One of the novels used in the lower secondary for Literature in English is “The Phantom of the Opera” by Gaston Leroux. However, the students use the abridged version by Jennifer Bassett which is more simplified. I love to discuss with my Form 2 tuition students (from the lower secondary schools around my area) regarding their perception about Erik as the evil character and share my own reflections regarding him with them.
Erik or the opera ghost is considered as the evil character in the novel as he did evil things like dropping the chandelier on the opera audience and killing Joseph Buquet. He even kidnapped Christine an opera singer and forces her to marry him as he is deeply in love with her. On the other hand Christine is in love with Roaul. Raoul tried to search for her as he is also deeply in love with her too. Erik trapped Raoul and tortured him in the room of mirrors in order to make him face death. However Christine felt pity on Raoul when Erik showed her what Raoul was going through.She eventually told Erik to let go Raoul and she agreed to marry Erik. When Christine kissed Erik, he was so touched as even his own mother never kissed him. Then he began to realize that love cannot be forced, so he let go Christine to be with Raoul her lover and this incident made him face his failure to love and being loved…………………….
I sympathize Erik and I feel that he reacted that way out of a heart withered of love. He was never loved by anyone all because of his ugly disfigure appearance until he had to wear a mask. If he is given a chance to be loved and be appreciated in love, and if he is accepted despite his ugly figure, I believe he would turn out to be a very loving man who can not only express his love but also demonstrate it as well. Apart from that, if he can control his emotions and build a strong self esteem, he can go through life with a positive character. Erik is a very intelligent person and he is one of the architects of the Opera House in Paris. He also built his house on the lake which is situated under the opera house, he is talented as he can play with ropes and amazingly he is good at music. He even once became Christine’s angle of music and taught her how to sing beautifully! So, I feel that although his IQ is high, he still has a very low EQ. He doesn’t know how control his emotions which eventually caused him to face death out of a broken heart withered of love………………
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