Romeo and Humbert: Simile Courtly Love Relationships
On the one hand, taking Romeo Montague, it is not possible to establish the archetype character without his Juliet. This happens basically because he would lose sense (…) With both it can be seen the courtly love, honest, elegant and courtship love. Decorated in an idyllic setting full of elements such as fountains, orchard or gardens. It takes to show us a detailed description of lady’s beauty, in which presents the woman on a higher, distant and unattainable plane and the man, noble, in love, in a lower level of lover-vassal-friend of the beloved whom he courts. In the same line, there is a set of behaviors developed between them and throughout the play and go from one extreme to the other: from exaltation to depression, from sadness to happiness, from anger to tenderness, from desperation to sensuality.
As we have said, Romeo is presented as impulsive and, therefore, immature and, as opposite, Juliet is presented more introspective, maybe more objective and, definitely, more mature than Romeo. They’re opposite (Romeo as a vassal for Juliet) but complementary, because courtly love wouldn’t take place one without the other. So, it is a romantic courtly love between two young people, who fight against adversity and whose destiny is irremediably tragic, since they move by a passion without limit.
In relation with this, as we have said, Romeo and Juliet fell in love in a few hours at a dance, they got married the next day or a few days, they had their wedding night, they separated and then they met again to die together. There’s no doubt that Shakespeare had to kill them, because if they had not died there would have been more chances that the marriage was a failure to continue being in love. So, it is a simple teen love based in physical and impulsivity.
On the other hand, taking Humbert, with which the comparison is clear, is not possible to establish the archetype without Lolita. Lolita is the main character, so the archetypal it is developed around her and here we can also see that they complement each other. Humbert embodies the archetype of a European refined and cultivated man and also a seducer. In the same line, in comparison to Romeo, her passion for Lolita is the center of her existence. In this way, we can see a character that is constantly away from the reality. The shock of the death of his beloved in his childhood seems to have trapped him in that phase of life, and his obsession with teenagers as the research for this kind of love. Humbert also takes this use of the detailed description of lady’s beauty, a Little different from Romeo, but also with differences, such as the musicality in pronouncing the name of his beloved.
There is also a relationship of superiority that, unlike Romeo and Juliet, here is changed according to the interest of each of the characters. We can see, as another similarity, that there’s also a set of behaviours which take place between both and also go from one extreme to another. We can obviate that Lolita maintains typical adolescence behaviours: sometimes sweet, sometimes manipulative, despite understanding the difficulties in her life at her young age. She acquires a romantic profile of complacent girl-lover. However, through the time she changes as the same time as growing up.
Linked to this, we can consider the passionate love between both, perhaps more like a game on Lolita's part; obsessive in Humbert and, even though it looks like unconditional love, it does not stop being from the irrationality, egocentrism anddisrespect. Disrespect in the fact that he takes advantage of the shortcomings of Lolita. And what at first may seem a bit normal, in the evolution of time and, by the circumstances, his obsession grows until it separates her from social life. And again, another similarity with Romeo and Juliet, a courtly relationship doomed to failure.
