MAPEH 9

Phantom of the Opera

Name: Althea Faith A. Dangate

Section: 9-Bronze
Teacher: Charmane R. Cequena
Characters

Erik

-He is also known as Phantom. He is physically deformed. He is also referred to as the Angel of Music
and the Opera Ghost. He tutors and eventually becomes obsessed with Christine Daaé.

Christine Daaé.

-She is the female protagonist of the novel. She is the young singer with whom the main character Erik
and Raoul de Chagny, falls in love.
Raoul de Chagny

-Christine's childhood friend and love interest.

Madame Giry

- is the box keeper of the Opera.

Meg Giry

-Meg is Madame Giry's daughter, a ballet girl. She is Christine's friend, but she also helps her mother in
doing Erik's bidding.
Armand Moncharmin and Firmin Richard

-The new managers of the opera house.

Carlotta

- A spoiled prima donna; the lead soprano of the Paris Opera House.
Summary:

The narrative itself picks up on the night of a retirement party. The old opera directors are turning over
the venue to the new leadership of Armand Moncharmin and Firmin Richard. As the men talk and the
dancers prepare for the evening’s entertainment, several dancers make mention of having seen the
phantom. Before long, the chief stagehand, Joseph Buquet, is found hanged in the basement. The night
proves a success, however, for fledgling star Christine Daaé, who was only an understudy before this
time. As it turns out, Raoul de Chegny is watching Christine’s performance with his brother, and
immediately falls in love with her. When she faints, he rushes to her dressing room and it is revealed
that the two share a past.

Raoul reminds Christine that he chased her scarf into the sea once when they were children. It is later
revealed by way of backstory that Christine’s father was a famous violinist, and that Christine
accompanied him on his travels. They settled in a seaside town where she met Raoul. She left when her
father died, and the two have not seen each other since that time.

When Raoul leaves her dressing room, he hears a male’s voice as he listens just outside the door. The
voice says that it has made Christine a star. Later, the old directors inform Moncharmin and Richard
about the supposed phantom and his demands. Box Five is to be reserved only for him, and twenty
thousand francs are to paid to him monthly. Though the new directors scoff at the demands and
consider the phantom a joke, they soon receive a letter from the phantom highlighting his anger.

Later, Christine reaches out to Raoul and meets him in the seaside town where they first met. There in
Perros, she reveals that the voice he heard in her dressing room is the Angel of Music, a creature her
father said would watch over her. When Raoul follows Christine to the cemetery, he hears violin music.
He is then found unconscious the next day, attacked by a cloaked figure with a face like a “skull.”

The new directors are still certain the phantom is a hoax, but again receive a letter. This time, the
phantom demands that Christine be given the lead in Faust, among other things, and reminds them
about Box Five. Again the directors scoff at the idea. Instead, they cast Carlotta in the role, reserve Box
Five for themselves and hire someone against the phantom’s wishes. When the night’s performance
commences, Carlotta’s voice croaks like a frog’s, to their horror. Moreover, the house chandelier drops
onto the unsuspecting audience, thus injuring people and killing the person they hired against the
phantom’s wishes.

Raoul searches for Christine and, upon finding her, is told to meet her at a masked ball. He attends, but
also in attendance is a shady figure with a skull mask, the so-called phantom. Seeing the phantom’s
boldness, Christine informs Raoul that she can no longer see him. She flees to her dressing room and
when Raoul follows, witnesses her disappear into her mirror.
When Raoul again seeks Christine out the next day and finds her with her guardian, Mme. Valerius, he
reveals that he will be leaving within a month. Christine agrees to a secret engagement and reveals all.
She explains that the phantom, Erik, is jealous and dangerous. She then takes Raoul to the rooftop,
hoping that the phantom cannot hear them. She tells Raoul that she thought Erik was the Angel of
Music, but he is a grotesque individual with a scarred face. Both Christine and Raoul pause, feeling they
are being watched. The next night, the lights go out in the middle of the performance and when they are
turned back on, Christine is gone.

Raoul is on the verge of telling the police about Erik, but is stopped by the Persian, an odd figure often in
the opera house. The Persian then takes Raoul to Christine’s dressing room and shows him how she
“disappeared” through her mirror. They both go through, and the Persian leads Raoul down into the
underground cellars. They intend to drop through a panel into Erik’s house, but end up in a torture
chamber. Erik, who demands that Christine marry him, turns the torture chamber on. The Persian
manages to find a release switch and the two men escape, only to find that Erik’s wine cellar is filled
with a massive amount of gun powder.

Still demanding that Christine marry him, Erik gives her a choice between turning two knobs. One will
mean she accepts his marriage proposal, and the other means she rejects him. Unbeknownst to
Christine, the rejection knob will trigger a gun powder explosion. In the end, however, she chooses Erik,
and when she turns the knob, the wine cellar begins filling with water. Erik finally changes his mind,
though, and saves the two men from drowning. He later visits the Persian and informs him that he has
allowed Raoul and Christine to be together, and that he is dying of heartbreak.

Questions:

1.Why is the Phantom referred to as both “angel” and “demon”?

He has a voice of an angel, but his physical appearance is like when one might think of when they think
of a Demon.

2.During point of no return, the phantom has no disguise on. If everyone was after him, why didn’t
anyone stop the performance and capture the phantom?

The Phantom is well known as a murderer and an escape artist. This is a hostage situation. To rush the
stage might risk lives, and everyone in the know is proceeding with caution.

3.Who is the old man in the wheelchair who puts the music box with the monkey on Christine’s grave at
the end?
It’s Raoul.

4.Why does Christine choose Raoul instead of the Phantom? Christine chose Raoul because he could
give her a life's that the phantom could never provide for her, a life of protection, a life without fear, and
a life of happiness.

5.If you were given a chance to change the story, what would be the best ending for the characters?

I’ll not change the story because it is beautiful in its own way.