Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Research topic: Deceptive nature of evil depicted in novel “Twilight” by Stephanie Meyer.
Research question: How do the main characters of Twilight succumb to the biblical
descriptions and characteristics of temptation?
The context: Twilight is a fiction romance that takes place in modern day Forks, where a
girl named bella has just moved to live in forks. She finds herself particulary drawn to a
mysterious, very good looking boy named Edward, who is a vampire that tries to avoid
Bella because she makes him crave to kill her very badly. They cannot resist their mutual
attraction and falls in love, however their relationship exposes them both to inevitable
danger.

Author:
Stephanie Mayer was raised in Phoenix, Arizona. Before writing Twilight, the idea to
become a writer was just an unfulfilled dream. Stephanie worked as a receptionist at a
property company until she turned to be a mom for her oldest son, Gabe.
On June, 2003, Stephanie had a dream about a human girl and a vampire who was in love
with her but thirsted for her blood. Based on this dream, she wrote the story of Twilight.

Definitions:
Vampire - A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence
(generally in the form of blood) of the living.
Temptation - the act of tempting or the state of being tempted especially to evil.
Evil - profound immorality and wickedness, especially when regarded as
a supernatural force.
 • Quote 1. - “I'm the world's best predator, aren't I? Everything about me invites you
in — my voice, my face, even my smell.” – Edward Cullen.
• Quote 2. - "Yes, you are exactly my brand of heroin." - Edward Cullen.

Novelty and topicality – When I watched the film and finished reading the book, as a
Christian I wanted to look-up from a biblical viewpoint to the Novel “Twilight” as the
symbolism of vampires and demons in bible, and the forbidden fruit – the temptation of
Adam and Eve compared to the hardcover of the twilight book – an apple in hands,
however I could not find much information about this topic so I decided that this would
be a novel research.

Research of the primary source –

1. “That's because you believe only the lies... the camouflage. I'm the world's
most dangerous predator, Bella. Every thing about me invites you in. My voice,
my face, even my smell.” – Edward (movie)
2. "Yes, you are exactly my brand of heroin." – Edward (page – 159)
3. “To me, it was like you were some kind of demon, summoned straight from
my own personal hell to ruin me” – Edward (page – 162)
4. “And so the lion fell in love with the lamb…" – Edward (page – 164)
5. “But all this is not why I couldn't look away. I stared because their faces, so
different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. They were
faces you never expected to see except perhaps on the airbrushed pages of
a fashion magazine. Or painted by an old master as the face of an angel. It
was hard to decide who was the most beautiful — maybe the perfect blond
girl, or the bronze-haired boy.” – Bella (page -13)
6. “I couldn't imagine how an angel could be any more glorious. There was
nothing about him that could be improved upon.” – Bella (page -143)
7. “It's wrong. It's not safe. I'm dangerous, Bella — please, grasp that.”
– Edward (page – 113)
8. “What if I'm not a superhero? What if I'm the bad guy?" He smiled
playfully, but his eyes were impenetrable.” – Edward (page -55)
9. “Only three entries really caught my attention: the Romanian
Varacolaci, a powerful undead being who could appear as a beautiful, pale-
skinned human, the Slovak Nelapsi, a creature so strong and fast it could
massacre an entire village in the single hour after midnight, and one other,
the Stregoni benefici.” – Bella (page-79)

10. “And then I knew I was dead. Because, through the heavy water, I
heard the sound of an angel calling my name, calling me to the only heaven
I wanted. "Oh no, Bella, no!" the angel's voice cried in horror. Behind that
longed-for sound was another noise — an awful tumult that my mind shied
away from. A vicious bass growling, a shocking snapping sound, and a high
keening, suddenly breaking off… I tried to concentrate on the angel's voice
instead. "Bella, please! Bella, listen to me, please, please, Bella, please!" he
begged. Yes, I wanted to say. Anything. But I couldn't find my lips.
"Carlisle!" the angel called, agony in his perfect voice. "Bella, Bella, no, oh
please, no, no!" And the angel was sobbing tearless, broken sobs. The angel
shouldn't weep, it was wrong. I tried to find him, to tell him everything was
fine, but the water was so deep, it was pressing on me, and I couldn't
breathe. There was a point of pressure against my head. It hurt. Then, as
that pain broke through the darkness to me, other pains came, stronger
pains. I cried out, gasping, breaking through the dark pool. "Bella!" the fire!
Someone stop the fire!" I screamed as it burned me. (page 273-274).
11. “Edward in the sunlight was shocking. I couldn’t get used to it,
though I'd been staring at him all afternoon. His skin, white despite the faint
flush from yesterday's hunting trip, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny
diamonds were embedded in the surface. He lay perfectly still in the grass,
his shirt open over his sculpted, incandescent chest, his scintillating arms
bare. His glistening, pale lavender lids were shut, though of course he didn't
sleep. A perfect statue, carved in some unknown stone, smooth like marble,
glittering like crystal.” – Bella (page – 154).
Research of secondary sources –
• “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that
when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing
good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5, NIV)
God could have destroyed Adam and Eve, but out of his gracious love, he killed animals
to make clothes for them to cover their newly-discovered nakedness. He did, however,
cast them out of the Garden of Eden. (The Fall of Man)
• ”Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.
These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives
birth to death.“
James 1:14-15 NLT
• “Biblically, a lamb symbolizes gentleness, innocence, sometimes a childlike
vulnerability. It is not aggressive. It is easily led and controlled by a shepherd.” –
John W. Ritenbaugh. (John W. Ritenbaugh)
• ”Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a
roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.“ – (1. Peter 5:8)
• Yet, while God's Word warns us against Satanic deceptions, it does not provide
the standard horror movie images. In fact, it often does just the opposite,
cautioning us with the fact that the Devil and his demons do their best to appear
as appealing to our senses as they can be. From what we see in Genesis 3, the
serpent did not repulse Eve; to her in her innocence, he was logical and quite
convincing. (Richard T. Ritenbaugh)
• In Ezekiel 28, the description of the king of Tyre, a type of Satan, lauds him as
“the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (verse 12). It
describes a creature whose beauty and magnificence turned his heart proud and
corrupt (verse 17). (Richard T. Ritenbaugh)
• “Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great
thing if his ministers [servants] also transform themselves into ministers of
righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.” Demons do not
always look like snakes, dragons, gargoyles, or goblins but have the ability to
appear attractive to us when it suits them. If accosted by a ghoul, we would
shrink in horror and flee. Demons, though, are all about deception, and
appearing as good and beautiful is far more subversive. People are far more
likely to trust a physically appealing person than an old hag or troll. (Richard T.
Ritenbaugh)
• a demon, being manipulative to the extreme, will appear to a person in a way
that he thinks will work best for his purposes. A demon will stoop to whatever
trick he deems necessary, even to appearing as a minister of righteousness.
(Richard T. Ritenbaugh)
Conclusions

• Twilight draws parallels with the biblical story of the fall of mankind. Edward is
very mysterious and attractive on the outside, but inside he is a bloodthirsty
demon like the evil snake of Eden. Bella is like Eve and cannot resist the
temptation of becoming a vampire and living eternal life with Edward.
• Bella is vulnerable and pure like a lamb, however Edward is a predatory beast like
a lion. The story of Twilight contradicts the laws of nature and the bible by
showing that a lion can fall in love with a lamb.
• Bella and Edward’s giving in to temptation results in nearly deadly consequences,
similar to the biblical story of Adam and Eve. While Adam and Eve were not
literally killed, their actions had serious outcomes.

sources:

1. Evil. (n.d.). In bab.la Dictionary. Retrieved from

https://en.bab.la/dictionary/english/evil
2. The Fall of Man. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/the-fall-
of-man-bible-story-700082
3. The Holy Bible. (1996). New Living Translation (NLT).
4. Meyer, S. (2005). Twilight. Little, Brown and Company.
5. Ritenbaugh, J. W. (1999, April). Sermon: The Spiritual Mark Of The Beast.
Retrieved from
https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Audio.Details/ID/507/Spiritual-
Mark-of-Beast.htm
6. Ritenbaugh, R. T. (n.d.). What the Bible says about Evil Appearing as Attractive.
Retrieved from
https://www.bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Topical.show/RTD/cgg/ID/184
90/Evil-Appearing-as-Attractive.htm
7. Rozentāls, T. (2024). Poll answers. Retrieved from
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18A24rcmGshG-
uMl31ViRUumz7neGxuFoOjREFqLjcFs/edit?usp=sharing
8. Temptation. (n.d.). In Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved from
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/temptation
9. Vampire. (n.d.). In DBpedia. Retrieved from https://dbpedia.org/page/Vampire