After completing The Phantom of the Opera, I remained stunned! The novel was absolutely phenomenal! I fell in love with every single aspect of the story; the characters, the plot, the setting, the themes, the figurative language. Everything, all of it was (as I will say frequently) beyond compare.
Now getting on to the story itself… Like I mentioned in my first reflection my predictions were wrong and as I read on I learned what was wrong with them. For example, I predicted a forbidden love although with whom it would be with, there was in fact, a forbidden love. The forbidden love was between the rich, aristocrat, Raoul, and the poor, peasant girl, Christine Daaé who was kidnapped by the phantom, Erik. The story basically goes like so: Erik …show more content…
Now for my new insights they have a lot to do with Erik and his character. Gaston Leroux, the author, depicts Erik as an ancient thing, half-mad, but still a genius. Erik is not only genius as a composer but also as an architect and anything of or relating to exotic and frightening skills learned in India and elsewhere. Although Erik was never one to want to show off his genius to the world, he liked it to serve him alone, and prefers isolation in which he practices his mad arts.
If you read the book you will come to know Erik as someone who, in short, is insane! His insanity adds so significantly to his role that without it, there would be something missing. Erik’s comprehension of right and wrong, as well as truth and lie, is insubstantial and comes and goes at his whim. As I read on I always thought that Erik was in a malevolent state of mind, but he is not, he is just disconnected from the idea of taking responsibility for your own actions. His insanity not only add to his character but as well as the plot, as the story goes on, Erik will switch obsessions and come up with puzzles without internal logic. All this makes him much more dangerous and creepy, at the same time, making him less