Janus,
the two-faced Roman god of doorways and gates, presided over beginnings
and endings. Able to see into the past and the future, he lent his name
to the first month of our year, a time of transition when we
contemplate where we have been and where we are going.
Curiously
enough, he also presided over the fundamental transitions and dualities
of human existence, over that which is natural and that which is
cultured, over the primitive and the civilized. Over, one might say, the
dilemma of following one’s instincts and following one’s ethics. Should
we strive to perfect or to accept our natures? Which is more authentic?
Can they be the same? And so, in this context, as we begin our studies,
let us contemplate these two Edwards, Weyland and Cullen. In the case
of a vampire, is it noble or foolish to adopt the perspective of a
species seemingly designed as one's sustenance?
For
Edward Weyland, his human appearance and anatomy is biological
camouflage, the mimicry of a predator perfectly adapted to stalk and
lure his prey. He contemplates humans as a tiger might regard a gazelle
or wild pig by the stream. They are food. He is true to his nature,
comfortable in his position at the top of the food chain. But there is a
cost. The humans he hunts are the creatures nearest in nature to
himself, and, to the best of his knowledge, he is the only one of his
kind. Psychologically speaking, Weyland has perfect integrity. And yet
he is subject to a degree of isolation and ennui incalculable to the
humans he encounters.
Edward
Cullen, on the other hand, is one of a new breed of vampire. Human once
himself, in love with a mortal maid, he sympathizes with his natural
quarry. He has subjugated his thirst for human blood and subsists
instead on animal blood, rejecting the aspect of his nature that is
monstrous by human standards. In a way, he both resists and represents
change, clinging to his past nature while striving to shape his new.
In
short, Edward Cullen's concept of “playing with his food” is
diametrically opposed to Edward Weyland's, who once remarked in a
theoretical discussion of vampirism,“You are mixing up dinner with sex,
and not, I gather, for the first time.”