CinderBella - Twilight and Fairytales (not Will and Kate! Well, they do get a mention...)

Before we get started, the A - Z Challenge finishes today (and very thankful I am!) If you'd like to catch my last couple of posts, go here.

One of my awesome commenters for my Byronic Hero series slung one at me - now go and compare zombies with Shakespeare. Well, before I begin research on THAT daunting task, I'd like to quickly share some similarities with fairytales in the Twilight series. Now you Twilight haters, don't get me wrong, I'm not rabidly into Twilight, but this author deserves her due, even though I shamelessly used her to write about my favourite heroes, Darcy and Heathcliff with a dash of Rochester thrown in. Meyer's done her research - she's thought about links and she's written books that have sold millions. I never bedgrudge anyone their success.

Now just for fun, and because I spent yesterday watching Kate (or should I say Catherine?) Middleton's fairytale come true, I give you CinderBella:

"Once upon a time there was a dark forest of deep green where magical creatures simultaneously offered succour and peril, sanctuary and slaughter. At the edge of this forest lived a girl with skin as white as snow, a luscious blush to her cheeks, dark hair that rippled down her back, and a smell more tempting than ripe apples. The girl, whose name meant 'beauty', lived in exile with her father, for whom she kept house, cleaning and cooking with good will. She liked to read and had feet that would not dance and a mind that was silent to the probing of others.


Bella and her father were not poor exactly, but they had little to spare. Peerless as she was, she had no real friends among her own kind. Instead, she fell in love with an outsider-a prince who had the face of an angel, beastly appetites, and skin that reflected sunlight better than any glass slipper. Bella did not always heed warnings never to stray from paths in the forest and was therefore lucky to be befriended by the wolves living there-guardians of the forest and the 'provincial town' of Forks. The wolves cared not that Bella wore no hood of red, only that her blood continued to pump through her veins, lending its colour to her pale cheeks-and that she did not become the handsome prince's next meal."

Twilight and History, Nancy Regin, pp. 47-48.

I ask you, did Stephenie Meyer write the Twilight Saga in the dreamlike realm of the fairytale? Remember, in this genre, horror and romance co-exist.

Which fairytale does Twilight resemble most? If you look closely (and I did) there are bits and pieces of Snow White, Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast and Little Red Riding Hood. The fairytale most apparent, however, is the American Dream - an aspiration of 'survival with hope' that has been handed down through the generations. Think about it...

Hey Bells, I know it ain't much, but I got you this book called Twilight. The lady at the book store said all the kids are talking about it, so I thought you might like it.

With thanks to the Where is Edward Cullen? website.

Bella comes from a lower middle-class family. Her father Charlie is a small-town chief of police, and her mother Renee has a nondescript occupation and education. Rags to riches? Certainly. Maybe Bella wasn't in rags at the beginning of the story, but by the end she had access to unimaginable riches. The American Dream tradition is alive and well in Twilight, where a young woman is a variant of Cinderella, without the glass slippers. The right marriage elevates one out of the dark cabin in the woods to the sunlit castle on the hill. End of story?
 
Do you agree or disagree? Do you recognise a fairytale in Twilight?
 

Rochester and Edward - Part 3 of the Byronic heroes series. How are they similar?

Go here if you're looking for my post for the A-Z Challenge. Currently showing is Q for Queenlsand. Next is R for ...and you won't want to miss this personal anecdote...

And a warm welcome to all my new followers who have joined me here at L'Aussie Writing. I appreciate each one of you and have visited you if there was a link, or if you left a comment.

Now onto our Byronic Hero. Today we compare Rochester and Edward Cullen.

Edward Rochester, the hero of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (1847), feels no guilt for wooing Jane, even though he is already secretly married. When Jane learns of the existence of the mad Bertha Mason, kept imprisoned in the attic at Thornfield Hall, Rochester says: "I am little better than a devil at this moment." He wants to keep Jane as his mistress, but Jane refuses and flees.

At the end of the novel when Jane returns to find a blind and maimed Rochester, he finally expresses some guilt that he is no longer worthy of Jane: "I am no better than the old lightning-struck chesnut tree in Thornfield orchard...And what right would that ruin have to bid a budding woodbine cover its decay with freshness?"

Rochester's guilt feelings are remarkably short-lived and he and Jane marry immediately.

Rather than being tormented by guilt, like many Byronic heroes, Rochester primarily suffers from the effects of his dark secret which renders him mysterious and frightening. Jane describes him as proud, sardonic, moody, imperious, morose. Just as Edward tends to brood, most often about how his vampirism will affect Bella, so too is Rochester melancholy, though he does not blame himself for his dark secret.

Rochester's isolation is reminiscent of Edward's ninety years without a mate: they both feel doomed to solitude. In Twilight, Alice tells Bella, "It's been almost a century that Edward's been alone. Now he's found you. You can't see the changes that we see, we who have been with him for so long. Do you think any of us want to look into his eyes for the next hundred years if he loses you?" (Twilight, 410-411.)

 Have you given any thought to the equation between the mad Bertha and Edward's vampirism?  When Jane tells Rochester about her vision of the woman with the "fiery eye", "lurid visage" and "gaunt head" who tears her wedding veil, she says it reminded her "of the foul German spectre - the Vampyre." Jane's descriptions of Rochester bear a strong resemblance to Edward - his "flaming and flashing eyes,: his "pale, firm, massive front: like "quarried marble," his face like "colourless rock," and "His eye...was a black eye: it had now a tawny, nay a bloody light in its gloom." Remind you of anyone?

Rochester tries to control the woman he loves, as does Edward. Citing their advanced ages, both Edward and Rochester often take charge of Bella and Jane. While Edward has ninety years on Bella (helped along by a bit of mental telepathy), Rochester says, "I claim only such superiority as must result from twenty years' difference in age and a century's advance in experience." Edward says: "I'm going to be a little...overbearingly protective...I wouldn't want you to think I'm naturally a tyrant." (Twilight, 328.)

Edward and Rochester feel compelled to confide in their love objects. Rochester: "Strange that I should choose you for the confidant in all this...(you) were made to be the recipient of secrets." Edward says: "Having you know about everythng, not needing to keep secrets from you. It makes me...happy." (Twilight, 344.)

There is relief for the Byronic hero as he unburdens his soul of terrible secrets: the absolute honesty that he shares with his love forges their unbreakable connection.

Here is a great blog post on the same topic. And here is another, specifically on Rochester.

With thanks to Nancy R Regin, "Twilight and History."

The Byronic Hero - Part 2 Darcy Fitzwilliam of Pride and Prejudice, Edward Cullen of Twilight, and their love objects...

The Byronic Hero

Thanks for your reactions to my last post. No one had any trouble accepting Darcy, Rochester or Heathcliff as Byronic heroes but some found Edward not in the same class. Well, like I said last post, there are some things we understand in our world and some things are from another world.

I'm going to let the novels do the talking.

Today Darcy takes centre stage, just where he likes to be. When we meet him in Pride and Prejudice (1815) he is an object of fascination for the heroine, Elizabeth Bennet. Darcy is moody, cold, superior and judgmental, yet Elizabeth feels a strong attraction to him despite his aloofness.

In accordance with the reverence due a Byronic hero, when Mr Darcy arrives at the ball in Hertfordshire, he is immediately admired: "Mr Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien; and the report which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance, of his having ten thousand a year." This admiration turned to disgust during the evening as he was perceived as "proud, to be above his company, and above being pleased."

Like Darcy, Edward makes a strong first impression in the cafeteria. Bella is immediately astounded by him. Jessica Stanley tells Bella that "He's gorgeous...but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good looking enough for him." (Twilight, 22.)

For those ignorant of Twilight, that is the brooding Edward on the right.

Both Darcy and Edward are set apart by their emotional distance.

Darcy offends Elizabeth at the ball. He says: "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me; and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young ladies who are slighted by other men." His haughty rejection of Elizabeth is reminiscent of Edward's expression when Bella is seated next to him in class: "I peeked up at him...,and regretted it. He was glaring down at me..., his black eyes full of revulsion. As I flinched away from him, shrinking against my chair, the phrase if looks could kill suddenly ran through my mind." (Twilight, 24.) Edward is reacting to the overwhelming scent of Bella's blood, Darcy soon decides Elizabeth is "uncommonly intelligent by the beautiful expression of her dark eyes." Like all good Byronic heroes, Edward and Darcy feel self-disgust, even if it is aimed at their love objects.

Neither Elizabeth nor Bella believe they are desired. Elizabeth is disquieted by "how frequently Mr Darcy's eyes were fixed on her...She could only imagine that she drew his notice because there was something about her more wrong and reprehensible, according to his ideas of right..." In the meadow, Bella despairs: "He was too perfect...There was no way this godlike creature could be meant for me." (Twilight, 256.)

When Edward and Darcy declare themselves, it is phrased like surrender. Darcy says, "In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you." Edward tells Bella, "I'm tired of trying to stay away from you," and "You are the most important thing to me now..." (Twilight, 85,273.)

I hope you enjoyed this post on Mr Darcy, er, Colin Firth. Tell me what you think...