Phantom Thoughts pt. 12

{ The moment they entered the box, they came out again and called the box-keeper, who asked them what they wanted. They said, 'Look in the box: there's no one there, is there?' 'No,' said the woman. 'Well,' said they, 'when we went in, we heard a voice saying THAT THE BOX WAS TAKEN!'"}

Oh, the lengths Erik goes to in order to protect his unassigned assigned seat.

{He looked at Mme. Giry, in her faded shawl, her worn shoes, her old taffeta dress and dingy bonnet. It was quite evident from the manager's attitude, that he either did not know or could not remember having met Mme. Giry, nor even little Giry, nor even "little Meg!" But Mme. Giry's pride was so great that the celebrated box-keeper imagined that everybody knew her.}

Awww... As much as I prefer the ALW musical's ballet mistress Madame Giry, this proud mama Giry moment just warms my heart.

{Mme. Giry opened her eyes with astonishment at such ignorance. However, she consented to enlighten those two poor innocents.}

^ ALW Madame Giry every time she opens her mouth.

{"Still, that doesn't let us know how the Opera ghost came to ask you for a footstool,"}

Which is very important information to know, obviously. Who can say what dastardly deeds one might need a footstool for, especially if one is a sinister Opera Ghost? (Also, Erik, since you're so good at avoiding detection why can't you fetch your own footstool instead of bothering sweet old Mme. Giry?)

{"Tut, tut! A ghost asking for a footstool! Then this ghost of yours is a woman?"}

I am very confused at how needing a footstool automatically equals the Ghost being female... I also REALLY want an AU where the Phantom is actually an elaborate scheme devised by Madame Giry.

{"Well, I brought the footstool. Of course, it wasn't for himself he wanted it, but for his lady! But I never heard her nor saw her."

"Eh? What? So now the ghost is married!"}

AGAIN with the footstool = female thing! Is there some historical context I'm missing here?

{"excuse me, how does the ghost manage to give you your two francs?"

"Why, he leaves them on the little shelf in the box, of course. I find them with the program, which I always give him. Some evenings, I find flowers in the box, a rose that must have dropped from his lady's bodice ... for he brings a lady with him sometimes; one day, they left a fan behind them."}

Ah, yes, because even a murderer like Erik is still decent enough to tip the people serving him. (also of note, Madame Giry's late husband's name was Jules.)

Does this mean Christine came with him to performances sometimes (seems unlikely to me given the current state of their relationship and that she IS a performer there and would presumably be participating in those shows), or just that Erik likes to carry around flowers, has a fan for some reason, and prefers to use a footstool and Mme. Giry assumes he has a lady friend because those things are somehow traditionally feminine??

Phantom Thoughts pt. 13

And we've reached the Enchanted Violin! Yay!

{Christine Daae, owing to intrigues to which I will return later, did not immediately continue her triumph at the Opera. After the famous gala night, she sang once at the Duchess de Zurich's; but this was the last occasion on which she was heard in private. She refused, without plausible excuse, to appear at a charity concert to which she had promised her assistance. She acted throughout as though she were no longer the mistress of her own destiny and as though she feared a fresh triumph.}

Is this because of her last exchange with 'the Angel', or is she just now realizing that she's afraid of being in the spotlight on her own, and the consequences of being a star? Is she afraid that despite her Angel's wishes, she'll become corrupted by the fame and turn into another Carlotta? (Possibly reaching a bit there, but I do love Carlotta/Christine parallels and AUs where Carlotta was also Erik's formal pupil.)

{Some pretended that it was due to overweening pride; others spoke of her heavenly modesty. But people on the stage are not so modest as all that; and I think that I shall not be far from the truth if I ascribe her action simply to fear. Yes, I believe that Christine Daae was frightened by what had happened to her. }

Okaayyy, I guess we'll just leave it as ambiguous fear then? (I'm not satisfied by that explanation, unless it's implying that Christine has an anxiety disorder, which, as a person with GAD myself, is a headcanon I can get behind.)

{"I don't know myself when I sing,"}

I know this is supposed to be because her voice has undergone so much of a transformation due to "the Angel" (perhaps she feels like her voice is more a reflection of him than an expression of herself? "I [Christine] am the mask you wear/It's me [the Phantom] they hear" indeed?), but this seems like she's dissociating when she performs to me. Maybe because of the association of singing with her father is causing her to recall those memories, and she feels as if she's stuck in the past and merely viewing herself sing with a strange, new voice? Feeling distant from everything, herself and her actions especially? (Oooh, this could be what Meg is noticing about Christine acting weird in 'Angel of Music' in the ALW musical.)

{To-morrow is the anniversary of the death of my poor father, whom you knew and who was very fond of you. He is buried there, with his violin, in the graveyard of the little church, at the bottom of the slope where we used to play as children, beside the road where, when we were a little bigger, we said good-by for the last time.}

Ohhh... Now I want to see Father Daae interacting with bby!Raoul, being the father figure he never had, the paternal influence that Philippe could not be no matter how hard he tried. Also just imagine Christine in years past going to visit her father's grave near the place where she said farewell to Raoul, and mourning the two key figures of her childhood: father and friend, both of whom she thinks she'll never see again.

{He read Christine's note over and over again, smelling its perfume, recalling the sweet pictures of his childhood, and spent the rest of that tedious night journey in feverish dreams that began and ended with Christine Daae.}

Looks like someone has a crush, and his name rhymes with- nevermind, I couldn't think of anything that rhymes with Raoul de Chagny. Maybe THAT's why he doesn't have a solo song in ALW. (I can picture it now- "Oh Raoul"/"He's such a.. pal?")

Tune in next time where we explore the tangental infodump that is Christine's backstory!

Phantom Thoughts pt. 14

{His wife died when Christine was entering upon her sixth year.}

And this is all that's mentioned about Mama Daae... I'm disappointed. What was her name? Was she musically inclined? Did she play an instrument or sing? Did she fall in love with Father Daae because of his enchanting music, or was it something he began after he met her? Does Christine have any memories of her?

{When Valerius and his wife went to settle in France, they took Daae and Christine with them. "Mamma" Valerius treated Christine as her daughter. As for Daae, he began to pine away with homesickness. He never went out of doors in Paris, but lived in a sort of dream which he kept up with his violin. For hours at a time, he remained locked up in his bedroom with his daughter, fiddling and singing, very, very softly. Sometimes Mamma Valerius would come and listen behind the door, wipe away a tear and go down-stairs again on tiptoe, sighing for her Scandinavian skies.}

Ohhh this is sad. Nobody sings very very softly if they're happy with life and themselves. This also makes me wonder how much of a say Daddy Daae actually had in their move to Paris, given that at this point he's financially destitute and dependent on a wealthy patron. I could easily see him being swayed by the Valerius' desire to give Christine a good education (Christine, whose wellbeing now entirely depends on Professor Valerius- and what is he a professor of? something music-related, I'd assume) despite his own misgivings about leaving Sweden for an unknown future in a foreign country totally depending on someone else's generosity.

{One day, a little boy, who was out with his governess, made her take a longer walk than he intended, for he could not tear himself from the little girl whose pure, sweet voice seemed to bind him to her.}

This reminds me of the ALW lyric "he was bound to love you/when he heard you sing", and that the Phantom isn't the only one who was initially drawn to Christine by her voice.

{And she saw a little boy running fast, in spite of the outcries and the indignant protests of a worthy lady in black. The little boy ran into the sea, dressed as he was, and brought her back her scarf. Boy and scarf were both soaked through.}

Raoul is totally a Gryffindor. (And, for anyone else interested, my other headcanons are Ravenclaw!Christine , Gryffindor!Carlotta, Hufflepuff!Piangi, Slytherin!Philippe, and *whispers* Ravenclaw or maaaybe Hufflepuff Erik.)

{At the aunt's request, seconded by Professor Valerius, Daae consented to give the young viscount some violin lessons. In this way, Raoul learned to love the same airs that had charmed Christine's childhood. They also both had the same calm and dreamy little cast of mind.}

Ohhh AU where Raoul is a violin genius and pursues it despite Philippe's protests, becomes a notable violinist and ends up playing for the Paris Opera House, where he finds Christine again. She's still being tutored by the "Angel of Music" who freaks out when he hears Christine has an admirer, but once he listens to Raoul play, he's touched and realizes that Raoul, Christine, and himself all have the same deep love of music. He offers to tutor Raoul (who goes and asks Christine 'why are the walls offering to teach me?' 'oh, that's the Angel of Music, he's legit') who accepts. Thus begins Erik's attempts to AGGRESIVELY MATCHMAKE Raoul and Christine together through ghostly shipper shenanigans. And everything is happy and nothing hurts, until you remember that canon exists.

BACK TO THE BOOK

{There was one story that began:

"A king sat in a little boat on one of those deep, still lakes that open like a bright eye in the midst of the Norwegian mountains ..."}

Is this something Leroux made up, or a story that actually exists somewhere? If it is the latter, I require a link posthaste.

{They were quite changed, cautious as two diplomatists, and told each other things that had nothing to do with their budding sentiments. When they took leave of each other by the roadside, Raoul, pressing a kiss on Christine's trembling hand, said:

"Mademoiselle, I shall never forget you!"

And he went away regretting his words, for he knew that Christine could not be the wife of the Vicomte de Chagny.}

Honestly, there needs to be way more emphasis on the forbidden love inherent in the nature of R/C, especially since Raoul is often seen as the more 'socially acceptable' choice of the two. In comparison to the Phantom? Maaaybe, (he's certainly the more stable one) but it would still ruin his reputation. In society's view? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Neither of them are socially acceptable husbands for Christine in the eyes of society at the time: one is overtly monstrous, the other on a pedestal of status Miss Daae shouldn't dare to aspire to (or else be considered a golddigger who needs to 'learn her place').

Phantom Thoughts pt. 15

Finally out of flashback-land!

{"You don't answer!" he said angrily and unhappily. "Well, I will answer for you. It was because there was some one in the room who was in your way, Christine, some one that you did not wish to know that you could be interested in any one else!"

"If any one was in my way, my friend," Christine broke in coldly, "if any one was in my way, that evening, it was yourself, since I told you to leave the room!"}

GOOD POINT, CHRISTINE!

{"Then you were listening behind the door?"

"Yes, because I love you everything ... And I heard everything ..."}

Loving someone does not give you an excuse to spy on them and monitor their every conversation. (Sorry, just the 'I need to monitor everything you say because I love you' just hits a little too close to home for me.)

{"Christine!"

"Raoul!"}

Erik! (Oh, wait- he's not here yet.)

{He was terribly concerned and bitterly grieved to see the hours, which he had hoped to find so sweet, slip past without the presence of the young Swedish girl. Why did she not come to roam with him through the country where they had so many memories in common?}

Maybe she just needs some alone time? Maybe grief is a mostly private thing that she doesn't want to share with you, even though she recognizes that you miss him too? Just respect her wishes and try not to be overdramatic and read too much into it.

{They were marvelous red roses that had blossomed in the morning, in the snow, giving a glimpse of life among the dead, for death was all around him. It also, like the flowers, issued from the ground, which had flung back a number of its corpses. Skeletons and skulls by the hundred were heaped against the wall of the church, held in position by a wire that left the whole gruesome stack visible. Dead men's bones, arranged in rows, like bricks, to form the first course upon which the walls of the sacristy had been built. }

What a haunting mental image. Flowers and death are often intertwined, but the juxtaposition of flowers and long-dead bones is uncomfortable and wrong here, yet is the foundation on which this location is built. (And the presence of skulls reminds me of a certain death's dead who will appear momentarily.)

{A voice behind him said:

"Do you think the Korrigans will come this evening?"

It was Christine. He tried to speak. She put her gloved hand on his mouth.}

Oh. Now the tables have turned, and it is Christine who initiates contact with Raoul, and Christine who deliberately recalls elements of their childhood friendship. She mirrors his introduction in order to appeal for reconciliation, perhaps? (Also who would let children play and watch for mythical creatures in an area adjacent to a graveyard? Surely that is not the only place to glimpse the sea in Perros.)

{"And it was here that he said, 'When I am in Heaven, my child, I will send him to you.' Well, Raoul, my father is in Heaven, and I have been visited by the Angel of Music."

"I have no doubt of it," replied the young man gravely, for it seemed to him that his friend, in obedience to a pious thought, was connecting the memory of her father with the brilliancy of her last triumph.}

And Raoul tries to put two and two together. His current theory is good, considering what little information he has to go on. She was recently a success, and her deceased father promised to send her a means to achieve musical greatness, so since she achieved musical greatness she naturally attributes it to her father and his stories, because to do so otherwise would be dishonoring his memory.

{"I understand," he said, "that no human being can sing as you sang the other evening without the intervention of some miracle. No professor on earth can teach you such accents as those. You have heard the Angel of Music, Christine."}

Trying to interpret Raoul's tone here. We can reasonably assume that he does not believe the angel actually visited Christine, since his previous thoughts showed that he believes Christine only equates her recent triumph with her father's memory because of her 'obedience to a pious thought' (believing that her father sent the angel to bring her musical genius). Is he going 'yeah, I remember that story too! I can see why you would *metaphorically* associate that with your current musical talent, and I think you are as talented as anyone in those stories who was visited by the angel, and your voice has an unearthly natural beauty to it'?

{"Yes," she said solemnly, "IN MY DRESSING-ROOM. That is where he comes to give me my lessons daily."

"In your dressing-room?" he echoed stupidly.}

WHAT A SCANDAL, MISS DAAE. (Also Raoul's great surprise shows he was referring to the story to pay Christine a compliment, not out of genuine belief. If he was speaking literally, his surprise might be due to the fact that the angel visits her daily, when the story only mentions the angel appearing once in a person's lifetime.)