1. How Does Twilight Define Good And Evil?
1. How does Twilight define good and evil?
Note that the epigraph to Twilight refers to a verse in Genesis regarding "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," representing the dangers of knowing too much about what really is good or evil. This is related to the cover art, where apparently an Eve figure is holding out an apple from this tree for Adam to eat. This opening reference suggests that Bella is a serious problem for Edward. He is often trying to withhold knowledge from her, but she is the one going after knowledge. With theGenesis passage in mind, it is not necessarily a good thing to know too much about good and evil, but Bella goes after it anyway.
From another point of view, the least important thing in defining whether a character is good or evil is the nature he or she has. For example, none of the Cullens is evil because he or she is a vampire. Instead, the book judges beings by how they deal with their thoughts and desires. In the case of the Cullens, they choose to sacrifice …show more content…
Honesty is highly valued in Twilight, and it is much of what makes Edward and Bella’s love so true—they are each incapable of lying to the other. But honesty does not mean revealing the full truth from the beginning; there is much that Edward thinks Bella is not ready to know. Honesty is actually one of the things that can besacrificed, when a life or an ideal is at stake. Bella also lies to her parents to protect Edward and the Cullens. In contrast, the willingness to sacrifice yourself for someone else or for your ideals—as when Carlisle tried to kill himself—is seen as a very high virtue. Sacrifice and self-control are major factors in living virtuously. Nevertheless, the highest virtue is a kind of sincerity, actually having virtue within yourself and indulging your deepest desires because they are inherently good, such that no self-control is needed. But is there any vampire, or even any human being, who has reached that state of sincerity and pureness of
Note that the epigraph to Twilight refers to a verse in Genesis regarding "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," representing the dangers of knowing too much about what really is good or evil. This is related to the cover art, where apparently an Eve figure is holding out an apple from this tree for Adam to eat. This opening reference suggests that Bella is a serious problem for Edward. He is often trying to withhold knowledge from her, but she is the one going after knowledge. With theGenesis passage in mind, it is not necessarily a good thing to know too much about good and evil, but Bella goes after it anyway.
From another point of view, the least important thing in defining whether a character is good or evil is the nature he or she has. For example, none of the Cullens is evil because he or she is a vampire. Instead, the book judges beings by how they deal with their thoughts and desires. In the case of the Cullens, they choose to sacrifice …show more content…
Honesty is highly valued in Twilight, and it is much of what makes Edward and Bella’s love so true—they are each incapable of lying to the other. But honesty does not mean revealing the full truth from the beginning; there is much that Edward thinks Bella is not ready to know. Honesty is actually one of the things that can besacrificed, when a life or an ideal is at stake. Bella also lies to her parents to protect Edward and the Cullens. In contrast, the willingness to sacrifice yourself for someone else or for your ideals—as when Carlisle tried to kill himself—is seen as a very high virtue. Sacrifice and self-control are major factors in living virtuously. Nevertheless, the highest virtue is a kind of sincerity, actually having virtue within yourself and indulging your deepest desires because they are inherently good, such that no self-control is needed. But is there any vampire, or even any human being, who has reached that state of sincerity and pureness of