Edward Cullen: The New Prince Eric?

As young girls, we watched Prince Eric fall in love with Ariel despite her quirky tendencies to brush her hair with forks and wear rope-and-sail dresses designed by seagulls. He didn’t even care that she couldn’t tell him her own name, let alone speak at all.

Prince Eric has always been my favorite Disney prince. He was better looking than the blander Prince Charmings of Cinderella and Snow White with his silky wind-blown black hair, the brawny chest and shoulders. Eric had a love for his furry dog and adventure, and an aversion to stone carvings of himself. Most importantly, he was willing to go to the depths of the ocean (literally) to fight for the woman he loved.

After reading the Twilight series, and falling seriously in love with its leading man, Edward Cullen, I couldn’t help but wonder: Does Edward challenge our pre-formed notions of Prince Charming? Or is he simply an updated model?

Prince Eric saved Ariel from the clutches of an overprotective father and a life she was bored with. He charmed her with good looks and enticed her with dreams of being a princess, a human princess. By contrast, Bella Swan falls in love with Edward Cullen in the Twilight series, and is decidedly willing to give up her status as a human, and her family, to spend an eternity with the man she cannot live without. Other than that, she is much like Ariel. Bella feels out of her element in the world she is born into: she mothers her own mother, falls down a lot, and generally feels awkward in social situations, especially if they involve dancing.

Somehow, Edward is worth it, to Bella and to us, for her to act traditionally as a damsel-in-distress and allow herself to be saved by him. Why?

Edward will live, and love, forever. He is willing to watch Bella grow old, much to her chagrin, rather than change her into the monster he believes he is. He is willing to give her up, even to Jacob, if that is what Bella wants. His only desire in life is to protect her and make her happy, without taking into account his feelings. He is a selfless vampire, never considering himself a 'catch.'

While Prince Eric is swayed in his devotion by a spell (and nearly married Ursula, casting Ariel off like an old Band-Aid when a speaking version of her shows up), Edward’s love for Bella is literally eternal. Even when he leaves her, he does it out of love. Even the darkest magic can’t break this love-- after all, isn’t Edward a bit of dark magic himself? He is both good and bad. Salvation and danger. An angel and a demon. And while he is technically 17--which makes me feel a little odd to be 24 and infatuated with him-- Edward is timeless. And complicated.

Unlike Eric, Edward is messy, mysterious. Edward is beautiful enough for us to swoon over him, but self-conscious enough about his non-human state that we (and Bella) want to comfort him. He feeds our curiosity enough to entice us, then eases our doubts with his literally undying love for Bella.

Ultimately, we want Bella and Edward to be happy, not wanting him for our own. Instead, we wish to find that unconditional love in our lives, or appreciate the love we are given a bit more because of him. In honor of him. We want to allow ourselves to feel the way he makes Bella feel and, somehow, their impossible situation gives us hope.