It's the 1660s, give or take since time was marked that accurately or something back then (hint: it was), and Carlisle has just swam to France. Edward is still telling his story about his patriarch and Bella despite being afraid of the fact that vampires don't need to breath has decided to stick around. Let's be clear: the only thing that scares Bella about hanging around with Vampires is that they don't need to breathe. Not the fact that it is only through an exercise in will that they are resistant to their bloodlust. Perhaps it makes sense because the lack of breathing reminds her that she's falling for a corpse but that's me being generous.
Edward continues with the history of Carlisle, "By night he studied music, science, medicine--and found his calling, his penance, in that, in saving human lives."
There's a lot to unpack in that one sentence. When I was teaching one of the eminent philosophers I used to cover was Thomas Hobbes. He lived from 1588-1679 and was one of those rare people who actually lived through what he was teaching. He also was a professional academic. It's important here because the University system worked a lot differently back then than it does now. There wasn't tuition, the student paid by the class. A student of Hobbes would go to a lecture, learn what he could, then pay the professor directly. This was the standard method of attending higher education during this period, unless you were royalty. It's been established that Carlisle wasn't royalty being the son of a preacher. So we have an important question: how exactly did Carlisle attend school.
Another problem is that this isn't England, it's France. French Universities during this period weren't like Universities now. You don't just show up with the requisite money and you are in. The University system of those days required you to be of the Aristocracy or at least have a benefactor who was Aristocratic. Carlisle has no one in France, but somehow he manages to get in to the colleges...at night.
Which brings us to problem three in this failure of a sentence. The concept of "night class" is formed around the idea that someone would want to better themselves while already working, thus they can go to school and their job with no conflict. This wouldn't even be an idea that Royal France would have in the late 17th century. It makes sense now, although I doubt you can become a medical doctor by only attending night classes, but this explanation for how Carlisle became a doctor only works if you know nothing about the history of academics. Carlisle would have been better served an origin detailing his work at the barber shop and slowly being introduced to medicine through it.
Which brings us to the last problem, although it's not with this book but with history. Medical history is so full of oddities that it's remarkable people made it through at all. Medicine in those days largely relied on the theory that blood would spoil, so in order to get better they bled people. Ask George Washington how the "bleeding treatment" worked out for him. Given Carlisle's nature he must really have overcome his blood lust quite quickly (only a couple of decades) in order to be able to bleed a person's fever out (seriously) and toss the blood away. I guess his strength of will was really quite remarkable even in the youth of his Vampirism.
"He was studying in Italy when he discovered the others there." The Italian vampires are described as being much more refined than those of England. These are the Aristocratic vampires that are so popularly depicted in literature. If Carlisle had stumbled upon them first, then went to school, we would have a much more believable story. Yet these vampires must be the Stregoni Benefici that Bella stumbled upon back when she knew Eddie was a Vampire but needed to prove her theory on the internet. Here's the trouble: according to the book the Stregoni Benefici, are supposed to be "on the side of goodness, and the mortal enemy of all evil vampires."*
So Carlisle has found that group of vampires that are old enough to have overcome their bloodlust as well. Edward points at a picture that Bella describes as either Greek/Roman mythological or Biblical...not really much of a difference since the images of God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are clearly inspired by representations of Zeus/Jupiter from the classical period. So their at the latest Roman. Yet Carlisle doesn't stay with them, he decides to try the New World, the phrasing means that it is at the latest the mid 1700s. He doesn't stay with them because they are at a detente over the lack of human blood in his diet. Yep, he's one of THOSE vegetarians always preaching about their moral superiority because they don't eat cow. I wish I could be like those vampires and kick them out of my continent as well but what this means for the story is that the "good" vampires still eat people.
What I really I really love about the implication here is that even thought these Romans are "good" they still drink blood. Which means that in order to be good in Meyer's world the measuring stick is being true to your own nature. How very pagan of her to be slipping this type of lesson into her books. It also means that there is a separation in her eyes between being good and being a vegetarian. Or barring that you can still be a vegetarian without being a douche about it...maybe I do like her after all.
__________________________________
*I mentioned this site before and it so obviously is the site that Bella went to that I wonder who set it up: the publishing company for the book or some fan. In either case this is the definition that she gives.
Edward continues with the history of Carlisle, "By night he studied music, science, medicine--and found his calling, his penance, in that, in saving human lives."
There's a lot to unpack in that one sentence. When I was teaching one of the eminent philosophers I used to cover was Thomas Hobbes. He lived from 1588-1679 and was one of those rare people who actually lived through what he was teaching. He also was a professional academic. It's important here because the University system worked a lot differently back then than it does now. There wasn't tuition, the student paid by the class. A student of Hobbes would go to a lecture, learn what he could, then pay the professor directly. This was the standard method of attending higher education during this period, unless you were royalty. It's been established that Carlisle wasn't royalty being the son of a preacher. So we have an important question: how exactly did Carlisle attend school.
Another problem is that this isn't England, it's France. French Universities during this period weren't like Universities now. You don't just show up with the requisite money and you are in. The University system of those days required you to be of the Aristocracy or at least have a benefactor who was Aristocratic. Carlisle has no one in France, but somehow he manages to get in to the colleges...at night.
Which brings us to problem three in this failure of a sentence. The concept of "night class" is formed around the idea that someone would want to better themselves while already working, thus they can go to school and their job with no conflict. This wouldn't even be an idea that Royal France would have in the late 17th century. It makes sense now, although I doubt you can become a medical doctor by only attending night classes, but this explanation for how Carlisle became a doctor only works if you know nothing about the history of academics. Carlisle would have been better served an origin detailing his work at the barber shop and slowly being introduced to medicine through it.
Which brings us to the last problem, although it's not with this book but with history. Medical history is so full of oddities that it's remarkable people made it through at all. Medicine in those days largely relied on the theory that blood would spoil, so in order to get better they bled people. Ask George Washington how the "bleeding treatment" worked out for him. Given Carlisle's nature he must really have overcome his blood lust quite quickly (only a couple of decades) in order to be able to bleed a person's fever out (seriously) and toss the blood away. I guess his strength of will was really quite remarkable even in the youth of his Vampirism.
"He was studying in Italy when he discovered the others there." The Italian vampires are described as being much more refined than those of England. These are the Aristocratic vampires that are so popularly depicted in literature. If Carlisle had stumbled upon them first, then went to school, we would have a much more believable story. Yet these vampires must be the Stregoni Benefici that Bella stumbled upon back when she knew Eddie was a Vampire but needed to prove her theory on the internet. Here's the trouble: according to the book the Stregoni Benefici, are supposed to be "on the side of goodness, and the mortal enemy of all evil vampires."*
So Carlisle has found that group of vampires that are old enough to have overcome their bloodlust as well. Edward points at a picture that Bella describes as either Greek/Roman mythological or Biblical...not really much of a difference since the images of God on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are clearly inspired by representations of Zeus/Jupiter from the classical period. So their at the latest Roman. Yet Carlisle doesn't stay with them, he decides to try the New World, the phrasing means that it is at the latest the mid 1700s. He doesn't stay with them because they are at a detente over the lack of human blood in his diet. Yep, he's one of THOSE vegetarians always preaching about their moral superiority because they don't eat cow. I wish I could be like those vampires and kick them out of my continent as well but what this means for the story is that the "good" vampires still eat people.
What I really I really love about the implication here is that even thought these Romans are "good" they still drink blood. Which means that in order to be good in Meyer's world the measuring stick is being true to your own nature. How very pagan of her to be slipping this type of lesson into her books. It also means that there is a separation in her eyes between being good and being a vegetarian. Or barring that you can still be a vegetarian without being a douche about it...maybe I do like her after all.
__________________________________
*I mentioned this site before and it so obviously is the site that Bella went to that I wonder who set it up: the publishing company for the book or some fan. In either case this is the definition that she gives.
When it's said that he studied by night, I assumed that meant on his own, and not at school. I'm more interested in what that means he was doing during the day. Since vampires don't sleep, he was clearly doing something. I doubt he would have continued being a preacher. Edward's statement really does bring up more questions than it answers.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Italian vampires, without giving any spoilers, I think I can just clarify that by "good" vampire they mostly mean a vampire who stays out of the public eye and doesn't call attention to their existence. This concept is heavily dealt with in books two and four.
If you are correct, and your theory is plausible, we run into a couple of new problems as well. The first is how Carlisle swam to France and then instantly knew the French language in order to read the books himself. The second is where he acquired the books, while there have always been libraries access to them has not always been public. He would still have a difficult time...his access to musical instruments would be even rarer.
ReplyDeleteObviously reading this book without prior knowledge presents a problem but I do question the definition of "good" as being "hidden."