The Phantom of the Opera (Leroux)
Short summary
Paris Opera House, approximately 1880s. Strange events, attributed to a ghostly presence, disturb the staff. Erik, a hideously disfigured recluse, secretly manipulates events from his subterranean lair beneath the Opera.
Erik becomes infatuated with Christine Daaé, a young soprano, presenting himself as an angelic tutor to enhance her singing. Christine believes him but is frightened upon discovering his true identity.
Raoul, Viscount de Chagny, Christine's childhood friend, attends her performances and senses danger. Despite Christine's secretive behavior, Raoul vows to protect her.
As Erik tightens his grip, tragedy escalates. He abducts Christine, confining her in his underground domain. Raoul, aided by a mysterious Persian acquainted with Erik's past, infiltrates Erik's lair. Christine faces a terrible ultimatum disguised within a mechanical device: 'If you turn the grasshopper, Mademoiselle, we shall all be blown sky high… There's enough explosive under our feet to blow up an entire quartier of Paris!… But if you turn the scorpion, the powder magazine will be flooded!…'
'If you turn the grasshopper, Mademoiselle, we shall all be blown sky high… There's enough explosive under our feet to blow up an entire quartier of Paris!… But if you turn the scorpion, the powder magazine will be flooded!…'
Christine bravely chooses correctly, saving them all. Moved by Christine's genuine compassion, Erik finally releases her, granting peace to her love with Raoul, and subsequently dies alone.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The Phantom's presence at the Opera
Strange occurrences at the Paris Opera House had long been attributed to the Opera Ghost, a mysterious figure who haunted the building. During the farewell gala for the retiring directors, Debienne and Poligny, the corps de ballet was thrown into panic when they claimed to have seen the ghost. La Sorelli, a leading ballerina, tried to calm them as they gathered in her dressing room.
Meg Giry revealed that her mother knew about the ghost and his private box, number 5, which was always kept empty. The dancers' fear intensified when they learned that Joseph Buquet, a stage-setter who had once described the ghost as resembling a skeleton with deep-set eyes, had been found hanged beneath the stage.
Christine Daaé's mysterious rise
The same evening as Buquet's death, a young soprano named Christine Daaé gave an extraordinary performance, replacing La Carlotta in the final trio of Faust. Her sudden display of talent astonished the audience, including Raoul, Viscount de Chagny, who recognized her as his childhood friend.
After her performance, Christine fainted and was taken to her dressing room. When she regained consciousness, she recognized Raoul. He waited outside her room while she recovered, but overheard a man's voice inside declaring his love for her. Christine responded that she sang only for him. When Raoul entered the room to confront this mysterious person, he found it empty.
The chandelier disaster
The new directors of the Opera, Armand Moncharmin and Firmin Richard, dismissed the stories of the Phantom as a prank by their predecessors. They received letters from the Phantom demanding a monthly payment of 20,000 francs and insisting that Box 5 remain at his disposal, but they ignored these demands and sold tickets for the box.
During a performance of Faust, with La Carlotta singing the role of Marguerite, the directors sat in Box 5. As Carlotta sang, her voice suddenly transformed into a croak. Then, the Phantom's voice was heard throughout the theater, warning that the chandelier would fall. Moments later, the massive chandelier crashed into the audience, killing the new box-keeper.
For that mouth which had been created to make beautiful sounds... that magnificent instrument which had produced the finest harmonies... that mouth had opened and let out… That mouth had spawned… A toad!
Raoul's investigation
After the chandelier incident, Christine disappeared. When she returned, she sent Raoul a letter inviting him to Perros-Guirec, where her father was buried. There, she told Raoul about the Angel of Music, whom her father had promised to send to her after his death. She claimed this Angel had been giving her singing lessons for three months, meeting her in her dressing room at the Opera.
That night in Perros, Raoul followed Christine to the cemetery, where he heard the beautiful sound of a violin playing The Resurrection of Lazarus, her father's favorite piece. He glimpsed a shadowy figure with a death's head entering the church and tried to pursue it, but fainted after seeing its hideous face.
Back in Paris, Raoul became increasingly concerned about Christine. He visited Madame Valerius, Christine's adoptive mother, who confirmed that Christine was with her "friendly spirit," the Angel of Music. Madame Valerius believed completely in the Angel, saying he forbade Christine to marry.
'You have a beautiful soul, my dear,' went on the deep voice, 'and I thank you for it. No emperor was ever given so great a gift! Tonight the angels wept!' After those words: Tonight the angels wept! Raoul heard no more.
The masked ball and Erik's identity
Raoul received a letter from Christine asking him to meet her at the masked ball at the Opera. She instructed him to come dressed as a white domino and warned him that her life depended on his anonymity. At the ball, Christine, disguised in a black domino, led Raoul away from the crowd. They observed a figure dressed as the Red Death, whom Raoul recognized as the figure he had seen at Perros.
Christine revealed that she was leaving Raoul forever. When he demanded an explanation, she removed her mask to show her ravaged face, then forbade him to follow her. Distraught, Raoul went to Christine's dressing room and hid when she entered. He heard her murmur, "Poor Erik!" and then witnessed a strange phenomenon: a beautiful male voice began to sing from within the walls.
Raoul saw Christine reach out her hands to the voice, just as she had done in the cemetery at Perros... There are no words to describe the passion with which the voice sang: 'To thee my destiny is bound for ever!'
Christine's revelations
The next day, Raoul found Christine at Madame Valerius's apartment. She appeared calm and denied the existence of the Angel of Music, contradicting her adoptive mother's claims. Raoul noticed a gold ring on Christine's finger and accused her of being engaged to someone else. Christine begged him to forget the name of the man with the voice, warning him of the terrible mystery surrounding it.
Despite her warnings, Raoul and Christine began a secret engagement for the month before his planned departure for the North Pole. During this time, Christine showed Raoul around the Opera House, but forbade him from exploring the areas beneath the stage, claiming they belonged to "him." Raoul realized this was where Erik lived.
One evening, on the roof of the Opera House, Christine finally revealed the truth to Raoul. She explained that for three months, she had heard a voice through the walls of her dressing room, believing it to be the Angel of Music promised by her father. The voice had given her singing lessons and inspired her performances.
After her triumph replacing La Carlotta, the voice had led her through a dark passage to an underground lake, where she discovered that her Angel was actually a man named Erik. He had taken her to his house by the lake and revealed himself to be the Phantom of the Opera. Christine had seen his hideous, death-like face and was both terrified and pitied him.
'You're crying! You're afraid of me! But I'm not a bad man! Love me and you'll see! To be good and kind, all I ever needed was to be loved! If you loved me, I would be as gentle as a lamb and you could do with me whatever you wanted!'
Plans for escape
Christine told Raoul that she had only one day left before she had to return to Erik, who would come for her with his Voice if she didn't go willingly. She feared that if she returned this time, she might never come back. She asked Raoul to meet her in her dressing room at midnight the following night, after she sang for Erik one last time.
As they spoke on the roof, they were unaware that Erik was listening to their conversation. Raoul urged Christine to flee immediately, but she insisted on honoring her promise to Erik. She revealed that she had the key to the iron gate in the Rue Scribe, which provided direct access to the lake, but refused to give it to Raoul, fearing betrayal of Erik.
Suddenly, Christine realized she had lost the gold ring Erik had given her, which she was supposed to wear always for her safety. They concluded it was lost on the roof. That night, Raoul saw two smoldering eyes at the foot of his bed and fired his revolver at them, believing it was Erik. His brother, Count Philippe, found blood on the balcony but dismissed Raoul's claims.
Christine's abduction
The next evening, Faust was performed with Christine singing the role of Marguerite. Spurred by La Carlotta's presence, Christine sang with renewed passion, captivating the audience. As she ascended during the final act, the theater plunged into darkness. When the lights returned, Christine had vanished from the stage, causing an uproar among the audience.
Backstage, chaos ensued. The lighting engineer, Mauclair, and his assistants were missing. The Opera directors, Richard and Moncharmin, were behaving strangely, preoccupied with a safety pin and refusing to be disturbed. Raoul rushed backstage, calling out Christine's name and trying to access the traps that led beneath the stage, but they were firmly closed.
Inspector Mifroid of the Paris Police arrived to investigate. When Raoul tried to explain that Erik, the Phantom of the Opera, had abducted Christine, he was met with skepticism. The Inspector revealed that Count Philippe's carriage was missing, suggesting that he might have abducted Christine. As Raoul rushed out to pursue them, he was stopped by a mysterious man known as the Persian.
Descent into the Phantom's domain
The Persian revealed that he knew Erik and offered to help Raoul find Christine. He led Raoul through unfamiliar passages to Christine's dressing room, where he activated a hidden mechanism in the mirror. They descended into the depths of the Opera House, passing through dark corridors and trapdoors.
The Persian explained that in his country, Erik was known as the "King of the Traps." They navigated through the five levels beneath the stage, a labyrinth of stage sets, traps, and machinery. They encountered strange figures, including a man with a flaming face who turned out to be the rat-catcher, accompanied by a swarm of rats.
The Persian found a hidden opening in the wall, and they crawled through, dropping down into Erik's house. They discovered they were in Erik's torture chamber, a hexagonal room lined with mirrors that created the illusion of an infinite forest. The Persian found a Punjab noose on the floor, the same type of rope used to hang Joseph Buquet.
From within the torture chamber, they heard Erik offering Christine a choice between a Wedding Mass and a Requiem for the Dead. He expressed his desire for a normal life and love. When a bell rang, Erik left to answer it, giving Raoul and the Persian a chance to communicate with Christine, who was alone and tied up in the next room.
'Learn that I am made entirely of Death!… from head to foot!… that you are loved by a corpse who adores you and will never leave you again! Ever!… I shall make a bigger coffin, Christine, for later, when we have come to the end of loving!'
The final confrontation
Christine revealed that Erik intended to kill everyone, including himself, if she didn't agree to marry him by eleven the next evening. She had to choose between the Wedding Mass and the Requiem for the Dead. She mentioned that the key to the torture chamber door was in a leather pouch near the organ in the next room.
Erik returned, having killed a man at the gate with his "Siren" trap. He discovered that Christine had been searching for his keys and became suspicious. He placed a ladder against the wall for Christine to look through a spyhole into the torture chamber, exposing Raoul and the Persian. Erik then activated the torture chamber, flooding it with heat to create the illusion of a jungle in the Congo.
As the temperature rose, Raoul and the Persian searched desperately for the hidden spring that would open the door. They hallucinated, seeing mirages of water in what now appeared to be a desert. Eventually, the Persian discovered a secret catch, and a trapdoor opened in the floor, revealing Erik's cellar filled with barrels of gunpowder.
The Persian realized that Erik planned to destroy the Opera House if Christine refused to marry him. As the deadline approached, Christine was given a choice: turn the scorpion to agree to marry Erik, or turn the grasshopper to trigger the explosion. After much deliberation, Christine turned the scorpion, which activated a mechanism that flooded the cellar with water, soaking the gunpowder and preventing the explosion.
Redemption and resolution
The water continued to rise, flooding the torture chamber where Raoul and the Persian were trapped. They struggled to stay afloat, crashing against the mirrors as the current spun them around. The Persian lost consciousness, and both men nearly drowned before being rescued by Erik.
They awoke in Erik's house, where Christine tended to them. Erik explained that he would return them to the surface to please his wife. The Persian later learned that Count Philippe had been found dead by the lake, presumably killed by Erik. However, when Erik visited the Persian, he denied murdering Philippe, claiming it was an accident.
Erik revealed that Christine had agreed to marry him to save Raoul and the Persian from drowning. After releasing them, she had waited for him and, when he approached her, she did not turn away from his hideous face. Instead, she wept with him and kissed his forehead. Moved by this act of compassion, Erik released Christine and Raoul, allowing them to leave together.
'Oh, Daroga, I felt her tears fall on to my forehead… hot tears… sweet tears… her hot tears ran down inside my mask!… they ran into my eyes and mingled with mine!… they trickled onto my lips!… Her tears, on me!'
Three weeks later, an announcement appeared in the newspaper: "ERIK IS DEAD." The author of the account, who had investigated the Phantom's story, found Erik's remains near the spring where he had first held Christine. He concluded that Erik, despite his ugliness and the terrible acts he had committed, deserved sympathy for his wasted genius and tragic life.
He had a heart big enough to hold the whole world but in the end he had to make do with a hole in the ground! Surely, the Phantom of the Opera deserves all our sympathy! Why did God allow any man to be so ugly as Erik?