Yes, you read that title correctly. This week, we have part one of a two-part examination of Leroux Gaston’s The Phantom of the Opera and C. S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces. Any who have read my past posts know I prefer Faces to Phantom, as I hold that Lewis’s story triumphs over Leroux’s in all facets of literary and storytelling element. This post and the next will only delve into one, however: twisted love in both stories. Under that category, I will address two main aspects characters/relationships and the endings of the stories.
So, let’s begin with mutual summaries of the plots, for those who might have forgotten or might be uninitiated.
The Phantom of the Opera tells of an opera viscount, Raoul, and his love for an opera singer, Christine. The two, childhood friends, reunite after several years and rekindle (or stoke) their affections for each other, but in the background is Eric, the titular Phantom, who also loves Christine with an obsessive passion, and he is willing to do anything to make her his.
Till We Have Faces is told by Orual, princess of Glome, who was rejected by those around her for her ugliness. When she finally finds people who accept her, most notably her step-sister, Psyche, Orual finally finds happiness until the fateful day when Psyche is chosen as a sacrifice to the god of the mountain. Orual travels to the place of sacrifice to give Psyche a proper burial but instead happily finds her sister alive and well . The event becomes the trigger of Orual’s downfall as her twisted love destroys that which she wished to protect.
Now that we have crossed that ground, let’s begin with this post’s topic, the characters and their relationships, beginning with The Phantom of the Opera.
I cannot understand why Leroux told his story from Raoul’s viewpoint. When compared to the Phantom, he is far less interesting, and I can’t help but see him as a lesser stalker. Yes, we probably all know that the mad Phantom is an obsessive stalker, but Raoul is too. After Christine rejects Raoul, a third party’s statement sends him chasing after her, hiding in the alleys of the streets on which she has been seen to catch a glimpse of her (Leroux 91-104). I’ve been the target of similar actions, and it was NOT romantic. There was a guy who took interest in me and started showing up wherever I went, even once entering my apartment without my permission with the support of a “helpful” third party. The whole situation terrified me. I felt hunted. Thankfully the guy was genuinely nice, so when I eventually did confront him, he stopped. It’s one thing to go to a social event when you hear your crush is going to be there; it’s another to chase after her wherever she goes at the event, any other place, or wherever! Especially if she’s already said she doesn’t want to see you anymore, as Christine did.
It even felt as though Leroux was trying to justify Raoul, as Christine pretty much just brushes it off. Furthermore, his suspicions of Christine’s being in a dangerous situation prove true, as if that makes his stalking and jealousy all better. Seriously, guys (and girls), if you’re afraid your crush might be in a bad situation, mention it to the person directly. Stalking is just no.
A similar situation of suspicion arrises in Faces, after Psyche has said she is the wife to a god. Orual understandably struggles with the situation. She knows the girl to be mentally sound but also fully convinced of what she has declared. After a couple chapters of mental wrestling and discussion with her other two important relationships, her Greek tutor, the Fox, and her sword instructor and royal guard, Bardia, Orual concludes either Psyche to be duped by a thug or married to a monster. In the end, Orual tells herself, it doesn’t matter which. Psyche must be saved! But this intervention, completely against Psyche’s will and only accomplished by driving the girl into a corner, brings nothing but disaster. Orual tramples Psyche’s will, as well as assumes away some other evidence presented to her, and forces intervention because it was for Psyche’s “own good” (Lewis 117-174).
While Raoul’s assumptions prove correct, his intervention also was forced. Intervention can be good, especially in life-threatening situations, but it can be bad or even dangerous, especially if you’re backing the other person into a corner because you “know better.” Even before evidence arises that Christine's life might be in danger, Raoul assumes it to be so and tries to intervene. He should have let her make her adult choices and feel the repercussions rather than push his “help” on her. Eventually, should he only have sought friendship with her, she might have sought him out anyway, or she might have had to face the consequences of her foolishness, but we'll never know, will we?
This hints towards another of Raoul’s negatives; he is self-centered and self-righteous. When Christine rejects him, saying it would be dangerous for him, he accuses her of purposely leading him on and slanders her to her face (91, 111). Also, he enters Christine’s dressing room when she isn’t there (for the second time, I might add) and pouts after another rejection. Then, when Christine returns, Raoul hides in her closet and upon hearing her utter “Poor Erik” immediately resents her, saying that he is the one deserving of pity, not this “Erik” person. (Leroux 112-114). Raoul cares more about his own feelings than anyone else. He’s even willing to kill to satisfy his own emotional longing. When the Phantom spies on Raoul from the Viscount’s bedroom balcony and Raoul shoots at the Phantom, Raoul is questioned about the situation, and he says it was his “love rival” at whom he shot and that it’s a “pity” that Erik wasn’t killed (162-165). I believed Raoul shot in self-defense until those two quotes. Rather than an innocent lover, Raoul is like the Phantom, obsessive, possessive, and willing to do anything to obtain his desired Christine.
Now, I have read it claimed that this negative portrayal of foolish Raoul was intended by Leroux and that it was rather Christine’s relationship with Erik that held greater depth and importance. My rebuttal to this is, if that was the case, then (1) why wasn’t the story told from Erik’s viewpoint, and (2) why did Raoul win? By following Raoul, we are privy to all his selfish thoughts. If we had followed the Phantom, not only could we have actually seen some of this assumed depth with Christine, Raoul could have been foolish and naive without being creepy. He could have simply been a hopeless romantic, but by being in Raoul’s thoughts, we are exposed to how horrible he is. And yet, he gets the girl. Unless Leroux intended some (too) well camouflaged satire, this story’s ending, where Raoul and Christine live happily ever after, promotes twisted, possessive love (more on that next week). Such a result I cannot accept, as it goes against the compassionate, self-sacrificing love to which Christians are called.
Let’s now turn to Orual and Psyche. Orual loves Psyche, both in a motherly and sisterly sense, but it’s a selfish, possessive love. Psyche, on the other hand, loves Orual but does not idolize their relationship. She stands against Orual even when Orual thinks her crazy. It is only when Orual threatens to kill herself that Psyche breaks (Lewis 158-167). In my opinion, this actually shows that Psyche, too, loved her sister too much in that she disobeyed the god’s one command for the sake of her manipulative sister, but it also shows Psyche’s willingness to sacrifice for the sake of those she loves. Psyche does not put her own good before Orual’s while Orual preys on this love, tainting it, as she does every instance of love in her life.
Speaking of other relationships, let’s look back at Raoul. In Phantom, Raoul’s most important relationships are with Christine and his older brother. By pursuing Christine and the Phantom, Raoul worries his brother, the brother wondering if his younger sibling might be crazy. Eventually the brother, trying to stop Raoul’s foolishness, dies by the Phantom’s hands. For all we know, this means nothing to Raoul, for we never see or hear about any reaction. For the sake of his desre, Raoul destroys his close relationship with his brother and, as if it means nothing, goes and somehow lives a happy life with Christine, as if that relationship alone were invincible.
In total contrast, all of Orual’s relationships crumble due to her possessive, obsessive love. She frees the Fox from his position as a slave, but despite his longing to return to Greece, he remains with Orual. Why? Because she asks, she admits, like a child, “Do they mean you’ll leave me? Go away?” He speaks of his desire, a desire stronger than fear of death, to see his homeland, but after a while he changes his mind, this time using that danger of death as an excuse to stay (Lewis 207-210). He loves Orual. When she, now queen, makes herself so vulnerable to him, how could he, the loving tutor and grandfather figure that he is, leave her? And so, he remains her captive. With Bardia, Orual develops romantic love for him, but Bardia is devoted to his wife, and Orual knows she cannot compete. Instead, she shackles him to his work, draining him and leaving him too tired to spend time with his family (258-261). She wants Bardia, so she keeps him to herself however she can, poisoning any pure love for him she might have held. All her close relationships, Psyche, the Fox, and Bardia, Orual’s possessiveness twists. She tries to “protect” Psyche but threatens and manipulates her; she “frees” the Fox but keeps him on a leash; she “loves” Bardia but destroys his health and happiness. Every relationship Orual touches withers as she sucks all the love out of them like a parasite.
This is how a twisted view of love truly works. It cannot be isolated. It must spread, poisoning every relationship. And that is one reason why Till We Have Faces surpasses The Phantom of the Opera.
Leroux, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. London: Penguin Group. 2008. 137. Print.
Leroux, Gaston. The Phantom of the Opera. London: Penguin Group. 2008. 137. Print.
Lewis, C. S. Till We Have Faces. New York: Houghton Harcourt Publishing Company. 1984. Print.
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