The Jury

“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, exhibit number one is what the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied. Look a this tangle of thorns" (Lolita, Vldaimir Nabokov, pg 9).

As Nabokov finishes up the first chapter, he addresses the jury, his reader, for the first time formally. By calling the reader “the jury” he is addressing the fact that he is talking about something overly sensitive to many people and most will judge either him or his character—possibly both. It’s not the last time he will address his readership, but it is the start of the trend in the book. Any time an unconventional occurrence is about to happen, the reader is addressed as “the jury.” It’s a way to warn the reader, but as to make a point that the reader will make judgments on the character either fairly or unfairly. In calling his readers the jury, Nabokov is making his reader a character in the book; he is fully immersing the reader in the story. By making the reader a character, it brings the reader in more closely to the story. The readers aren’t just outsiders looking in; they are insiders watching what’s going on firsthand. It’s a nice trick that Nabokov uses to make the reader become closer to the story. When the reader is a character among a character they loathe or find disgusting, it’s much harder to distance oneself from the evil and sin.

By using the word “jury,” the Nabokov is presenting the character and his actions as something that has to be justified. Since the person the character loves is illegal and somewhat intangible, negative feelings and assumptions are made toward all of his actions to the girl.

“Exhibit number one” is the beginning to a rather psychoanalytic approach to justifying his actions. After this point he talks about why he is the way he is, in a way that one would talk to their therapist about their feelings--ironically, and somewhat satirically considering the fact that Nabokov openly hated Freud (fully talked about in the introduction of the book), the father of psychoanalysis.

“What the seraphs, the misinformed, simple, noble-winged seraphs, envied,” refers to the people who don’t understand his love; the real, passionate love he has. They are misinformed by the social assumptions put in place about men who like young girls. These men are assembled to be sick, but he disagrees. They are simple for the same reason that they are misinformed—they just don’t know. “Noble-winged seraphs” talks about the royalty these judgment people think they have. They think they are angelically royal in all they do, but they are jealous of the real love he has for Lo.

“Look at this tangle of thorns” is such a great introduction to the rest of the novel. It’s complicated. Thorns are viewed as destructive and ugly. But thorns hold roses, one of the most beautiful flowers. A tangle of ugly thorns protects the beauty that is true to Humbert; his love is beautiful, as is the object of his love.