaken by others as being “old-fashioned”. Pratt also began to describe Lolita’s sexual development in “zones”, which neither the reader nor Humbert could understand- however, she dismissed his misunderstanding of the entire thought as “the old-fashioned European in [Humbert]” (194).
It is clear that Humbert Humbert truly values an old-world attitude unique to the European ethic he had grown up with. Other characters saw the “old” traits in him, as he saw and admired in other characters. Without this repeated factor, Humbert might not have been the charming character that enticed his audience one old-world affair at a time.