So, I have been revamping Twilight and I got to the part about Carlisle becoming a vampire and his whole history.

I don't understand why he felt the need to become a Doctor. He said he needed to give back something or that is his penance for being a vampire. I am confused.....

Carlisle never drank human blood? Am I right or wrong? He tried to starve himself, kill himself, rather than drink human blood and then became so ravenous he attacked a herd of deer. It was at that point that he realized that he could live off the blood of animals and then decided to study and do all that he did....

So, why the need to feel like he has to be repentant????? He didn't kill anyone??? Or did he? I looked on the Lex but couldn't find anything.....

Thoughts?

I believe he said he wasn't trying to make up for anything, he was just making the best of the situation he had been dealt. He liked the fact that his "skills" could help save a person who would otherwise have died. Here's the quote I'm getting at:

"I don't know that I'm mking up for anything," he disagreed lightly. "Like everything in life, I just had to decide what to do with what I was given."
(NM page 35)

I think there is more to Carlisle than we know about. The few times we've seen him in doctor mode make me think that he has more talents/gifts/power than have been revealed. His ability to diagnose things is a big one. He can tell Bella's hand is broken without a x-ray. He know which bones need to be set in Jacob without any x-rays. There's more to Carlisle than meets the eye.

Carlisle is a compassionate man. He was that way even before he was turned into a vampire. When he tells the story of his father it's obvious that he was uncomfortable with the zealous witch hunting that was going on. He felt his father was too quick to judge. After he was bitten his compassion showed through in this inability to hunt humans. I think this compassion combined with his powers led him to a career in medicine. It was a natural fit.

There is so much to his character! I hope that one day we will know more about our Dr. Cullen!

On some level, be it small or large, becoming a Dr. has acted as a healing process for Carlisle himself. Being thrust into a unchangeable, life altering situation he has created good out of his misfortune. Each time that he is successful because of his enhanced abilities, Carlisle is healing himself as well. He can't change the hand that he has been dealt, but he can use it in a positive and constructive way to help someone else whose outcome may not have been so favorable. This combined with his gift of compassion makes Carlisle the epitome of the perfect doctor.

OOOH! I love each and every one of your responses....thanks....I hope we get some more on here....it is.....enlightening......

This is very interesting...I thought the only human blood he tasted were from the people he changed...or does it say somewhere that this is not how it happend?

I always figured there were two reasons:

1. Not necessarily to give back and pay penance for HIS wrong doings, but as a "culture" vampires are evil to humans. So I think he's attempting to try to be the exact opposite than what other vampires are. They harm humans. He helps humans.

2. I think this sort of ties into #1, but his deeply religious past that taught him that vampires are pretty much pure evil. Due to his past, it took him a while to come to terms with what he was, and I think he is also trying to prove to himself that they don't have to be evil any more than a human has to be evil -- that it's a choice.

I found this at the Lex in the personal correspondence from Steph.

He is just a good person, I think he wants to do what he can to help and being a doctor is a way to help people everyday. He is making the best of his situation.

It also probably helps him to see people AS PEOPLE and not as food, even if he never killed, the temptation is part of being a vampire and he has risen above it.

"people are friends not food!" haha sorry, Finding Nemo moment.

I really love Carlisle. He takes responsibility for what he is, even though it's not his "fault" and he makes something good out of it. I like when he tells Bella that sometimes his sense of smell can help him make a correct diagnosis where someone else might not be able to. He's the only one of the family that has never (at least in the reader's presence) whined about his lot in life.

I agree with a lot of what's already been said: I think that Carlisle was horrified to discover he'd turned into the very monster he had been hunting, and so he then tried to kill himself, which didn't work. When he discovered he could live off of animal blood, it changed a lot for him. He is very compassionate - remember that his father was burning people at the stake left & right if he suspected them to be non-human, but Carlisle was more hesitant, and was patiently persistent to find REAL vampires to kill.
Compassion was probably just one of his strongest traits that carried over & became intensified as a vampire. When he discovered he could refrain from killing humans, actually attend school & graduate, well, it gave him a new purpose - instead of taking life, I will save it. Compassion combined with his religious upbringing made him see this was an ideal & hopeful future for the hand which he was dealt.
On a side note, I remember reading about how being a vampire only helped him to more easily diagnose things........due to the increased sensitivity of smell? I think I read that - either way, it makes sense. He could probably detect abnormalities in the blood, cancers, etc. that other doctors would need loads of tests for........

I think the reason that most people become doctors is because they want to do good, help others and make a difference. I really don't think that Carlisle is much different. Besides that he knows that his extra abilities make a huge difference in the ways that he can help.

I wonder if this would fit here - why did Carlisle become a Dr?

I remembered this line when Bella was looking up "Vampire" on the internet.


(sorry if this doesn't go here

I am wondering if it's Carlisle? His father was a clergyman and he does have Faith and he chose to be a Healer. Maybe he is the martal enemy of all evil vampires?
He had a discernment for Evil when it was actually up to him to flush it out. Unlike his father who "saw it everywhere." Although, if it's him ~ I have often wondered if then "friends" is to strong a word for his relationship with Caius, & Marcus. Maybe, they have an Understanding..for lack of a better word? BUT then I wondered if it could be passed down to Edward? Maybe that's why James was after him? (I am of the belief that James was sent to find Edward and that Victoria & Laurent were picked up along the way) Maybe that's why the Volturi showed up late? ...they are hoping to secretly get rid of Edward or Carlisle?

Edward is regularly being referred to as a "Greek God, prince, etc" and Carlisle said something about .." Quote:



Edward only killed those who were bad ( I think) and he is the most moral (virgin) vampire around
What do you think?

Maybe he became a doctor, because in addition to his nobel ideology regarding humankind, he might be able to discover a "cure" for vampirism.

That is one of my favorite quotes from the book.