Character Analysis
Just in case you were wondering, Hugo is a thoroughly nasty character. He's just about the worst thing that could happen to Tamina—except maybe the creepy children of the island. Hugo's interference in Tamina's life allows her to break completely with the present and desire the weightless existence of a person with no past and no soul. It's this desire that summons Raphael and ushers Tamina into the most terrifying part of her existence.
Hugo is nothing more than another of Kundera's variations on a theme: he's another version of Mirek, the student, or Jan. He's a young man bewildered by the finer details of being human. He lacks the confidence or social skills to approach Tamina in an acceptable way or the moral compass to understand her responses: "...her grimace and averted head aroused him enormously. None of the few women he had known up to now had ever responded so eloquently to his caresses" (IV.20.14).
Like those other characters—Kundera included—he can't figure out how to manage his own emotional life. As a result, Hugo's go-to wooing tactic is rape. Like the student, Hugo is spiteful, filled with litost when he realizes that Tamina sees through his plan to avoid Prague. He just can't bring himself to see Tamina's suffering for what it is and respond to it with compassion.
He also has bad breath. Could this guy get less attractive?