Diotima says, “there is a certain story that lovers seek their other halves in order to be whole, but in my story lovers would not seek their other halves unless that wholeness was good itself." She directly points at Aristophanes story and says “No, the goodness or badness of the object of love does define the nature of that love.” Essentially, “bad love” is the kind of love that is seeking after bad things. In fact, it should not even be called bad love, it is just desire. However, if love is seeking an object that is good in itself then it can truly be considered love and the pursuer, a genuine lover.
In Twilight, however, Bella seeks after Edward long after she finds out he is dangerous to her. She gives a speech about the two things she’s sure about. She says she is sure that one, Edward is a vampire and thirsts for her blood and that two, she is “unconditionally, irrevocably in love with him.” She seeks an object with “love” even though that object is definitely bad.
It is so important to note that Bella is expressing her feelings about a vampire. In Edward’s own words, everything about him lures her in. She is enchanted by him, drawn to him in a way she can’t explain but that vampire lore can. How can she be expected to think rational thoughts, or make sound decisions when her brain has been flipped upside down by his vampire magnetism? She cannot. Bella is doomed under Edwards spell, under the belief that she belongs to and with him. Most unfortunately for Bella, there is no one there to help her to think clearly about what is happening to her and how her decisions are being made.
In examining all of this, I think I might have been too hasty in my primary analysis of Twilight. They are not such “star-crossed lovers” as I had said. There is some of that, to be sure. They are thrown together by a kind of fate. Their desire for one another is stirred up by that same fate, and then they begin to take active pursuing steps towards one another. It is different than Romeo and Juliet though. For Romeo and Juliet the tragedy seems to be that their love was so innocent; they were so young. However, the relationship between Edward and Bella is one of strong awareness. Bella knows that Edward longs for her blood and Edward knows that he could lose control and kill her at any moment. The knowledge does not paint their decisions with more maturity than Romeo and Juliet but it does remove some of the “star-crossed lovers” veneer from their faces.
There is no getting away from how dramatically painted the relationship is between Bella and Edward. They satisfy each other’s cravings, and in that sense make one another whole. On top of this, they seek one another though the relationship will logically end in mutual destruction. The way Bella would be destroyed is obvious. Edward would be destroyed by losing control of himself, killing Bella, and turning in to the monster he has avoided becoming his whole life.
Diotima would look at their relationship and say that they are each not seeking a good. She would go even further to say that they are each not truly loving, because the objects of their love of not inherently good. As far as she is concerned they are not even on rung one of her ladder of Love. They have seen something in each other which they each desire for themselves, but it’s not clear if that thing is Beauty, like it is said is on rung one. They are desirous, that much is true, but the object they are each seeking is temporal and therefore they can make no progression in Love. Bella and Edward have the passion of Phaedrus and are bound into Aristophanes myth and as such, they are not on their way to Love.
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