The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera

 

        What do you think of when you think of The Phantom of the opera? The dark and dismal catacombs in which the greatest of the music was created? The angelic singing that seemed to come from the walls of the opera house? The strange, yet beautiful, show put on by the performers of the opera house? Well, regardless of what you think of, I think of a misunderstood, disturbed genius who was abused because of his facial deformity and was denied the one person in his existence who had ever truly given him a chance of being happy.

            Yes, I know what you’re thinking, “Wow, that was a happy way to start…” (Note the sarcasm) Well, let me break this down for you all and explain why I am so heavily opinionated in my beliefs on the Phantom. The Phantom from the classic tale I speak of was a young boy, abandoned because he was deformed (In the 2004 version that I am talking about, he was born deformed. I watch the movie version because…easy access and Gerard Butler!). He was brought into a circus at a young age and held in a cage labeled “The Devil’s Child”. Every show, a man would come into the cage while Erik would be playing or innocently going about his day. He had to wear a potato sack on his head and would spend all of his time in the cage playing with a little toy monkey. The man would go in and rip the sack off of Erik’s head and would beat him with a thick coil of rope as bystanders laughed and threw money at them as if it were all a joke. An innocent child beaten and degraded for money. You can see how disgusting and despicable this is, yes? Erik then took the rope once everyone had left and strangled his abuser. Madam Giry (The woman who basically runs the opera house) was a young ballerina at the time and she helped Erik escape to the catacombs of the opera house. He never left. It became his home and he created music, architecture, practiced magic; he was an utter genius.

            Quite some time after he went to the opera house, a young girl at the age of 7, Christine Daae, came to the opera house after her father, a famous violinist, had perished. Her father had always promised that, once he was gone, he would send her an angel of music and that he would never let her be alone. Erik became that for her. He saw her talent and wanted to nurture her from more of a father perspective. Yet, he was never seen as Christine grew up. He took her under his wing and trained her to be an amazing singer as she grew up into her teen years. Erik would do it at night from his many passageways and doors. Christine had no idea who her “Angel of Music” really was.

            Christine was discovered to be an amazing singer at about the age of 16 when the lead of an opera dropped out. Christine’s childhood friend, Raul, became the patron of the opera house, unaware that Christine was there, because his family was very wealthy. When he saw her in the show, it was the cliché reconnection and he instantly fell in love. Erik was extremely angry and finally showed himself to Christine, taking her to the catacombs where she could see how he lived and created his art, sentenced to the dark and dismal underground where no one could judge him.

            Throughout the story, Christine, in my opinion, is extremely two-faced. She can’t decide how she feels about the Phantom. He is clearly in love with her but he is most likely about twice her age. He does kill two people that she knows of and that clearly terrifies her, but she can’t help but to succumb to him and his music while in his presence. Raul is being jealous and shady and saying that they must kill that Phantom because he has clearly gone mad. The frustrating thing is that Christine seems to be terrified of the Phantom while in Raul’s presence, but she has no problem following the Phantom and being close to him when he comes around. Even after the first murder when Erik murdered Joseph Bouquet, Christine had only met him earlier that day. Right after the murder, she and Raul rushed out of the opera house as she sang, “He’ll kill you. His eyes will find us there, those eyes that burn. My god, who is this man who hunts to kill? I can’t escape from him, I never will. And if he has to kill a thousand men, the Phantom of the Opera will kill, and kill again!” ...What is this? No- You met him earlier the same day and you already assume that he is completely obsessed with you. Not to say that Erik wasn’t obsessed with Christine, but no need to jump to such hasty conclusions. Furthermore, no one saw Erik do it. Granted, we all know he did, but you couldn’t even see him.

            Not to say I condone the decisions and the behavior of Erik, but I understand why he became so aggressive and violent. He never hurt anyone before Raul came. He only wanted to help Christine but, as she changed and grew older, his feelings for her changed. When Raul came, he felt as if he were running out of time. He panicked a bit when he saw Christine was being taken away and had gotten engaged maybe two days after Raul came. He went a bit crazy. The only person in his existence to ever truly care for him, the person he had cared for and mentored for 10 years, over half of her life, was just going to abandon him for someone she hadn’t seen since she was 7. He wasn’t going to risk losing her. In the end, he let her go. He let her be happy with Raul while he was never seen again. Even after Christine was dead at least 50 years later, when the Phantom would have been in his 80’s or 90’s, he left his red rose with a black ribbon tied around it on her tombstone. He loved her after all of those years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfZnIGETQPQ


"No One Would Listen" The Phantom.