The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux is a Gothic mystery novel first published serially in 1910. The novel follows a “ghost” who haunts the Paris Opera and the mysterious incidents attributed to this figure. The characters and the narrator himself try to uncover the secret of this ghost, who is really a masked man infatuated opera singer, Christine Daaé. The novel has been adapted into several formats, most notably a 1925 silent film directed by Rupert Julien and a 1986 musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. A 2004 film adaptation of this musical directed by Joel Schumacher was nominated for three Academy Awards and three Golden Globes. This guide follows Arcturus Publishing Limited’s paperback edition, published in 2021. This edition uses Alexander Teixera de Mattos’ translation.

Plot Summary

The Prologue opens with the narrative’s frame: The narrator says they will explain the mysterious incidents at the Opera House through the existence of the "Opera Ghost". His investigation proves that this phantom was really a man with an incredible talent for illusions. By tracing the ghost’s life and movements, the narrator says they can explain the disappearances, deaths, and accidents that occurred 30 years prior.

The story itself begins on the night of the Opera’s gala performance where Christine Daaé unexpectedly dazzles the audience. Many young dancers claim to see the Opera Ghost lurking about, and when they hear news of stagehand Joseph Buquet's sudden death, they fear the ghost has struck. The retiring managers Poligny and Debienne relay the ghost's demands and threats to the new managers Moncharmin and Richard, who think the Opera employees are playing an elaborate joke. The managers soon receive their own demands from the Opera Ghost.

Viscount Raoul de Chagny, who has been in love with Christine since childhood, visits her after the miraculous performance, but she pretends to not remember him. Raoul overhears a man's voice congratulating Christine in her dressing room and thinks she is in love with someone else. Raoul follows Christine to Perros, the seaside town where they spent a year of their childhood together. Christine thinks she has been visited by the heavenly Angel of Music, and this mysterious figure plays violin for her in the graveyard, where Christine visits her father’s tomb. Raoul discovers the Angel is a man in a mask and worries Christine is being taken advantage of.

Back in Paris, the managers ignore the ghost's demands and even act in direct opposition to them. Soon, disaster strikes. The opera star, La Carlotta, croaks onstage during a show, the men hear the ghost's voice taunting them, the chandelier crashes into the audience, and Christine disappears. After many days, Raoul finally meets Christine at a masked ball where he confronts her about the Angel of Music. She refuses to explain and runs away to her dressing room. Raoul, in hiding, hears the Angel's voice calling to Christine, and as if by magic, Christine vanishes through her mirror.

Later, Christine and Raoul play at being engaged and she agrees to explain her strange behavior. The Angel of Music is a man named Erik who hides his face because of its extreme scarring. Erik taught Christine to sing again, and on the night of the opera’s chandelier accident, he took her to his underground house. Christine is afraid to run away but afraid to go back to the monster in the cellars. The night Raoul promises to take Christine away, she vanishes again in the middle of her performance. Meanwhile, the managers slowly go insane, as their attempts to uncover the truth of the ghost only prove his existence further.

The police dismiss Raoul's story about the ghost man, but the Persian—a retired police chief who knows Erik—believes and helps him. They go through the revolving mirror in Christine's dressing room and descend into the cellars of the Opera where they encounter frightening figures. They try to sneak into Erik's house, but accidentally drop into his torture chamber. In the adjacent room, Erik forces Christine to answer his marriage proposal by the following night. Erik illuminates the torture chamber and disorients Raoul and the Persian to madness. Five minutes before Christine’s deadline, Raoul and the Persian discover a cellar full of explosives. Erik intends to blow up the entire Opera if Christine rejects him.

Christine agrees to the marriage and pleads with Erik to spare Raoul and the Persian. Raoul and the Persian pass out from exhaustion in the torture chamber and the Persian awakens to find themselves in a sitting room with Christine and Erik. Erik mixes a draft for the Persian, who falls asleep again and finds himself back in his own room upon waking. Erik, dying of love, later visits the Persian to share that he freed Christine and Raoul after he finally experienced love's happiness. Erik dies shortly after. The narrator share's Erik's tragic history of rejection in the Epilogue, asking the audience to pity and forgive the unfortunate man.