First Kisses in Literature

Lolita-Vladimir Nabakov
1. Shared between Lolita and Humbert
  1. Humbert is aware of what he is doing-he understands that he is breaking the law
    1. 'As the psychotherapist, as well as the rapist, will tell you'
    2. Forbidden love
    3. 'Afraid I might go too far and cause her to start back in revulsion and terror'
2. Set in the car after the death of Lolita's mother
  1. Extremely uncomfortable for the reader-Lolita is twelve years old and Humbert is in his thirties
    1. 'Sweet wetness and trembling fire'
    2. 'Peppermint taste of her saliva'
    3. 'I touched her hot, opening lips with the utmost piety, tiny sips, nothing salacious'
3. Unreliable narrator
4. 'Lolita positively flowed into my arms'
  1. Exposes Lolitas innocence and child-like nature
The Magic Toyshop
1. Shared between Melanie and Finn
  1. Set in the Pleasure Garden
    1. Despite the location being spacious, Melanie feels like she can't escape
      1. She describes the kiss as inevitable
      2. Finn=animal/gross imagery
        'He wiped his mouth on the back of his hand'
        'Raised his black PVC arms and flapped them, cawing like a crow'
        'Warm breath from his wild beast's mouth'
  2. The kiss destroys Melanie's original day-dreams of first kisses
    1. 'Just get it over with'
    2. 'She imagined that they must have looked quite striking[....] She choked and struggled'
  3. The characters are positioned either side of a fallen statue of a queen
    1. Shows separation between them
    2. The queen represents Melanie's dreams of romance being destroyed
2. Male-led scenario; Finn leads the encounter entirely
  1. Melanie is described as being 'stiff' and trapped
Romeo and Juliet
1. Forbidden love
  1. Separated by their families hatred for one another
    1. Passionate and consensual in both people
      1. 'Let lips do what hands do-they pray'
      2. 'You kiss by the book'
      3. Very romantic encounter
        Traditional love
2. The encounter takes place at a party/ball
  1. Neither of them are aware of the other persons identity
Haidee and Juan in Don Juan
1. Lord Byron
2. Vivid colours
  1. 'Spread like a rosy ocean, vast and bright'
    1. 'And beauty, all concentrating like rays'
  2. 'They gazed upon the glittering sea below'
    1. Use of the word 'gazed'-mesmerised by both the sea and each other
3. Use of commas in the first stanza to build tension
  1. 'and, beholding this,'
  2. 'They heard the waves splash, and the wind so low'
    1. Pathetic fallacy
  3. The pace slows after the first stanza
    1. 'A long, long kiss of youth, and love'
      1. Repetition of 'long'

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First Kisses in Literature

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	Created by Rhiannon Brown over 9 years ago