And the murder is of a somewhat minor character, so sometimes audiences seem to overlook it. I guess kidnapping a woman has been presented as a romantic event for some time by old stories. He is trapped where he is by the attitudes of his day and has become twisted as a result.īut is it problematic that the musical presents the Phantom to us as more of a tragic figure than as a monster? True, we should feel sorry for the way society has treated him, but what are we to do with the fact that he kidnaps and murders? In my experience, when people discuss his character, they overlook these aspects. One might speculate that he could try living in society, but it is telling that Christine tries to break his power over her by tearing off his mask–apparently his hideous visage confronts her as an outwards sign of his hideous personality. And he elicits pity from them because he finds himself forced to live in the shadows. He seems attractive to audiences even though he supposedly is a monster beneath his mask. Perhaps part of this effect may be attributed to his singing voice. And yet somehow he still manages to seduce audiences! He terrorizes the Opera, kidnaps Christine, kills a man, and once again holds Christine hostage by demanding she stay with him or watch him strangle Raoul. He tries to seduce her at her father’s grave. He grooms Christine by training her to sing. No wonder other adaptations of the work have marketed it as a horror story!Īndrew Lloyd Webber’s musical retains elements of the original character that indicate he remains an undesirable match for Christine, to say the least. When he realizes she loves her childhood friend Raoul instead, he kidnaps her again, threatens to blow up the Opera and the people in it unless she marries him, and reveals that he has perfected some Eastern torture techniques and that he’s using them on Raoul and another man. He releases her only after forcing her to promise she will remain true to him. In the novel, The Phantom of the Opera, who lives under the Paris Opera where singer Christine performs, gains emotional influence over her as she seems to believe he is her dead father speaking to her. If “abusive” seems too strong a word consider the plot of the novel, which differs significantly from that of the musical. It takes a remarkably abusive character, the titular Phantom of the Opera, and transforms him into a seemingly sexually desirable, if dangerous, leading man. This week’s question is: Is the Phantom of the Opera abusive or romantic? (You can discuss the musical or the book version, or the differences between the two.)Īndrew Lloyd Webber’s musical adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s novel has always intrigued me.
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