Midnight Sun

Midnight Sun is full of allusions, or references, to religion and mythology. For example, Meyer uses the stories of the harpy and guardian angels to explain Edward’s concept of fate. It quicky seems to Edward as if Bella is plagued by death, always under the threat of her fate. He compares this to a harpy, thinking, “I imagined the fate personified, a grisly, jealous hag, a vengeful harpy” (191). Since Edward idealizes Bella, he can only imagine that a fate out to kill her would be terrible and physically disgusting. The comparison is surface level, however. In the most famous story of the harpies from the Greek epic the Argonautica, the gods send the harpies to King Phineus as punishment, although they were not in any danger of killing him. Meyer alludes to Christian stories when Edward, somewhat jokingly, decides that he needs to be Bella’s “guardian vampire” (218). As a guardian vampire, he will fill the absence of a guardian angel in Bella’s life, protecting her against her dangerous fate.

One story that Meyer alludes to particularly frequently is that of Persephone and Hades. Even the cover of Midnight Sun, with its dripping, exposed pomegranate, is an allusion to this myth. Throughout the novel, Edward constructs an image in his mind of Bella as Persephone, the goddess of springtime whom Hades, god of the underworld, trapped. As in Meyer’s allusion to the harpies, this allusion is limited. Meyer does not address or even seem to acknowledge sexual assault present in the ancient versions of this story. However, she does repeatedly reference the roles of Persephone and Hades, as well as comparing Edward and Bella’s developing relationship to Persephone eating pomegranate seeds (which, in the myth, traps her in the underworld). Edward compares his world—the world of vampires—the Greek underworld twice. Edward wants Bella to “stay safe in Persephone’s spring, keep her safe from [his] underworld” (297). Later, after James tortures Bella, Edward thinks of the situation, “pomegranate seeds and my underworld. Hadn’t I just witnessed a brutal example of how badly my world could go wrong for her?” (603). To Edward, the world of vampires is full of risks, torture, and death, just like the Greek underworld.

In contrast, he believes that Bella is radiant, like Persephone. Just before Edward reveals his skin in the sunlight to Bella, he watches her stroll through the meadow. He thinks, “She walked almost reverently into the golden light. It gilded her hair and made her fair skin glow. Her fingers trailed over the taller flowers, and I was reminded again of Persephone. Springtime personified” (340). In Edward’s glorified construction of the Hades and Persephone myth, Persephone (Bella) can bring light and purity to Hades’s (Edward’s) evil darkness. However, this light is under constant threat, and Edward also frequently compares Bella’s integration into his vampiric world to Persephone eating the pomegranate seeds. When they first have dinner together, Edward sees Bella eat and thinks, “I saw Persephone, pomegranate in hand. Dooming herself to the underworld” (187). Later, when Edward drives Bella home and they talk, he thinks, “every word we spoke here—each one of them was another pomegranate seed” (207). Then, when they discuss their future together in the meadow, Edward asks himself, “how many toxic seeds had [he] already infected her with?” (357). With these allusions, Edward characterizes his relationship with Bella as driven entirely by his choices, just as Persephone’s relationship with Hades is driven by Hades’s power and dominance. Edward plays the active role in his fantasy, a way of assigning himself blame for the danger in which he puts Bella, while he also ignores any agency or choice of Bella’s.