The Seven Deadly Sins (as illustrated by the Cullens)
I know this wasn't intentional, but once I saw it, I couldn't unsee it.
Carlisle=Pride
Carlisle created all the other vampires in the Cullen family. He obviously thinks he has the right to play God and decide whether or not people live or die, as well as thinking he's the only one who knows how to raise vampires well. Seems pretty prideful to me. Pride is also the original deadly sin from which all others originate, and he's the originator of the Cullen clan.
Esme=Sloth
Sloth refers to both literal laziness and an unwillingness to grow spiritually and morally. In Esme's case, we know she committed suicide after her baby died and since becoming a vampire has done nothing to move past that, instead passively falling into playing a motherly role to Edward and the others. It's noteworthy too that she is basically playing housewife in the one family where that requires no real work (i.e., cooking, cleaning, laundry, childcare, gardening, etc.).
Rosalie=Envy
Rosalie envies Bella for what she sees as the chance to have the child and family she never could, and this defines absolutely EVERYTHING about her relationship to Bella. It's telling that in the last book she's only willing to assist Bella when it looks like she'll get the chance to step into a mothering role that she resents Bella having.
Emmet=Gluttony
According to Mervin's reading of the Twilight Illustrated Guide, Emmet as a human ran with a crowd that liked drinking, gambling, and so forth. He seems to be mostly hedonistic, as he had trouble controlling his desire to eat people, has lots of sex with Rosalie, and generally thinks mostly about pleasing himself, even if he never shows an undue interest in food per se.
Alice=Greed
This one was easy. Alice is constantly buying expensive new clothes, and as Edward demonstrates, the best way to get her to do something is to bribe her (with a new car, etc.). She is SO greedy, in fact, that she refuses to allow herself or her family to rewear their clothes even once.
Jasper=Lust
Albeit a lust for blood rather than sex. But consider: Jasper seems to have little impulse control when it come to blood and violence. He, moreso than the other Cullens, remembers human blood as a good thing to eat; he once tries to attack Bella when she cuts herself; and even the other vampires aren't spared, as (if Mervin's reading of Bree Tanner is to be believed) he tends to look for excuses to attack and kill them too, and does so without any remorse.
Edward=Wrath
Well, why not? Edward is a cranky, unpleasant, sullen, abusive guy. He's angry and irritated constantly. He gets angry at Bella when she won't do what he says. He snips and sneers at his family members for thinking unsavory thoughts. He's been known to get so angry he damages property (remember Bella's truck?). He once plots to kill Bella's classmates and teacher when her smell bothers him. Also, assuming he's telling the truth, he hated himself before he met Bella.
Now, whether you believe in the Christian idea of sin or not it's not hard to see that the Seven Deadly Sins are recipes for disaster. For fairly obvious reasons nothing good can come out of sleeping around without thought to the consequences, or eating excessive amounts of food, or hoarding material possessions, or losing your temper and flying into a rage, or being so lazy you refuse to make any progress in life, or resenting others' success and good fortune, or looking down on others as beneath you. Yet, I'm pretty sure that almost everyone has at some point indulged in at least a few of them. Every one of those sins is easy or attractive in some sense or other, which is probably why Christian theology feels the need to warn us about them in the first place.
So with all that in mind, it's no great surprise that Bella (self-centered, amoral creep that she is) is attracted to the Cullens, because they affirm her every vice. Bella is so lustful she can't keep her hands off of Edward, so gluttonous that she takes over her father's kitchen just so she can control what and when he eats, so greedy that she flaunts all the glorious presents the Cullens bestow upon her with abandon (including expensive new clothes, armored cars, her own cottage, her own island...), so slothful she refuses to grow or change as a person in any way no matter what comes her way, so wrathful she gets irritated with and abandons her human friends when they disapprove of her antics even when they're dangerous (remember Jessica), so envious she has to surround herself with other women who can't bear children just to make herself feel better about having one (despite her hating children), and so prideful she becomes a vampire at the first available opportunity and subsequently abandons all her human friends and family to hang out with vampires and werewolves for all eternity.
I'm impressed--Meyer's done a pretty good job of writing a story about a woman tempted by sin. If only we weren't supposed to view her and her little friends as the good guys....
Carlisle=Pride
Carlisle created all the other vampires in the Cullen family. He obviously thinks he has the right to play God and decide whether or not people live or die, as well as thinking he's the only one who knows how to raise vampires well. Seems pretty prideful to me. Pride is also the original deadly sin from which all others originate, and he's the originator of the Cullen clan.
Esme=Sloth
Sloth refers to both literal laziness and an unwillingness to grow spiritually and morally. In Esme's case, we know she committed suicide after her baby died and since becoming a vampire has done nothing to move past that, instead passively falling into playing a motherly role to Edward and the others. It's noteworthy too that she is basically playing housewife in the one family where that requires no real work (i.e., cooking, cleaning, laundry, childcare, gardening, etc.).
Rosalie=Envy
Rosalie envies Bella for what she sees as the chance to have the child and family she never could, and this defines absolutely EVERYTHING about her relationship to Bella. It's telling that in the last book she's only willing to assist Bella when it looks like she'll get the chance to step into a mothering role that she resents Bella having.
Emmet=Gluttony
According to Mervin's reading of the Twilight Illustrated Guide, Emmet as a human ran with a crowd that liked drinking, gambling, and so forth. He seems to be mostly hedonistic, as he had trouble controlling his desire to eat people, has lots of sex with Rosalie, and generally thinks mostly about pleasing himself, even if he never shows an undue interest in food per se.
Alice=Greed
This one was easy. Alice is constantly buying expensive new clothes, and as Edward demonstrates, the best way to get her to do something is to bribe her (with a new car, etc.). She is SO greedy, in fact, that she refuses to allow herself or her family to rewear their clothes even once.
Jasper=Lust
Albeit a lust for blood rather than sex. But consider: Jasper seems to have little impulse control when it come to blood and violence. He, moreso than the other Cullens, remembers human blood as a good thing to eat; he once tries to attack Bella when she cuts herself; and even the other vampires aren't spared, as (if Mervin's reading of Bree Tanner is to be believed) he tends to look for excuses to attack and kill them too, and does so without any remorse.
Edward=Wrath
Well, why not? Edward is a cranky, unpleasant, sullen, abusive guy. He's angry and irritated constantly. He gets angry at Bella when she won't do what he says. He snips and sneers at his family members for thinking unsavory thoughts. He's been known to get so angry he damages property (remember Bella's truck?). He once plots to kill Bella's classmates and teacher when her smell bothers him. Also, assuming he's telling the truth, he hated himself before he met Bella.
Now, whether you believe in the Christian idea of sin or not it's not hard to see that the Seven Deadly Sins are recipes for disaster. For fairly obvious reasons nothing good can come out of sleeping around without thought to the consequences, or eating excessive amounts of food, or hoarding material possessions, or losing your temper and flying into a rage, or being so lazy you refuse to make any progress in life, or resenting others' success and good fortune, or looking down on others as beneath you. Yet, I'm pretty sure that almost everyone has at some point indulged in at least a few of them. Every one of those sins is easy or attractive in some sense or other, which is probably why Christian theology feels the need to warn us about them in the first place.
So with all that in mind, it's no great surprise that Bella (self-centered, amoral creep that she is) is attracted to the Cullens, because they affirm her every vice. Bella is so lustful she can't keep her hands off of Edward, so gluttonous that she takes over her father's kitchen just so she can control what and when he eats, so greedy that she flaunts all the glorious presents the Cullens bestow upon her with abandon (including expensive new clothes, armored cars, her own cottage, her own island...), so slothful she refuses to grow or change as a person in any way no matter what comes her way, so wrathful she gets irritated with and abandons her human friends when they disapprove of her antics even when they're dangerous (remember Jessica), so envious she has to surround herself with other women who can't bear children just to make herself feel better about having one (despite her hating children), and so prideful she becomes a vampire at the first available opportunity and subsequently abandons all her human friends and family to hang out with vampires and werewolves for all eternity.
I'm impressed--Meyer's done a pretty good job of writing a story about a woman tempted by sin. If only we weren't supposed to view her and her little friends as the good guys....