A stagehand named Joseph Buquet is found hanged, the noose around his neck missing.Īt a gala performance for the retirement of the opera house's two managers, a young, little-known Swedish soprano, Christine Daaé, is called upon to sing in place of the Opera's leading soprano, Carlotta, who is ill, and Christine’s performance is an astonishing success. In the 1880s, in Paris, the Palais Garnier Opera House is believed to be haunted by an entity known as the Phantom of the Opera, or simply the Opera Ghost. The serialized version contains an entire chapter (“L'enveloppe magique”) that does not appear in the novel version-though much of its content was added in other chapters-and was not reprinted in English until 2014. Leroux's findings connected the corpse from the opera house to the Persian, to the Phantom, himself. In the prologue, he tells the reader about the Phantom and the research that he did to prove the truth of the ghost. The Phantom of the Opera 's origins came from Leroux's curiosity with the Phantom being real. However, he defended the rumors to be true, even on his death bed. The mysteries that Leroux uses in his novel about the Phantom are still mysteries. The infamous chandelier crash also is true.
The underground lake that he wrote about does exist beneath the opera house, and it is still used for training firefighters to swim in the dark. The details about the Palais Garnier, and rumours surrounding it, are closely linked in Leroux's writing. Using this accident paired with rumors of a ghost in that same opera house, Leroux wrote Le Fantôme de l'Opéra and published it in 1910, which was later published in English as The Phantom of the Opera. Leroux had heard the rumours about the time the opera house was finished: Act One of the opera Helle had just finished when a fire in the roof of the opera house melted through a wire holding a counterweight for the chandelier, causing a crash that injured several and killed one. The setting of The Phantom of the Opera is the actual Paris opera house, Palais Garnier. The novel was first published in newspapers before finally being published as a book. Because of his fascination with both Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he wrote a detective mystery entitled The Mystery of the Yellow Room in 1907, and four years later he published Le Fantôme de l’Opéra. With his job, he was able to travel frequently, but he returned to Paris where he became a writer. At the paper, he wrote about and critiqued dramas, as well as being a courtroom reporter. GradeSaver, 31 July 2017 Web.Leroux initially was going to be a lawyer, but after spending his inheritance gambling he became a reporter for L'Écho de Paris.
Next Section Character List Previous Section About The Phantom of the Opera Buy Study Guide How To Cite in MLA Format Khan, Shahrukh. In order to save them, as well as the occupants of the opera house, Christine agrees to marry Erik. Christine refuses, but then she finds out that Erik has kidnapped Raoul as well as the Persian (Erik's old acquaintance) and has trapped them inside a torture chamber. Christine later tells Raoul that she was kidnapped Raoul promises to run away with her, both unaware that Erik has been listening to their conversation.ĭuring a production of Faust, Erik kidnaps Christine again and gives her an ultimatum: marry him or he will blow up the entire opera house. The phantom decides to keep Christine prisoner for the rest of her life, but then he allows her to leave after she promises to wear his ring and remain faithful to him. When Christine unmasks the phantom out of curiosity, his ugliness shocks her. One night during a performance of Faust, with the resident prima donna, Carlotta, playing the female lead, the Phantom causes Carlotta to lose her voice and the chandelier to fall into the audience.Ĭhristine is kidnapped by the masked phantom he tells her his name is Erik and reveals her love for her. On the retirement gala for the old opera managers, opera singer Christine attracts the attention of her childhood sweetheart, Raoul. There are rumors that the opera house is haunted by a phantom who makes himself known by sending letters to the managers and by causing disturbances.