The Phantom of the Opera: Chapter 23 Summary & Analysis

The Persian’s narrative continues. He describes the torture chamber as a room made of six walls, covered in mirrors. In a corner, an iron tree allows the trapped prisoners to hang themselves if they become too desperate. Raoul and the Persian suddenly hear a door open to their left, and Erik tells someone to choose between the Wedding Mass and the Requiem Mass. After hearing the interlocutor’s moan, the men conclude that this must be Christine. Erik then explains that, now that he has finished Don Juan Triumphant, he wants a normal life, far from violence—a life that he hopes to share with Christine if she agrees to be his wife. His threatening tone makes Christine cry, but Erik tells her that he is not a bad man and simply needs to be loved in order to change.

Hearing an intense, overwhelming lament of despair, the men realize that it comes from Erik’s own voice, while Christine is probably too shocked to say anything. Erik begins to yell that she doesn’t love him and asks her why she is crying, which he says breaks his heart. After a moment of silence, Erik suddenly hears the sound of an electric bell and goes to see who is at the door.

 As soon as Erik leaves, Raoul calls out to Christine. He tells her that he is on the other side of the wall, and she explains to him that, driven crazy by love, Erik is ready to kill everyone, including himself, if Christine does not agree to marry him. She has until eleven o’clock the next day to make a decision. She adds that she is completely bound and that there are only two doors in the room, one of which leads to the torture chamber. The Persian tells her that she must open that door for them, but Christine says that Erik has forbidden anyone to use his keys, which he calls “keys of life and death.”

Desperate, Christine then tells Raoul to flee immediately, but Raoul says that he will not leave without her. She says that she tried killing herself earlier by hitting her head against the wall, which is why Erik tied her up. Suddenly, they hear Erik return and keep quiet. Erik returns apologizing for his appearance, saying it is the man’s fault, as well as the siren’s. Christine tells him that these ropes hurt and asks her to release her. Erik concludes that, if they are going to die together, he could do so. He says that he, too, is tired of this life. Freeing Christine’s ropes, he notices her staring at him and begins to ramble, saying that the man who came is now safely at the bottom of the lake. He adds that he must sing the Requiem Mass for him.

At this information, the Persian is moved by anguish, wondering who has been trapped in Erik’s lake. However, they all now hear Erik singing his Requiem, an incredibly moving, furious and powerful Dies Irae. To Daroga, Erik sounds like the God of Thunder. However, all of a sudden, Erik stops and, enraged, asks who has taken his keys.