Duplicity, Disguise, Disa!

(Orsino And Viola by Frederick Pickersgill)

In class we've spoken on several occasions about duplicity in Nabokov's work. We talked about doppelgangers in realation to Humbert Humbert and Quilty in Lolita. In Pale Fire, we've lightly touched on the subject in reference to the recurrence of mirrors throughout the book, this concept of reflections. Water plays a key role in this. However, it wasn't until Gretchen Minton's visit on Thursday, and her explanation of the influence of Shakespeare on this novel, that I made my discovery.

On page 173 of Pale Fire, this passage caught my eye; Kinbote recalls his first encounter with his soon-to-be-wife Disa: "She had come in male dress, as a Tirolese boy, a little knock-kneed but brave and lovely".

For those of you (like myself) who had no idea what a "Tirolese boy" looked like, here's a video of Tirolese dancers. ( Tirol is a small state in Austria.)

This one line from Pale Fire, seemingly serving only to show Kinbote's homosexual attractions, brought to mind the similar disguise of Viola from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Disguise and duplicity play a major role in this play as well. Viola is doubled by her brother Sebastian. Olivia is doubled by Orsino. The list continues for almost every character in the play. Resemblance and this disguising of self manifests itself most aptly in the person of Viola. Here is a woman dressed as a man who then loves a man, Orsino. Homoerotic tendencies can be found in this relationship as well. Orsino says "I'll sacrifice the lamb that I do love" (here speaking of Viola who he thinks is a man) "to spite a raven's heart within a dove" (here speaking of Olivia who he supposedly loves) (5.1.127-128).

Disa disguises herself as a man and loves a man, Kinbote, just as Viola does. However, Kinbote, unlike Orsino, does not end up loving Disa once this disguise is abandoned.

The disguise theme does not stray far from the character of Kinbote himself. He lives in exile, disguised as a professor and all-too-interested neighbor. He escapes Zembla in disguise, wearing a red cap and red outfit. This red echoes the Red Admiral butterfly seen in the last passage just before John Shade's death.

When I researched the meaning of the name Disa, I found that in Greek, it means double. Disa also refers to a genus of orchids. Though they come in several colors, the majority of the pictures I found were red.

(Disa Uniflora)