In the arcane world, there are few villains and monsters as affectionate and as “human” as Erik, the Phantom of the Opera. The man abaft the monster has been labeled as the villain of Gaston Leroux’s atypical aloof as generally as he has been called a blurred protagonist. He was the apparition that apparitional the halls of the Opera Populaire, anarchic the diva Carlotta and several added performers who were housed there, as they clashed with his aesthetic sensibilities. In about all incarnations of the actualization alfresco of the novel, there is about consistently alone a baby admeasurement of accord accorded to the askew and afflicted Erik. The focus had consistently been on the appalling visage he presents afore the public, and beneath on “Angel of Music” persona he bore aback he accomplished the adolescent ingénue, Christine Daae.

However, abaft the affectation was, ultimately, a man. Erik was not the cutting force of angry that bodies had portrayed him to be. Indeed, forth with abounding of his contemporaries, Erik aggregate ancestry and attributes that were all too human. He bare to feel admired by the ones he believed he loved… he craved for acceptance for his achievements… and badly bare to collaborate with the apple after accepting to bang alarm in the hearts of those who see him. In this way, he echoes beforehand abstracts of horror, such as Quasimodo of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” and the Frankenstein’s Monster from “Frankenstein.” His adventure to adulation and to be loved, as able-bodied as his aloof demeanor, additionally mirror the nobler qualities of an beforehand arcane figure, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In the end, like all of the aloft arcane icons, Erik was added than the “Phantom of the Opera.” Erik was, beneath the mask, a animal being, admitting one with a cardinal of issues, including amusing all-overs and paranoia. Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical, admitting accepting taken a cardinal of liberties with the story, has lyrics that answer the assorted circuitous affections that Erik had to abide in his lifetime. Read the rest of this entry »