The Soul of Twilight
The Twilight Saga is the ultimate melodrama. An irony seems to permeate the films, as its characters remain beautifully self-serious in the face of increasingly campy conflicts and horrors. Superficially, a constant contrast appears to exist between the characters’ serious performances and the absurdity of their situation, like when Edward frantically googles information about vampire babies or when Bella gives a grave response to discovering Edward’s sparkly nature.
However, it is clear that the film’s melodrama is justified. In Twilight, such melodrama is not overindulgent or ridiculous but an apt reaction to circumstance. Regardless of how seemingly absurd such conflicts appear to the viewer, these issues are serious in this world. While not necessarily a matter of life and death, these issues exist as a symptom of something more transcendental – the soul.
The Twilight films raise the “soul” question several times, especially in response to Bella’s desire to become a vampire. When Bella’s humanity causes Edward to abandon her in New Moon, she begs him to turn her, crying, “Then take my soul. I don't care! I don't want it without you.”
The question of “soul” is never completely answered in the films, always dropped by the characters before the audience can receive a definitive answer as to whether or not the vampires in Twilight have souls. However, this absence of clarity is a response itself.
The existence of the soul is a foregone conclusion in Twilight, an unnecessary conversation, hence its lack of direct confrontation. The films essentially contend that, of course Edward has a soul, otherwise, where would his internal conflict about souls even stem from? Instead, Twilight’s discussion of soul takes a different course, concerned not with its existence, but rather with its Christian religious preservation.
Twilight’s religious slant is present throughout the series, as its vampires continue to adhere to Christian religious doctrine in spite of their immortality. Beginning with New Moon, the soul conflict becomes more central. Believing in his own damnation and soullessness, Edward’s reluctance to turn Bella into a vampire stems from his concern for her soul, a care which ironically indicates the existence of his own. In contrast with Edward’s pessimism, his surrogate father Carlisle presents a pious optimism, explaining to Bella that he continues to work as a doctor out of personal dedication to a higher purpose, telling her, “I'm hoping there’s a point to my existence, even if I am damned.”
In spite of Edward’s assertions of his own soullessness, his internal moral conflict and adherence to religious ideology present the audience with apparent evidence of his “soul.” In Eclipse, Edward is less worried about the preservation of Bella’s soul than her virginity. When Bella tries to initiate sex, Edward refuses, saying, “Believe me, I want to. I just want to be married to you first.” Why would an immortal, soulless vampire be so occupied with traditional ideals of marriage and chastity? Would a being without a soul care about the sin of extramarital sex? The audience’s answer is supposed to be no; Edward’s concern for Bella’s virginity is meant to be a clear signal of his piety, and thus, his soul. I mean, what else could possibly motivate him to remain a 117 year old virgin?
Twilight’s concern for the soul continues into Breaking Dawn with Bella’s pregnancy, utilizing its theme of soul to condemn abortion. Bella’s pregnancy is quite literally life-threatening as her half-vampire, half-human fetus attempts to eat its way out of her stomach. However, abortion is inconceivable in the world of Twilight, a sin against the soul. Seeing the effect Bella’s pregnancy has had on her, Jacob angrily confronts the Cullen family, asking them, “Why haven't you done anything? Take it out of her!” While ignoring Jacob’s plea to “take it out of her,” Alice agrees that the “fetus isn't good for Bella.” However, Rosalie reminds the audience of the soul’s significance, angrily retorting, “Say the word, Alice. ‘Baby.’ It's just a little baby.” In Twilight, abortion is a sin, an act worthy of damnation. Thus, the true horror of Bella’s pregnancy is not the danger it presents to her life, but the threat it places on the soul of her unborn child.
The conflict of the Twilight series lies not with its external horrors but with its internal spirit, exploring a concern for the maintenance of piety. Each conflict presents an issue of the soul, beyond the immediate, obvious problem at hand. The soul’s religious preservation lies at the heart of Twilight, existing as the motivation for its characters as they continue to uphold their piety against a series of conflicts that threaten to undermine it.