Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Phantom of the Opera, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Natural vs. the Supernatural
Love vs. Jealousy
Violence, Revenge, and Redemption
Beauty vs. Ugliness
Summary
Analysis
After this horrific evening, Carlotta becomes sick, and Christine disappears. Worried and confused, Raoul searches for her everywhere. When he goes to see Moncharmin and Richard, who are unrecognizable after the previous tragic events, having given in to gloom and anxiety, they simply tell Raoul that Christine has said she is sick. Convinced that Christine is the victim of some mysterious person or phenomenon, Raoul determines to go see Mme Valerius, with whom Christine lives.
Raoul’s determination to find Christine reveals that he is incapable of staying away from her, despite her adamant request, since he wants to protect her at all cost. His perspective also shifts as he realizes that Christine is probably not behaving out of her own volition, and that she might be suffering more than him. Raoul’s inability to associate the man in the cemetery at Perros with these mysterious events, however, highlights his lack of perceptiveness.
Themes
When Raoul enters Mme Valerius’s bedroom, where she is stuck in bed, she greets him warmly and tells him that Christine is with her guardian spirit, the Angel of Music. This news depresses Raoul, though Mme Valerius then says that Christine is fond of Raoul and speaks of him every day. After laughing at Raoul’s past declarations of love, which outrages Raoul, Mme Valerius explains in a conciliatory tone that the Spirit of Music prohibits Christine from marrying. She tells him that this guardian spirit met with Christine at the churchyard in Perros, where he played Lazarus for her. However, when Raoul asks to meet this man, Mme Valerius says that he lives in Heaven.
Like Christine, Mme Valerius is unable to reconcile the contradictory aspects of the Angel of Music: his heavenly nature, which gives him extraordinary powers, and his human concerns, such as keeping Christine from marrying. It is only once Christine discovers that the Angel of Music or Phantom is a human being that his manipulative nature will become apparent—and, along with it, his human weakness for jealousy. Mme Valerius, however, confirms to a jealous, suspicious Raoul that Christine does care enormously for him.
Themes
Shocked by such naïveté, Raoul concludes that this must explains Christine’s agitated state, as Christine has lived for so long with a lady prone to fanciful ideas. Mme Valerius then tells Raoul that Christine has been receiving lessons from the Angel of Music for three months, although she has now left with him. Taking his leave from Mme Valerius, Raoul enters in a state of uncontrollable rage. He concludes that this Spirit of Music must be Christine’s lover, a musician, and that Christine has deceived Raoul, proving that she is neither pure nor honest. He insults Christine but, by the time he reaches his house, he falls on his bed sobbing.
Although Raoul’s attitude seems foolish and harsh, since the Phantom does exist and is capable of controlling Christine, it nevertheless highlights Christine’s naïveté in believing that her father’s fairytales have come true and that the Angel of Music is well-intentioned. Raoul’s reaction to this news is contradictory. On the one hand, he understands that Christine might be too innocent and trusting. On the other hand, he is unable to understand that she must be the victim of a greater power, and concludes that she must be manipulating Raoul himself. His inability to focus on the sincere, honest aspect of Christine’s personality underlines the deep, harmful effects of jealousy.
Themes
To calm his brother down, Count Philippe then tells Raoul that, the previous evening, by the race-course, Christine was seen in a brougham with a man, a dark shadow by her side. Eager to catch Christine in the act, Raoul hurriedly leaves the house and takes a cab to the race-course. There, after waiting for half an hour, he finally sees a carriage and assumes it must be Christine. As soon as he notices Christine’s face in the moonlight, he calls out to her, but the carriage suddenly speeds ahead, disappearing in the night.
Instead of reassuring Raoul, Philippe’s assertion confirms Raoul’s suspicion that Christine must be deceiving him. However, Raoul’s spontaneous decision to follow her once again highlights his foolhardiness and innocence, as he believes that Christine is still free to decide whether or not to see him—instead of understanding that she has little control over her present circumstances.
Themes
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After this, Raoul feels lonely and miserable, concluding that he used to idealize Christine, but now feels contempt for her. He realizes that she has played with his feelings, but also knows that he has behaved foolishly, since she explicitly told him not to see her again. After considering suicide, Raoul wakes up the next day with a note from Christine asking him to meet her at the Opera’s masked ball the next day. She tells him to ear a white domino, a hooded costume, and something to hide his face.
Raoul’s alternation between idealization and condemnation of Christine reveals his unstable, extreme personality, as he is too overcome by jealousy to understand that Christine might be in a complex, difficult situation. Christine also gives him mixed signals; instead of repudiating him entirely, she shows that she still loves him by writing to him on various occasions and thus breaking her own vow not to see him again.
Themes
