Good, Evil, and Perspective Theme Analysis

Twilight is, in many ways, a classic story of good (the Cullens and Bella) triumphing over evil (James, a vampire who tracks specific humans for sport). But it complicates what’s good and what’s evil in many ways: Bella is portrayed as a good, kind, smart girl, but to Edward she’s also a temptress of sorts and the thing that could destroy his family’s way of life. And though Edward sees himself as mostly evil—and Bella’s research into vampires suggests that most cultures see vampires as evil, bloodthirsty monsters—Bella sees Edward and his family as the exact opposite because they choose to be good whenever possible, such as with their vampire “vegetarianism” (feeding on animals instead of humans). In this way, Twilight ultimately suggests that good and evil aren’t as clear-cut as they might initially seem. Rather, good and evil are subjective judgments and depend on a person’s perspective, culture, and experiences.

Twilight suggests that what a person views as evil is often rooted in their cultural or spiritual beliefs. As a young human man, for instance, Carlisle led raids on groups that his father, an Anglican pastor, deemed bad, such as Catholics and vampires. When Edward tells Bella the details of Carlisle’s story, he very specifically doesn’t go into the reasoning behind why these groups were seen as bad: it’s just the way things were at the time, he seems to imply. This upbringing caused Carlisle to experience intense self-loathing when he became a vampire, as he’d never had to consider that he might one day find himself a member of a group he considered evil. Similarly, when Jacob tells Bella an old Quileute legend about Quileutes being werewolves locked in a centuries-old conflict with vampires, his story repeats Carlisle’s early belief that vampires are evil. While Jacob acknowledges that the Cullens (who appear in the story) aren’t dangerous, as they feed on animals instead of humans, he nevertheless presents it as a fact that vampires are bad and, whenever possible, should be avoided. While Jacob makes it clear that he doesn’t believe any part of the legend, it’s nevertheless interesting that he offers no value judgment about Quileutes being werewolves. Within the Quileute culture, this is just accepted as fact and the way things are, not something that makes them negative or evil. However, when Edward tells Carlisle’s story to Bella, he mentions that one of the groups Carlisle once led raids on were werewolves—in mid-17th century England werewolves were considered evil. The novels suggests that what’s considered evil is a matter of culture, and so this perspective is different across place and time.

Even as it shows that perspectives are not always the same, Twilight shows how such perspectives often result in people making snap value judgments or assumptions—which often have little to do with reality. To most people, Bella looks like a normal teenage girl. She’s smart, generous, and though she doesn’t think of herself as pretty, other boys around her clearly do, and her female peers perceive her as a threat because of this. But none of this matters the first time that Edward meets Bella—he sees her as a temptress, come to destroy the Cullens’ way of life simply because her blood smells better to him than that of any other human, which tests Edward’s self-control. To Edward, it doesn’t matter at first that there’s more to Bella than just her scent and her blood—she is, to him, a “demon” sent to destroy him. Though Edward soon gets over this initial sense and embarks on a romance with Bella, Edward’s adoptive vampire sister, Rosalie, never does. Indeed, Rosalie is terrified of what might happen to her family if things were to “end badly” with Bella. In this way, Rosalie sees Bella as incompatible with her life and her world, in the same way as the novel suggests many people see vampires as a threat to the mortal world. Similarly, Jacob’s father Billy Black and other members of the Quileute tribe aren’t willing or able to reevaluate how they feel about the Cullens when Dr. Cullen gets a job at the county hospital. Unwilling to acknowledge that Dr. Cullen has faithfully abided by the treaty forbidding him from coming onto Quileute land—or that Dr. Cullen is a “brilliant” surgeon and doctor—many Quileutes refuse to receive medical care at the hospital. It’s more important for them to stay true to their cultural beliefs than it is to consider that there may be something to gain by reevaluating them.

Indeed, one of Twilight’s most important ideas is that positive things can happen when people are willing to reevaluate what they see as good or evil. Bella provides a clear model of what the novel suggests is the ideal way to go about reevaluating one’s beliefs. When Bella starts to suspect that Edward is something more than human, she gathers information and does research on vampires. But most importantly, Bella also looks carefully at what Edward does and how he treats her. She ultimately concludes that even if Edward is a vampire (and therefore, supposedly bad), Edward isn’t bad at all—he saves her life on multiple occasions, and he introduces her to a life-changing, all-encompassing romance that is as compelling as it is exactly because Edward is a vampire. There’s nothing to lose, the novel suggests, by carefully interrogating what one has been raised to believe is true, and it’s possible to come to a more accurate and meaningful understanding by judging a person’s actions rather than their reputation.