Forbidden Love. Romanticizing the Villain

Vampires are becoming more romantic and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga is a good example of this. There is romance, passion, lust and forbidden love in her novels about a vampire that falls in love with a human. Romance between vampires and humans will be compared to the romance and passion in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. With the aid of Modleski’s research into gothic novels and Radway’s view on romance one is able to dig deeper into the concept forbidden love. Therefore, enabling other well known tales, which embrace similar fields of romance and love; as well the reader to see how this love can be seen in variety of tales, including romance, tragedy and horror. Connecting romance with vampires can be a bit tricky due to the fact that these novels have mainly been categorized as horror stories, where romance may not seem to fit in. With The Twilight Saga Meyer has taken a different approach. She has made her story focus more on the romantic side of forbidden love, rather than the lust and passion alone. Clearly, vampires are a popular myth, and have been through the years. That can be seen with famous tales such as the short story Vampyre by John Polidori, Dracula by Bram Stoker and The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. Dracula, written in 1897, has especially made its mark on the literary world; it not only created the ultimate vampire villain, but also the many myths that are held in common knowledge. Dracula may not have been the first vampire tale that interested people but it can be argued to be the most popular. These myths are ancient and varying and as a topic are controversial. Meyer takes her vampires to a different level not only making them romantic and passionate but also compassionate. The main focus on the relationships between vampires and humans is to stress that this type of love is forbidden. This is all analysed with the help of theories on paranormal romance, gothic novels, and romance as are other tales with similar narratives where love is forbidden