The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l’Opéra in French) is a French novel by Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois from September 23, 1909 to January 8, 1910. It is believed to have been inspired by George du Maurier's Trilby. It was translated into English in 1911. It has since been adapted many times into film and stage productions, the most notable of which was Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical, which is now the longest running Broadway show in history, and the most lucrative entertainment enterprise of all time, its worldwide box office over the past 20 years out-grossing even the highest grossing film in history, Titanic.

The story is about Erik, a demented genius with a deformed face, who terrorizes the Opera Garnier, under which he builds his lair and where he takes the love of his life, a beautiful soprano, under his wing.

Plot summary

The Phantom of The Opera is a Gothic novel, combining romance, horror fiction, mystery, and tragedy.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Leroux's original 1910 novel is set in 19th century Paris at the Opera Garnier (The Paris Opera or The National Academy of Music), which was built between 1857 and 1874 over a huge underground lake. The employees claim that the opera house is haunted by a mysterious ghost who wreaks chaos and destruction when displeased. Erik, posing as the "Phantom of the Opera" (Opera Ghost in the Mattos and Bair translation), sends the managers of the Opera Garnier repeated threats of catastrophe should they not pay him a monthly stipend of 20,000 francs and perpetually reserve Box no.5 for him at every show. This arrangement, unbroken during the many years of the manager's tenure, is abruptly terminated when two new proprietors, Armand Moncharmin and Firmin Richard, take over the opera house and refuse to give in to what they view as the empty threats, originally thinking it a practical joke by former managers, and eventually growing suspicious of each other.

Meanwhile, Erik has taken on a new protégée, Christine Daaé. He tells her that he is the "Angel of Music", a heavenly spirit sent by her dead father to help her, and proceeds to give her regular voice lessons through the wall. Under the tutelage of her new teacher, Christine makes rapid progress in her musical studies and achieves new prominence on stage when she is selected to replace the current prima donna Carlotta, whose act is sabotaged by the Phantom. Christine shines in her featured debut and immediately wins the hearts of the audience, including that of her childhood boyfriend, Raoul, the Vicomte de Chagny.

Erik becomes envious of Christine's relationship with Raoul and takes her to his Gothic world beneath the opera house. Christine quickly finds that there is nothing angelic about Erik, and learns to her disappointment that he is just a man, and that he and the ghost are one and the same (and comes to know him as malicious, volatile, dangerous and somewhat bitter, yet also brilliant and pitiful). She is infuriated at having been deceived, and demands to be set free. Erik promises to release her after five days. After some awkward moments (dining by herself while he watches, being shown his room which looks like a death chamber, his bed a coffin...) Erik and Christine eventually begin a duet from Otello, and in a fit a of passion Christine rips off his mask, driven by curiosity to see the face of the man who loves her, and why he wears a mask. "If I live to be one hundred, I should always hear that superhuman cry of grief and rage which he uttered before that terrible sight reached my eyes," Christine later tells Raoul. The Phantom is furious and threatens to keep her in his lair forever, but later changes his mind. Christine is released, but only after promising to return by her own will and swearing never to give her love to anyone else. Christine does return, but only out of pity for Erik.

But Erik isn't the only one who is envious. After Christine's debut performance, Raoul overhears Christine succumbing to a tyrannical, disembodied voice in her dressing room (Erik). He becomes suspicious that another man is taking advantage of her innocent belief in an "Angel of Music" in order to seduce her. He starts spying on her in an attempt to find the mysterious seducer. Christine suddenly becomes aware of this and is very angry, but after Erik reveals himself, and with Raoul's persistence and threat not to leave on his naval expedition unless she tells him the truth (while promising to help her escape it), she decides to tell Raoul, on the roof of the Opera Garnier, everything that has happened between her and Erik. The two of them plan to run away from Paris and the "horror of Erik".

Erik overhears everything on the roof, and abducts Christine from the stage during her final performance at the Opera Garnier as Margarita in Gounod's Faust, at the point where Christine, as Margarita, is appealing to the angels. Raoul follows them down into the depths of the cavern beneath the opera house, and is guided to Erik's house by a character known as the Persian. Unfortunately for both of them, the route they take to Erik's house leads instead to a torture chamber (a catoptric cistula), where they helplessly listen to Erik raging at Christine, who lied to him and betrayed him. He threatens that should Christine not marry him, he will destroy the Opera House with explosives, in turn, "many members of the human race" would be destroyed. Christine, already on the brink of suicide, sadly accepts his proposal at 11pm the next night, Erik's "deadline."

Eventually, Christine shows Erik genuine sympathy and displays an act of love by crying with him, not running away when he takes off his mask, and even going so far as to kiss him on the forehead. This granted Erik a happiness he never thought possible. In despair, Erik releases Raoul and Christine and gives them his blessings to marry. He asks only that Christine come back after his death, and buries him with the ring he gave her, which is indeed not long afterwards.

Right before his death, Erik delivers a monologue expressing his grief, in which he describes how Christine was the only woman to let him kiss her, his brief euphoria when she kissed him, his despair at having the love of his life betrothed to another, and his gratitude to the Persian, who once saved his life. This is the only part of the novel written in Erik's perspective. Choking and sobbing, he dedicates his death to his beloved Christine.

"He had a heart that could have held the empire of the world, and in the end, he had to content himself with a cellar," writes Leroux in the epilogue of his book.

Erik's personal history as told by Leroux

Leroux gives hints and some details of what Erik's life must have been like. Erik himself laments over how his mother was miserable and horrified by him, and how his own father never saw him.

Most of his history is revealed via the Persian, and in the Epilogue (which the author 'found out' via the Persian). Erik was born in a town outside of Rouen, France. His father was a master-mason. Erik was hideous back then as well, and a "subject of horror and terror" to them both, and eventually ran away at a young age. He was seen to frequent some fairs as an attraction, shown as "le mort vivant." This was among Gypsies, where Erik acquired much skill in illusions, magic, ventriloquism, and other things. His reputation spread far and wide, for most people had never seen such amazing performances, including his beautiful voice. A fur trader talked about it to the Shah of Persia, whose little Sultana was dying of boredom. So he ordered the Persian to fetch Erik to him, which he did.

The Persian recalls Erik's time of employment for the Shah-in-Shah of Persia as 'The Rosy Hours of Mazenderan,' because of the deaths of the many victims of the Shah and the 'little sultana' in the house of horrors that was the Shah's palace at Mazenderan. It was built in such a way that not even the slightest whisper could be considered private. The architecture was arranged so that sound carried and reverberated at myriad locations, so that one never knew who might be listening. The Persian does not go into great detail on the actual circumstances, dwelling instead on the vague horrors that existed at Mazenderan. Leroux does tell us that the Shah became paranoid that Erik would use his genius against him and reveal the palaces' secrets to others, and ordered him executed. It was only by the intervention of the Persian (the 'daroga', or police chief of Mazenderan) and his friends, that Erik was able to escape.

Erik then went to Constantinople and was employed by its ruler at the time, helping build certain edifices in the Yildiz-Kiosk, among other things. But he had to leave there, as well, "for knowing too much".

Erik then wanted to live like everybody else, and for a time worked as a contractor, building an "ordinary house with ordinary bricks". He eventually bid on a contract to help with the Palais Garnier, which he did.

He then decided to create a sort of playhouse for himself and live beneath the cellars, hiding from men's eyes for good.... Leroux calls on our imagination to "guess" the rest, in conjunction with what we know about Erik's end. We also know, though, that Erik had been composing "Don Juan Triumphant", a piece expressing every painful experience and emotion in the "abyss of the ugly man". He planned to go to his coffin-bed with it and "never wake up" after he was finished. This plan was seemingly before he found Christine. After he became infatuated with her, at least by the final chapters, he explained that now his Don Juan was complete and he desperately longed to marry her and live a normal life.

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