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1 item from 2011

10 October 2011 9:44 AM, PDT | twilightersanonymous.com | See recent TwilightersAnonymous news »

The Sydney Morning Herald has a rather fascinating story about the exact type of rather dysfunctional hero that Edward Cullen really is. The author that the article is written about sees Edward as a type of “Byronic hero”, a type that both exactly fits him, and yet doesn’t quite fit right him either. Interestingly enough, one of the very first vampire stories was based on the real Lord Byron – where we get the term “Byronic hero”. Keep an open mind and check out the article below:

The collective name for these literary bad boys is “Byronic heroes”. Named after Lord Byron, they are, in the famous words of one of his lovers, Lady Caroline Lamb, “mad, bad and dangerous to know”. The real Lord Byron, it turns out, was the inspiration for one of the first vampires to appear in English literature. One of Byron’s acquaintances, John Polidori, based Lord Ruthven, the main character in his 1819 short story The Vampyre, on Byron.

Viewed in this light, Edward is about as close to the original Byronic hero as you can get. Natalie Wilson, author of Seduced by Twilight: The Allure and Contradictory Messages of the Popular Saga, agrees, up to a point. Edward, she says, differs from the traditional Byronic hero in a number of important respects.

“Many Byronic heroes revel in being bad. Edward hates himself for his ‘badness’ and the danger he poses to Bella,” she says. “He has a lot more angst than a typical Byronic hero and he genuinely tries to protect Bella-something Byronic heroes don’t normally do for their leading ladies. Granted, his ‘protection’ results in him controlling Bella but his domination comes from the desire to protect her, not harm her.”

Wilson continues: “And, significantly, he wants to protect her humanity and particularly her virginity. Traditional Byronic heroes were not so chaste but actively tried to turn their leading ladies into ‘fallen women’. ”

Stories featuring Byronic heroes usually end in tragedy but although Edward is good-looking and dangerous and disregards social norms, Edward and Bella’s story ends in wedded bliss. Judged against that standard, Edward starts to look like the best of a rotten bunch. Sure, he may be a homicidal blood-sucking bad boy but at least he’s a self-aware homicidal blood-sucking bad boy

Read the full, very interesting article at The Sydney Morning Herald here.

“Sure, he may be a homicidal blood-sucking bad boy but at least he’s a self-aware homicidal blood-sucking bad boy.” I’m laughing so hard at this, like darn near rolling on the floor laughing! That’s one of those quotable quotes that could live forever. So sure, you could get all angry about this view of Edward, but unlike common haters, this person has done their homework.

What do you think of this view of Edward? It does sound a little bit like Jacob really, doesn’t it?

hanks Noor!) »

- Evie

1 item from 2011