Clare Quilty
Quilty is a playwright who dabbles in child pornography. He shadows Humbert throughout the film as his Doppelganger, or double. Like Humbert, he is a highly literate paedophiliac; the difference is, Lolita truly loves Quilty, whereas she never returns Humbert's love.Mysterious, manipulative, and utterly corrupt, Quilty is Humberts double. He s... Show more »
Quilty is a playwright who dabbles in child pornography. He shadows Humbert throughout the film as his Doppelganger, or double. Like Humbert, he is a highly literate paedophiliac; the difference is, Lolita truly loves Quilty, whereas she never returns Humbert's love.Mysterious, manipulative, and utterly corrupt, Quilty is Humberts double. He serves as a kind of mirror image of Humbert, reflecting similar traits and thoughts but embodying a darker side of those characteristics that Humbert stridently disavows. Quilty and Humbert both adore nymphets, but they act on their adoration in very different ways. While Humbert slavishly worships and idealizes Lolita, Quilty takes her for granted and wishes to denigrate her through pornography. Humbert paints himself as a man in love, while Quilty is, in many ways, a more typical paedophile. Both Quilty and Humbert are men of letters, well read and very persuasive, but Quilty has a much more successful career. Quilty is also far less subtle than Humbert about his nymphet obsession. Quiltys professional success and reputation perhaps allow him to get away with his deviant behaviour, though he is well known for his predilection for young girls and has already faced charges. At his final encounter with Humbert, Quiltys baroque speech, cavalier attitude, and persistent game-playing imply that he, like Humbert, is not quite sane. He dies in the middle of an attempt to bribe Humbert with a variety of perverse pleasures. Show less «
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