A Classic Tale of Horror

In 1811, Gastor Leroux wrote his most famous novel entitled The Phantom of the Opera. A tragic love story based around true events that happened at the Paris Opera house only years before. With the embellishment of a mysterious phantom the story has become a classic tale of horror. The Phantom of the Opera is my all time favorite book, and it came to life for me six years ago to enrich my life, both in my own thinking and dealings with society.

The main character in the story is a man by the name of Erik. Born with a hideously deformed face, but the mind of a genius. Erik has hidden himself in the Paris Opera House, donning a mask and becoming the Phantom. His character is well written and developed in the story, giving Erik a human quality that I as the reader could relate to. He is rejected by society for his outward appearance, while his inside genius goes unnoticed. This written example of human behavior, showed to me the reality of human cruelty. Where I have experienced first hand the cruelty of human nature I found comfort in the book to see a strong character beneath the heavy weight of rejection.

I have taken the book as a warning to my future sanity. In The Phantom of the Opera, Erik has gone insane from lack of acceptance and love from his fellow man. This insanity has driven him to commit crimes more and more dangerous, to the point of murdering someone with his own hands. I see myself started down the same path as the character, where I have not committed crimes of murder, I could see how in the future I could be driven to the same state. I wonder if reading the book so early in life if I have already gone away from the destructive path I know I was once on.

Happy endings are another item my mind has been made to wonder about. Erik does not attain his love or any of his goals in his life. What he does reach is the knowledge that he set his goals to high. One can not think his death is a happy ending, but for the character it was. I hope that my high goals will someday succeed, but though this story I have learned my goals most likely will not succeed all the way. Where Erik wanted his love Christine forever and a day, he did atleast have her for a day. He did not attain his goal in his life, so I have seen that things do not end up truly happy in bliss. They are more bitter sweet endings where there is a slight happiness out of the part of the goal obtained, then the glorious true happy ending.

The triad of lovers and their interactions with each other in the story is very true to social interactions in the time it was written, but I have also seen a correlation to society in this day and age. The beautiful female choosing the physically beautiful male, over the true-of-heart male. Once again I am drawn to the heart broken Erik, and his overwhelming love of Christine. I find myself in love totally with someone, who does not return my love as full as I would hope. I also see that much like Christine, the male I love keeps me there like a subservient dog. As Erik states in the book, 'I am a dog to her, nothing more then a dog, and I will be a dog to her.' I have seen the wrongs in how Erik dealt with Christine and have been using it a warning and guide to my own love life. I try not to throw myself at my love, or kidnap him as Erik did with his love (though I have thought about it). I try instead the gentler things that Erik did for his love. Such as the ring Erik gave to Christine. I went so far as getting a ring made identical to the one in the book, with the same engraving. This ring I have given to my love with the same reasons and emotions behind the ring in the book.

The last part of my life that The Phantom of the Opera has effected is my writing. I have been drawn to creating more dark mysterious characters, with deep passions and strong wills, close to the image of Erik. My females are soft and beautiful based abit on the ideal image of Christine that Erik had. The love I write in my stories is not that of crushes, but the love that can make one die from possessing it. My writing has also taken from the book the enrichment and mood that classical music can bring to a story.

So in the end my favorite book is more then just a book, it's a bible. I base my love, my life, my thinking and writing on it. My hopes and dreams correspond to the poor Erik, with a goal only to be loved. Is that so bad a goal to hope for? That is all I have to say of Erik, and my favorite book, The Phantom of the Opera. A classic tale of horror... and love.