Breaking Dawn

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content.

Bella is the primary protagonist and a point-of-view character in the novel. She is 18 years old at the start of the novel and desperate to become a vampire so she’ll remain the same age as Edward forever. Meyer describes her as pale and beautiful but plagued by a lack of self-confidence. She feels insecure about her looks and spends the wedding comparing herself to female vampires like Alice, Rosalie, and Tanya—insisting that they are much more beautiful than she is. The insecurity she feels in her relationship with Edward often manifests in a belief that she is not beautiful enough for him.

As a dynamic character, Bella’s arc sees her moving from a place of insecurity and discomfort in her own skin to a place of strength, confidence, and empowerment. After Bella becomes a vampire, she discovers a newfound sense of confidence and assurance within herself. When she beats Emmett in arm wrestling, she thinks to herself: “I was amazing now—to them and to myself. It was like I had been born to be a vampire. […] I had found my true place in the world, the place I fit, the place I shined” (524).