From the hysteria of 17th century witch hunts, to the biblical belief that all objects touched by a menstruating woman became impure, female sexuality has been considered by men with fear and hostility for thousands of years. Accused by Tertulian of being "the devil's door", women have long been kept under strict regulation, their sexuality often repressed by patriarchal societies for fear of what might happen if the "uncontrollable nature" of such "savage creatures" [1] have free reign. As a result, women have historically been considered to occupy a place of contradiction in literature, often dismissed by male writers as weak and valuable to their stories, but at the same time given power over men due to a social obsession for their sensuality. Despite major differences in the setting of the two texts studied here, “Lolita” is a 1940s “road novel,” and “Wide Sargasso Sea” which is set in postcolonial Jamaica, women and girls are portrayed through the eyes of their male counterparts in each novel in strikingly similar ways. Contemporary writers Jean Rhys and Vladimir Nabokov captured the emotional conflict between desire and disgust felt by male protagonists towards the women they are attracted to, highlighting the way female characters are vilified for taking over their sexuality. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay To some extent, both male protagonists are depicted as seeing the women they pursue as supernatural beings rather than human beings, contributing to the vilification of women. Humbert Humbert can be seen blurring the distinction between the character of Lolita, the "nymphet" created by Nabokov, and the "North American little girl," who, thanks to the vivid imagination with which Humbert was written, we often forget is called Dolores. The concept of "nymphet", Nabokov's neologism, derives from the mythological term nymph, which means a woman similar to a spirit of which "the term nûmphe refers to her status as a sexual being". This is used in reference to a young girl to whom Humbert feels attracted, whose "true nature is not human, but nymph (i.e. demonic)". Nabokov uses the adjectives "nymphic" and "demonic" as if they were interchangeable synonyms, suggesting that he intended to present Humbert as seeing sexual attractiveness in girls as something akin to being demonic. This may demonstrate Nabokov's intentions to portray Humbert as viewing Delores as some sort of evil creature, consequently dehumanizing her due to his lust for her, and contributing to the idea that Humbert is shown to vilify her. During various accounts of Humbert's encounters with those described as "demon children", paradoxically meaning the "nymphets" with whom he is "strangely in love", the multilingual Nabokov describes a girl as an "enfant charmante et fourbe", that is, a lovely child. and deceptive. This may invite the reader to imagine such "nymphets" as temptresses, who use their supernatural powers of deception to seduce Humbert. This demonic representation, which is given to the reader at the beginning of the story, may be the progenitor of Lolita, which is no exception to Nabokov's extended metaphor. Through Humbert's eyes, Lolita is depicted as "irremediably depraved", indicating that she is sexually immoral. , and he equates this with her being a "demon child". The emotional adverb “hopeless” may suggest that Nabokov intended to portray Humbert perceiving Dolores asdefenseless, which may evoke in the reader the idea that this is why Humbert was able to rationalize his sexual relations with her. As a first-person narrator, it is likely that Nabokov intended to portray Humbert as unreliable; the authenticity of Dolores' supposed depravity may be questionable to many, considering she is twelve years old. By the way, one can guess that Humbert from Nabokov's almost constant references to satanic imagery, is understood as struggling with conflicting emotions, hence the "agonizing" love that is presented to him, and may attempt to pin the blame on Dolores and to other "nymphets" for the lust they are shown to inspire in him. In this way, Nabokov could show Humbert vilifying Dolores for the sexual power she has over him, and present him as attempting to justify behavior that would today be recognized as pedophilia. ”, it can be interpreted that Rhys tried to establish relationships between the presentation of Antoinette as an attractive and sexually liberated woman and his presentation as a supernatural villain. In describing his wife, Rochester is shown to be "uncomfortable" by commenting on her "alien eyes", which, while comparing her to a feared supernatural being, an alien, may also symbolize an inability to relate to his seemingly alien culture. Continued supernatural imagery is used in reference to Antoinette, including the simile used by Rhys that Antoinette has "eyes like a zombie." This simile could be understood in reference to his eyes appearing dead or lifeless, like the zombies of Caribbean folklore. It can be interpreted that Rochester, who readily believes Cosway's sensationalist stories, is portrayed as associating sexual promiscuity with supernatural evil, especially when in many cases of "zombification" recorded in history, "those who were transformed into zombies were probably already alienated from their communities"[2]. Since Antoinette, who has probably been portrayed as a delinquent due to the sexual relations of which she is accused by Cosway, is compared to a zombie, it can therefore be said that for this reason she is denigrated, to the point of being feared and demonized, as the alleged zombies they were. It can also be argued that the demonization of Antoinette stems from the portrayal that Rochester hates Caribbean culture. Jamaica is presented through the framework of Rochester's narrative as a hostile place, of which, Rochester observes, "I hated its beauty and its magic." The "magic" perhaps refers to Jamaica's prevalence of superstition and black magic, a religion considered by many colonizers to be sexually depraved, and the "beauty" to the sensual landscape of which Antoinette is a personification. Using the parallel between the strangeness of Jamaican Obeah to the Western reader and the strangeness of Antoinette's Creole culture to British Victorian Rochester, Rhys can invite the reader to see Antoinette as a sexual villain through the framing of Rochester's narrative. Depicted to associate Antoinette with the "wild place" of which she is the personification, Rochester resents Antoinette, "because she belonged to magic." Ultimately, Antoinette is "bought for profit, deemed exotic, hysterical, and incomprehensible to her buyer"[3], and as a result Rochester can be seen denigrating her for her perceived sensuality as a Caribbean woman. Nabokov similarly uses the setting to show the denigration of female protagonists, using Dolores to personify various stereotypical aspects of 1950s American culture. Through the first-person narrative of Humbert, a foreigner like his creator, Nabokov, the reader is given “the vision of Americathat could only come from an outsider”[4], including aspects concerning, as the critic Mary Elizabeth Williams states, “maximum lust, hypocrisy and obsession”[5]. Dolores can be understood to symbolize these aspects. Humbert is portrayed with dislike for them and can be seen defaming Dolores because of them. Nabokov describes Dolores as “the ideal consumer, subject and object of every disgusting manifesto.” The adjective “foul” serves to make the reader aware of Humbert's hatred of the posters, often containing sexual overtones, perhaps due to the way they assert control over his naive love, the “object” of their advertisement. Nabokov describes her control through the metaphor of advertising "enchanting" her, implying that she was under some sort of spell. Humbert is said to hate this fact, perhaps due to the overly sexualized way in which Hollywood advertising bombarded consumers, particularly impressionable young people, at the time. It could be interpreted this way because Nabokov intended to show Humbert wanting to maintain all control over Dolores' sexual desires. Noting that Dolores is presented with a love of Hollywood magazines, one of which Nabokov calls a "filthy movie magazine", one can see that she may be exploring her sexuality through the mediums of Hollywood, something that Humbert may be shown to resent at due to Nabokov's use of the adjective "lurid", a word that can be interpreted as overly sexualized and vulgar. Indeed, in one paragraph Nabokov talks about his greedy consumerism, and Dolores uses the slang word “swank,” popularized by Hollywood films, and Humbert refers to Dolores as his “vulgar darling.” The juxtaposition of these two opposing words suggests an internal struggle on Humbert's part, indicating that Nabokov may have intended to present to him a hatred for the vulgar and sexualized language she uses, and the way she is presented as sexually attracted to Hollywood actors, a because of the sexually negative language he uses. This may show Nabokov's intentions to present Humbert to vilify any aspect of Dolores' developing sexuality that does not concern him. On a deeper level, Nabokov could also use Humbert's feelings to show his defamation of sexualized America, since “If Lolita represents America, she is physically attractive, superficial, and deeply corrupt”[6]. It is safe to say that filthy Hollywood held, and still holds, a form of sexual power over many, which is comparable to the way Dolores holds sexual power over Humbert. Humbert's conjured image of Dolores as a “nymphet” may cause him to be presented as seeing her with more sexual consciousness than he actually does. After revealing the details of her sexual encounters at summer camp to him, Humbert is disappointed that he was not "the first" to "deforest" her. From this it can be deduced that for Humbert, being "the first", there would come a sense of ownership, a sense of reassurance that she was, as Nabokov calls her, "pure" when he had sex with her for the first time . Nabokov's use of the verb “debauch” indicates that he intended to show Humbert that he considered her corrupt and dirty because someone had already had sex with her before. This contrast of emotions may show that Humbert is paradoxically presented thinking that it is wrong for Dolores to have had sex with others, but acceptable for her to have sex with him. After Dolores told him what had happened, Humbert "made Lo [...] take a much-needed soap shower," insinuating that, as if by asking her to clean herself physically, he could somehow also cleanse herself of the metaphorical filth which is”, 1987