The phantom of the opera prologue
Even the underground lake and apartment beneath the opera cannot be confirmed beyond myth or hearsay. I could not ascertain whether the other characters in the novel like Christine Daaé were real people, based on historical figures, or contrived altogether, since some sources denied their existence while others boasted proof of their lives. An Erik did exist, deformed and talented as he is in the novel, but his involvement in the strange happenings at the Palais Garnier is undetermined. First, the factual basis of the story is unclear and still debated. My guiding questions were: is the novel based on a true story, and if so, what in the novel is taken from fact was the Paris Opera ghost, Erik, a real person and who is narrating the novel?Īs I conducted my search, I found the question of the narrator far more interesting and much less discussed than the other questions. Thus in my search I sought to determine the dividing line between truth and embellishment, history and inspiration. However, the back cover of my book contradicts Leroux’s own writing and claims he used “scraps of history, theatrical lore, and his own fertile imagination” in writing the novel. I questioned the reliability of the strange narrator who, along with Leroux in his Prologue and Epilogue, position the story as a truthful, factual tale. Do not read on if you have not read the novel!īefore I wrote my review of The Phantom of the Opera, I searched for some background information on the text. During the overture the opera house is restored to its earlier grandeur.This post contains spoilers about The Phantom of the Opera. There is an enormous flash, and the OVERTUREīegins. (The AUCTIONEER switches on the chandelier. Perhaps we may frighten away the ghost of so many years ago with a little illumination, gentlemen? Our workshops have restored it and fitted up parts of it with wiring for the new electric light, so that we may get a hint of what it may look like when re- assembled. We are told ladies and gentlemen, that this is the very chandelier which figures in the famous disaster. Some of you may recall the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera: a mystery never fully explained. (spoken) Lot 666, then: a chandelier in pieces. (Attention returns to the AUCTIONEER, as he resumes) Will you still play, when all the rest of us are dead? Your velvet lining, and your figurine of lead. RAOUL (quietly, half to himself, half to the box) He studies it, as attention focuses on him for a moment) (spoken) Sold, for thirty francs to the Vicomte de Chagny. eventually buys the box for thirty francs) (spoken) May I start at twenty francs? Fifteen, then? Fifteen I am bid. This item, discovered in the vaults of the theatre, still in working order. (spoken) 665, ladies and gentlemen: a papier-maché musical box, in the shape of a barrel-organ.Īttached, the figure of a monkey in Persian robes playing the cymbals. (spoken) Lot 664: a wooden pistol and three human skulls from the 1831 production of "Robert leĭiable" by Meyerbeer. (spoken) Do I have ten francs? Five then. (spoken) Lot 663, then, ladies and gentlemen: a poster for this house's production of "Hannibal" by The action commences with a blow from the AUCTlONEER's gavel) An AUCTIONEER, PORTERS, BIDDERS, and RAOUL, seventy now, but still bright of eye. (The contents of the opera house is being auctioned off.