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1.1 The Significance of the Study
Vampires frequently appear in various literary works, not only because they come with mysteries, but also they can reflect the value of the times. If we make a deep analysis on them, it can be easy to find the role of the vampire culture. The contradictions in vampire works can reflect some social problems. Vampires in literature are created by people, thus their images can also represent people’s inner world to some extent.
Vampire images in different times can express various themes. The Twilight Saga, a famous novel written by Stephenie Meyer, an American writer, was released in 2005. It tells us a love story between Edward, a vampire, and Bella, a human girl, which attracts many readers. Making a deep analysis on it, we can find the connotations behind the vampire images. And compared with other vampire works, The Twilight Saga shows some new characteristics of vampires. It also embodies the vampire culture of the new world and is also an epitome of the contemporary vampire culture. What’s more, the overburdened people in modern society are tired of the monotonous work day after day, thus they need a kind of spiritual comfort or spiritual sustenance to break away from stress in modern life. Then, the new type vampires in The Twilight Saga, who are beyond death and fabulously charming, coincide with their needs. Therefore, the global popularity of vampire culture comes into being in a worldwide sense. 源-自/751+,论^文'网]www.751com.cn
By comparing The Twilight Saga and other vampire works in the early time, this thesis gradually reveals the development history of vampire culture, further discusses all kinds of human conflicts and social problems that are reflected in these works, and analyzes the new characteristics of contemporary vampire culture, which can help people better understand the meaning of vampire culture in real life.
1.2 The Organization of the Study
This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one gives us a general view of this thesis. Chapter two tells us the origin of vampire culture and a brief review of previous relevant literature. Chapter three introduces the main characters and plots in The Twilight Saga and deeply analyzes the contradictions and conflicts in this work, including the love between Edward and Bella and the love between Jacob and Bella, the contradiction of Edward’s reason and desire in the face of love, as well as the racial conflict between vampires and werewolves. With the comparison between The Twilight Saga and other vampire works in the early time, chapter four reveals the changes of both vampire images and themes. The last chapter makes a summary on the above views and concludes with the real meaning of vampire culture in contemporary society.
2. Literature Review
A vampire, a corpse that rises nightly from its grave to drink the blood of the living, is a famous monster in the western world. It seems that the history of the vampire is as long as the history of human beings. As a devil that closely related to human image, its legend is full of fantastic and terrifying color. As to its origin, there are many different versions. And it has experienced a long development in literary works.
2.1The Origin of Vampire Culture
2.1.1 The Version of The Bible
According to The Bible, Cain was the first child of Adam and Eve, as well as the third man in the world. He was a farmer and lived with his younger brother Abel who was a sheepherder. Once they routinely offered a sacrifice to god. Because of their different work, Abel was able to offer god hearty meat, but Cain only offered some vegetables, which extremely discontented the god. Therefore, out of anger, Cain killed Abel, and as a punishment he became the first vampire in the world because of the curse of god. He was immortal and had to suck blood of the living all the time, which meant that he was afflicted by the curse from generation to generation.