Student Question

In "New Moon", what condition did Edward have before yielding to Bella's demand?

Quick answer:

Edward's condition before yielding to Bella's demand to turn her into a vampire was that she marry him first, while she was still human. Although Carlisle had promised to change Bella after her high school graduation, Bella preferred Edward to do it. Edward used this preference to delay her transformation by proposing marriage, which Bella resisted due to concerns about societal judgment and marrying young. Edward was willing to postpone the wedding to delay her vampiric change.

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If you are referring to her demand that he be the one to turn her into a vampire, he said he wanted her to marry him first, as a human.  Carlisle had already promised Bella that he would change her into a vampire after she graduated from high school; but then Bella shared with Edward that she would prefer it if Edward were the one to change her.  Once Edward learns this, he has leverage over Bella, and he tries to get her to postpone the change as long as possible.  Bella doesn't want to reach the human age of 20 before she turns; if Edward is a teenager forever, she wants to be one as well.  But when Edward's condition is marriage, she freaks out on him.  She doesn't want to get married right out of high school; she worries about the judgment she would receive from her mother...

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and other people who would think it was ridiculous for her to get married right after high school.  Edward is okay with postponing the wedding, because it will mean postponing her change into a vampire.  But he doesn't understand her rationality, since he is from a time when people married at a younger age.

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