The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera

by

Gaston Leroux

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Violence, Revenge, and Redemption Theme Analysis

Themes and Colors
The Natural vs. the Supernatural Theme Icon
Love vs. Jealousy Theme Icon
Violence, Revenge, and Redemption Theme Icon
Beauty vs. Ugliness Theme Icon
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.
Violence, Revenge, and Redemption Theme Icon

The narrative of The Phantom of the Opera is driven by the “Phantom” Erik’s misdeeds, which range from intimidation and blackmail to abduction and murder. Erik’s past as an assassin in Persia puts these crimes in context, portraying Erik as a callous individual whose life work centers around violence. At the same time, Erik’s difficult childhood and his history of rejection also reveal his vulnerability, suggesting that his violent deeds might be an expression of anger and frustration more than a gratuitous desire to cause harm. Erik himself argues that he could be reformed if only he received sincere love—in particular, if Christine agreed to love him—which would compensate for a life spent stewing in fear and hatred. Although Erik’s motives in forcing Christine to be faithful to him are initially suspicious, his final act of kindness reveals that love can actually reform a violent man, showing him the path toward justice and morality.

Erik initially seems driven by violence and the desire to dominate over others—even Erik’s longtime friend Daroga “the Persian” denounces Erik as a “monstrous fiend” and cold-blooded assassin. At the Opera, Erik does not hesitate to harm other people in order to assert his authority. To take revenge on the new Opera directors Moncharmin and Richard, who do not believe in his own existence, he makes a chandelier fall over the crowd at a performance, thus killing an innocent concierge. He also kills stage machinist Joseph Buquet, who discovered Erik’s traps and thus put Erik’s livelihood at risk. In addition, he does not hesitate to kidnap Christine to force her to obey his will. These actions highlight the ease with which he undertakes violence, along with his deep desire for domination, painting him as an irrational and destructive monster.

However, although these circumstances present Erik as unfeeling, much of his evil behavior can be understood in light of the harm he has suffered at the hands of others throughout his life. Because of this, Erik believes that receiving love as an adult will be sufficient to compensate for the pain he has suffered—and thus encourage him to change his ways. From Erik’s birth, his parents found him repugnant and treated him terribly, ultimately forcing him to run away from home. Other adults later did not hesitate to use the young boy’s deformity for their own benefit, such as when a showman exhibited Erik in fairs as a “living corpse.” Later, in Asia, when Erik worked for the Shah and the Sultan as an illusionist and assassin, both leaders tried to kill him—not because Erik had done anything wrong, but because he simply knew too much. This atmosphere of manipulation, domination, and revenge has a formative influence on Erik, convincing him that he must use violent tricks to survive. As the Persian explains: “[Erik] employed the extraordinary skills and imagination that nature had bestowed upon him, in compensation for his monstrous ugliness, to prey upon his fellow-man.” Unable to be taken seriously as a singer because of his appearance, Erik turned to violence as a form of self-expression, a means to display his wit and intelligence. In Persia, he created elaborate torture and killing methods for local rulers’ enjoyment—a practice he later carried with him to Paris, as he keeps a torture room in his underground abode.

Aware of the impact of his environment on his actions, Erik claims that all he needs is to receive love in order to change. He invokes his cruel family as an explanation for his deep internalization of rejection—and his desire to make Christine love him: “My own poor, unhappy mother […] never let me kiss her – she recoiled from me and made me cover my face – nor did any other woman!” This history of rejection convinces him that he behaves badly because he has never been loved. “You’re afraid of me!” he tells Christine. “And yet, deep down, I am not a bad man. Love me and you’ll see! To be good, all I ever needed was to be loved for myself.” Although Erik’s desperation seems sincere, he uses it to pressure Christine into acquiescing to his desires—thus using Christine’s compassion as a means to satisfy his desires.

However selfish or manipulative Erik might appear, his belief that love will make him a better person does ultimately prove correct. The novel concludes that love can be a powerful force for moral behavior, capable of reforming even the most twisted of criminals. When Christine lets Erik kiss her forehead without expressing horror (unlike his own mother used to), Erik is so moved that he decides to set Christine free. According to Erik’s interpretation, love—or, what readers might see as Christine’s stoic tolerance of his ugliness—does change him, compensating for his past history of rejection and neglect. From then on, he abandons his habit of kidnapping her and understands that he is capable of performing selfless deeds, such as letting the young woman he loves live a happy life far away from him.

The novel thus concludes that the moral nature of one’s actions depends on one’s past and present circumstances, specifically highlighting the power of love to reform morally corrupt and broken people. As long as Erik believed that no one would ever love him, he expressed his anger and frustration at the world, harming others in the process—in the same way that he believed others harmed him. However, as soon as Erik received love and compassion, he was able to pay these emotions forward, proving more noble and kind-hearted than ever before. In this way, his circumstances and human relationships served as the foundation for his moral (or immoral) behavior.

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Violence, Revenge, and Redemption ThemeTracker

The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Violence, Revenge, and Redemption appears in each chapter of The Phantom of the Opera. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Violence, Revenge, and Redemption Quotes in The Phantom of the Opera

Below you will find the important quotes in The Phantom of the Opera related to the theme of Violence, Revenge, and Redemption.
Chapter 1 Quotes

When he did not actually show himself, he signaled his presence or his passage with disastrous or comic occurrences for which he was more often than not blamed, so rife were the feelings of superstition. Had there been some accident, had one of the girls been the butt of a practical joke by a friend, or lost a powder-puff, the culprit must be the ghost, the Phantom of the Opera!

Related Characters: Erik / The Phantom of the Opera / The Ghost / The Voice
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6 Quotes

Some claimed that it was a mark of immeasurable pride; others spoke of her saint-like modesty. Yet, as a rule, artists are rarely so modest; in truth I am rather tempted to ascribe her actions to sheer dread. Yes, I believe that Christine Daaé was frightened by what had just happened to her, and was as taken aback by it as everybody else around her. […] To suggest that Christine was taken aback or even frightened by her triumph is in fact an understatement: having reread the letter, I would say that she was terrified. Yes, yes, terrified. “I am no longer myself when I sing,” she wrote.

Related Characters: Christine Daaé (speaker), Erik / The Phantom of the Opera / The Ghost / The Voice, Carlotta
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 56
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

Terror struck, followed by a general stampede. My intention here is not to revive the memory of that momentous event, for the curious reader can easily consult the accounts that appeared in the press at the time. Suffice it to say that many people were wounded and one died.

The chandelier had crashed upon the head of a poor woman who had come to the Opera that evening for the very first time in her life, and killed her instantly. She was the concierge whom Richard had chosen to replace Mme Giry, the Phantom’s preferred attendant. The next day one of the headlines read: ‘Two hundred thousand kilos hit concierge!’ That was her sole obituary!

Related Characters: Erik / The Phantom of the Opera / The Ghost / The Voice, Firmin Richard, Armand Moncharmin, Mme Giry, Carlotta
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 92
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

Christine simply took off her mask and said: “It is a tragedy, Raoul!”

He now saw her face and could not suppress a cry of surprise and shock. Gone was her fresh, glowing complexion. No longer a reflection of her tranquil disposition and untroubled conscience, her face—so charming and gentle in former days—was deadly pale. How anguished she looked now! Her features were cruelly furrowed by sorrow and her beautiful, limpid eyes—Little Lotte’s eyes—had become wells of deep, dark, unfathomable mystery and were bordered with terribly doleful shadows.

Related Characters: Christine Daaé (speaker), Erik / The Phantom of the Opera / The Ghost / The Voice, Viscount Raoul de Chagny
Related Symbols: The Ring, Masks
Related Literary Devices:
Page Number: 109
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

“Let me tell you why I would like to see you leave tonight.”

“Yes, tell me, Raoul.”

“Because tomorrow, all your resolve will be gone!”

“Then, Raoul, you must take me away. Are we not agreed on that?”

Related Characters: Christine Daaé (speaker), Viscount Raoul de Chagny (speaker), Erik / The Phantom of the Opera / The Ghost / The Voice
Page Number: 154
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

“You’re afraid of me! And yet, deep down, I am not a bad man. Love me and you’ll see! To be good, all I ever needed was to be loved for myself. If you loved me, I would be as gentle as a lamb; and you could do with me as you pleased.”

Related Characters: Erik / The Phantom of the Opera / The Ghost / The Voice (speaker), Christine Daaé
Related Symbols: The Ring
Page Number: 235
Explanation and Analysis: