Abusive Behavior : An analysis of Edward Cullen in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight

Sammanfattning: Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series has reached huge popularity among young adults and as a futureteacher I am concerned about what kind of a message these books send to teenagers. In this essay I arguethat the main character of the book, Edward Cullen, shows signs of an abusive personality and that thesesigns have been romanticized and idealized by the author. I also argue that the fans of Twilight haveromanticized Edward's behavior. I accomplish this by a close reading of the series and other relevantliterature. Edward has the following signs that an abusive person has: jealousy, controlling behavior,quick involvement, isolation, sudden mood changes, threats of violence and force during an argument.These signs the author has romanticized with the imagery that can be found in the books. Also, Meyerportrays Edward as better than everyone else and by doing so she idealizes his character. Edward'sabusive behavior has been interpreted as actions of true love by fans making these patterns of abusivebehavior seem romantic.