Why People Should Read the Phantom of the Opera

Tonight I did a photo shoot of a small chocolate cake. Before I knew it, time had gone by and I missed the 10 p.m. mark of putting up my new post. Anyways, because some of my inspiration came for the props and shoot came from the Phantom of the Opera, why not post a paper on the Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux? Here it is!

Note: I did not take this photo. This was found online.

If you were in love, what would you do for your special person? What would you do to your lover to keep them with you at all times? In The Phantom of the Opera by Leroux, this matter is present throughout the book. There are three main characters in the book and they are Christine Daae, Viscount Raoul de Chagny, and the Phantom of the Opera. The Phantom has two other names and they are the “Opera Ghost” and the formal name he gave himself, Erik. The Phantom wants Christine Daae to be the lead female opera singer because he loves her and her beautiful voice. Raoul loves and has always loved Christine Daae because she is a charming, beautiful woman whom he has known since their childhood. Since Raoul and the Phantom, both love her, and the Phantom is the “Opera Ghost,” he becomes jealous of Raoul and kidnaps Christine. Raoul and another character called the Persian, then set off to find Christine and the Phantom to bring Christine back. Little did they know that the Phantom would guess they would do this and he sets all sorts of traps for them. However, the Phantom lets Christine go and gives Raoul a ring for Christine as a wedding present. The opera house is saved from destruction, Christine is freed and marries Raoul, and the Phantom is forgiven, redeemed, and soon died.

All people can agree this book is full of mystery and is a beautiful, musical, love story, not all agree that this book is worth reading. Some say people should not read The Phantom of the Opera while others say people should read The Phantom of the Opera. People should read The Phantom of the Opera. For these three reasons, it is a book full of mystery, it is a beautiful story, and it has wonderful redemptive qualities.

The first reason why people should read The Phantom of the Opera is that it is a mystery book. Not like your Sherlock Holmes detective mysteries or murder mysteries like Dorothy Sayers or Flannery O’ Connor, but a love mystery or an unfortunate mystery. The Phantom of the Opera, also known as the Opera Ghost or Erik, is an unfortunate, unforgettable, ugly man or “creature” that is in love with Christine Daae but in an unfortunate way. He is not at all handsome and is described in this way by Christine in a conversation to Raoul, “You saw Red Death stalking about at the last masked ball. But those death’s heads were motionless and their dumb horror was not alive. But imagine, if you can, Red Death’s mask suddenly coming to life in order to express, with four black holes of its eyes, its nose, and its mouth, the extreme anger, the mighty fury of a demon; and not a ray of light from the sockets, for, as I learned later, you can not see his blazing eyes except in the dark.” As described by his horrible face, he is also described to have the fingers like death. This book is a beautiful opera in itself. We have the triangle of lovers, two as protagonists and the other is the antagonist.

The second reason why people should read The Phantom of the Opera is that though we have an ugly antagonist in the book, it is actually a beautiful story in general. This story is full of love and compassion. Christine is a picture of beauty for she loves not only the handsome and beautiful but loves ugly and sinful. She tries to help the Phantom by singing for him to make him remain calm, at least until the end of the book.

The third reason why people should read The Phantom of the Opera is that it is a story that has wonderful redemptive qualities about it. While the Phantom is not the gentlest of all men, he does have respect for all people and gets respect from most people. He shows the loyalty of love to Christine even though she loves another man. While it was wrong of him to kidnap her, he is forgiven and loved in return by both Christine and Raoul. He was a sinner but now is forgiven and welcomed. He forgives Christine for loving Raoul and gives Raoul the engagement ring that he had planned on giving to Christine for him to give to her. Redemption of all parties is what ends the book.

However, given the reasons why people should read The Phantom of the Opera, some people will disagree and say that people should not read The Phantom of the Opera because it is about a monster kidnapper. The Phantom deliberately kidnapped Christine against her will because he was a jealous lover. Though this may be a good reason to some people to not read the Phantom of the Opera, it is not a strong one. Christine did love the Phantom and she was about to submit and love him as a husband. She forgave him and loved him.

Another reason why people might say you should not read The Phantom of the Opera is that it has some pretty gruesome deaths and murders in it. The book basically opens up with a death, the death of Joseph Buquet. There is also the death of Count Philippe, he was drowned. However, what is a novel without horrible deeds or something to keep us in suspense? These deaths and murders were not necessarily his fault. So, once again, this reason is not strong to keep people from not reading this book.

Though the Phantom may be cunning and not the nicest of all men and the book in itself may be dark, this is a book that has wonderful redemptive qualities and is beautifully written and has a wonderful storyline.

People should read The Phantom of the Opera because it is a wonderfully mysterious, beautiful, and redemptive story. This applies to all novel readers who like to read something with an exciting storyline and wonderful qualities.

P.S. Check my gallery tomorrow, 1/15/18 for the photos I took inspired by the Phantom of the Opera!

Here is the recipe for the chocolate cake.

Cheers!

Chloe Elizabeth