Character Analysis
Edward Cullen is our protagonist vampire and deep love interest of Bella. Though Bella repeatedly describes Edward as angelic, Edward is the first to acknowledge that he has a dark side. When he and Bella are first getting to know each other, he warns her, "What if I'm not a superhero? What if I'm the bad guy?" (5.19) Bella insists that he's "dangerous […] but not bad" (5.112, 114), but Edward says simply, "You're wrong" (5.115).
Much of the tension in the novel results from Edward's very nature as a predator, a vampire. He's a conflicted character because he sees himself as a monster – he hates that he craves human blood, especially Bella's. He's horrified by his natural instincts.
When telling Bella about his past, he admits that he did, at one point in his life, give in and prey on humans. Edward returned to Carlisle and committed to the "vegetarian" diet after he "began to see the monster in [his] eyes" (16.82). Yet when Edward encountered Bella for the first time in Biology class, he almost lost control for the first time in decades:
"To me, it was like you were some kind of demon, summoned straight from my own personal hell to ruin me. The fragrance coming off your skin…I thought it would make me deranged that first day. In that one hour, I thought of a hundred different ways to lure you from the room, to get you alone. And I fought them each back, thinking of my family, what I could do to them. I had to run out, to get away before I could speak the words that would make you follow…" (13.102)
Despite his primal urges, Edward tells Bella, "I couldn't live with myself if I ever hurt you. You don't know how it's tortured me" (13.124). Though he loves Bella, Edward struggles against his nature, and continues to worry that he won't be able to control himself and will accidentally hurt her.