Phantom Thoughts pt. 20

Part 20! I didn't think we'd get this far! Trying some HTML for the first time so bear with me if the formatting is a little weird :)

{As she sang these first two lines, with her bunch of roses and lilacs in her hand, Christine, raising her head, saw the Vicomte de Chagny in his box; and, from that moment, her voice seemed less sure, less crystal-clear than usual. Something seemed to deaden and dull her singing...}

So is Raoul the one responsible for her drop in singing quality, or is it something else?

The Phantom seems to be associated with angelic perfection in Christine's singing, while in the context of her father sweetness and purity is predominant. Obligation features heavily in Christine pursuing an education in music funded by the Valerius', while Raoul, who is drawn to the sweet and unearthly nature of her voice, is now potentially responsible now for imperfection, for giving pause and interjecting anxiety into Christine's performance. Yet despite his presence increasing Christine's nervousness now, he later serves as her inspiration to sing during the 'fake engagement' period.

{said one of Carlotta's friends in the stalls, almost aloud. "The other day she was divine; and to-night she's simply bleating. She has no experience, no training."}

No training as in she doesn't have the stamina to perform at a consistent quality in even a minor role day after day? Or is this just a mindless insult?

{The viscount put his head under his hands and wept. The count, behind him, viciously gnawed his mustache, shrugged his shoulders and frowned. For him, usually so cold and correct, to betray his inner feelings like that, by outward signs, the count must be very angry.}

How does one viciously gnaw a mustache? Especially when it's on one's own face?

Also tag yourself: when listening to a terrible music performance, are you the sibling who angrily gnaws your mustache, or the one who unabashedly bursts into tears?

(I'm the latter, definetely.)

{He had seen his brother return from a rapid and mysterious journey in an alarming state of health. The explanation that followed was unsatisfactory and the count asked Christine Daae for an appointment. She had the audacity to reply that she could not see either him or his brother.}

*whispers* one more shred of evidence for the 'Philippe has a little bit of a celebrity crush on Christine' theory

Philippe: my brother's acting weird- what's up opera girl?
Christine: I'm sorry, I can't answer that.
Philippe: Well, can we meet in person then?
Christine: Nope.
Philippe: I don't think you understand- I am the COMTE DE CHAGNY!!
Christine: And I'm being tutored by the Angel of Music.
Philippe: *snarkily* Well, I'm sure he'd be fine with you receiving such illustrious visitors. If not me, then perhaps my brother.. ?
Christine: Yeah, I asked the Angel. He said no.
Philippe: *quiet fuming*

Phantom Thoughts pt. 21

{"The little baggage!" growled the count.}

Weird insult, but okay.

{Raoul, behind the curtain of his hands that veiled his boyish tears, thought only of the letter which he received on his return to Paris, where Christine, fleeing from Perros like a thief in the night, had arrived before him}

Boyish tears? I was under the impression that tears were simply water flowing from one's eyes- I wasn't aware that they were inherently gendered.

{Thenceforth, certain of herself, certain of her friends in the house, certain of her voice and her success, fearing nothing, Carlotta flung herself into her part without restraint of modesty ... She was no longer Margarita, she was Carmen.}

Forgive me for my little knowledge of Opera, but aren't Margarite from Faust and Carmen from.. er, Carmen, two completely different character types?

Also, gentle readers, I have taken the liberty of removing the massive amounts of quotations from Faust in this chapter. It might mean something to someone who is familiar with Faust and could pinpoint where exactly they are at the moment, but I am generally disregarding it.

{The uproar in the house was indescribable. If the thing had happened to any one but Carlotta, she would have been hooted. But everybody knew how perfect an instrument her voice was; and there was no display of anger, but only of horror and dismay, the sort of dismay which men would have felt if they had witnessed the catastrophe that broke the arms of the Venus de Milo...}

Well, I'm glad that the audience likes Carlotta and isn't taking the oppertunity to kick her while she's down. (Even if she might deserve it, given her treatment of Christine.)

{So much so that, after some seconds spent in asking herself if she had really heard that note, that sound, that infernal noise issue from her throat, she tried to persuade herself that it was not so, that she was the victim of an illusion, an illusion of the ear, and not of an act of treachery on the part of her voice....}

How dare you, Carlotta's voice! You treacherous wretch! (Also, it's interesting to note that Carlotta's ego is partially right- her voice is a technically perfect instrument, and the audience recognizes it.)

{Moncharmin and Richard had turned very pale. This extraordinary and inexplicable incident filled them with a dread which was the more mysterious inasmuch as for some little while, they had fallen within the direct influence of the ghost. They had felt his breath. Moncharmin's hair stood on end. Richard wiped the perspiration from his forehead. Yes, the ghost was there, around them, behind them, beside them; they felt his presence without seeing him, they heard his breath, close, close, close to them!}

It's not polite to just stand there and breathe down people's necks without saying anything, Erik. At least give them something ominous to haunt their nightmares! (Or, alternatively, the quacking incident has put the managers so on edge that they're just imagining things.)

{THEY FELT THAT THEY WERE SMARTING UNDER THE GHOST'S ATTACKS.}

WOAH SUDDEN ALL CAPS TO EMPHASIZE THE DRAMA (seriously, Leroux really likes sudden all caps)

{"I feel without alarm ...
I feel without alarm—co-ack!
With its melody enwind me—co-ack!
And all my heart sub—co-ack!"}

That feeling when you get the hiccups.

{And, at last, they distinctly heard his voice in their right ears, the impossible voice, the mouthless voice, saying: "SHE IS SINGING TO-NIGHT TO BRING THE CHANDELIER DOWN!"}

Okay, just because you can't see who's talking doesn't mean he doesn't have a mouth!

{The chandelier, the immense mass of the chandelier was slipping down, coming toward them, at the call of that fiendish voice. Released from its hook, it plunged from the ceiling and came smashing into the middle of the stalls, amid a thousand shouts of terror}

So, is Erik up there with the chandelier throwing his voice, or is he down in Box Five with the manager and somehow remotely crashing the chandelier? For that matter, was Carlotta really quacking, or was that him throwing his voice? And if he messed with her throat spray, then why did it fail at that exact moment and not earlier, while she was being Carmen-esque?

Phantom Thoughts pt. 22

{That tragic evening was bad for everybody. Carlotta fell ill. As for Christine Daae, she disappeared after the performance. A fortnight elapsed during which she was seen neither at the Opera nor outside.}

Wait- was Carlotta actually sick, or did she just claim she was as an excuse to escape the public eye? (Also, if we're really doing a recap of the chandelier night, it might be good to mention that SOMEONE DIED. The supposedly 'vulgar' replacement for Mme. Giry, that is. No one replaces Madame Giry.)

{One afternoon he went to the managers' office to ask the reason of Christine's disappearance. He found them both looking extremely worried. Their own friends did not recognize them: they had lost all their gaiety and spirits. They were seen crossing the stage with hanging heads, care-worn brows, pale cheeks, as though pursued by some abominable thought or a prey to some persistent sport of fate.}

Awww poor managers... :( Not feeling up to being their usual delightfully snarky selves.

{In their daily intercourse, they showed themselves very impatient, except with Mme. Giry, who had been reinstated in her functions.}

N̶̡̨͙̞̾̾̀̑̓͋O̸̳̥̦͋̈́̽͑̕ ̸̡̛̬̖̬͈̗͆̎̒̈́͝Ō̸̖̦͈̿̇͝ͅN̴̢̥̥̯̑̀̇͛͛̚Ę̷̙̰͎̉͝ ̶̛̮͓̪̼̃͐̕ͅR̶͓̖̗̪͖̿̀̕͝Ę̸̖̬̪̙͍̊P̸̡̨͕̭̻̂̿́̚͠L̵̡̧͕̩͕̃̉̒̚͜Ä̶̞͕̗́́̾̉C̵͇͚͚̤͒̒̑͆̅͘Ȩ̵̧̜͙̩͌̄S̶̥̔ ̴̪̜͕̤͍͗ͅM̴̮̈́͐̈́́̓A̶̭̼͓̣͈̚D̴̗̖̻̫͂͜A̸̢̙͛M̴̪̬͎͙̅͆̓̾̈́̕ͅE̵̥̫͇̻̞̾̽͌̆ͅ ̴̡̛̟̻̠͌Ǵ̶̪͇̩͔̽̍̆I̴̦͖̒͝R̵̡̻̟͚̋̆Y̵̦͐͋̉̀̋͠

{And their reception of the Vicomte de Chagny, when he came to ask about Christine, was anything but cordial. They merely told him that she was taking a holiday. He asked how long the holiday was for, and they replied curtly that it was for an unlimited period, as Mlle. Daae had requested leave of absence for reasons of health.

"Then she is ill!" he cried. "What is the matter with her?"

"We don't know."

...

Raoul left the building a prey to the gloomiest thoughts. He resolved, come what might, to go and inquire of Mamma Valerius. He remembered the strong phrases in Christine's letter, forbidding him to make any attempt to see her. But what he had seen at Perros, what he had heard behind the dressing-room door, his conversation with Christine at the edge of the moor made him suspect some machination which, devilish though it might be, was none the less human. }

You're on the right track, Raoul!

{The girl's highly strung imagination, her affectionate and credulous mind, the primitive education which had surrounded her childhood with a circle of legends, the constant brooding over her dead father and, above all, the state of sublime ecstasy into which music threw her from the moment that this art was made manifest to her in certain exceptional conditions,}

Not everyone is rich and has access to a good education, Raoul. And some people take deaths harder than others! Your parents died and you have several siblings old enough to remember them- you should know that! Grief is hard and weird and everyone goes through it at their own pace. 

Also since when is having a good imagination, being kind, and intensely enjoying one's art a bad thing??

{Of whom was Christine Daae the victim? }

She hasn't been murdered, Raoul!

{he rang at a little flat in the Rue Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. The door was opened by the maid whom he had seen coming out of Christine's dressing-room one evening.}

Oh, hey- it's that maid again! (I still want to know her name and background and what she thinks of the odd whimsicality of her employers.)

{Five minutes later, Raoul was ushered into an ill-lit room where he at once recognized the good, kind face of Christine's benefactress in the semi-darkness of an alcove. Mamma Valerius' hair was now quite white, but her eyes had grown no older; never, on the contrary, had their expression been so bright, so pure, so child-like.

"M. de Chagny!" she cried gaily, putting out both her hands to her visitor. "Ah, it's Heaven that sends you here! ... We can talk of HER."

This last sentence sounded very gloomily in the young man's ears.}

DO YOU STILL SERIOUSLY THINK SHE'S BEEN MURDERED, RAOUL???

Phantom Thoughts pt. 23

{"Madame ... where is Christine?"

And the old lady replied calmly:

"She is with her good genius!"

"What good genius?" exclaimed poor Raoul.

"Why, the Angel of Music!"

The viscount dropped into a chair. Really? Christine was with the Angel of Music?}

Being with an angel does not necessarily mean one is dead, Raoul. But, yes, poor Raoul- I bet he's entirely fed up with imaginative people, who don't say what they mean and believe in fairytales.

{He hardly knew what he was saying, for his ideas about Christine, already greatly confused, were becoming more and more entangled; and it seemed as if everything was beginning to turn around him, around the room, around that extraordinary good lady with the white hair and forget-me-not eyes.}

You seem dizzy- you should probably drink some water and lie down. That may be how intense confusion feels, but you still likely have low blood sugar or something.

{She is fond of me!" sighed the young man. He found a difficulty in collecting his thoughts and bringing them to bear on Mamma Valerius' "good genius," on the Angel of Music of whom Christine had spoken to him so strangely,}

And Raoul is immediately distracted from his missing, possibly dead crush because her mom just told him that Christine kind of likes him. (Oh, the utter distraction of a first crush!)

{He asked in a low voice: "What makes you think that Christine is fond of me, madame?"

"She used to speak of you every day."

"Really? ... And what did she tell you?"

"She told me that you had made her a proposal!"

And the good old lady began laughing wholeheartedly. Raoul sprang from his chair, flushing to the temples, suffering agonies.}

awww he's blushing!!! (Yeah, I'd be laughing too at that reaction.)

{"Is Christine engaged to be married?" the wretched Raoul asked, in a choking voice.

"Why no! Why no! ... You know as well as I do that Christine couldn't marry, even if she wanted to!"

"But I don't know anything about it! ... And why can't Christine marry?"

"Because of the Angel of Music, of course! ..."

"I don't follow ..."

"Yes, he forbids her to! ..."}

That moment when you're actually not sure if your crush has a boyfriend or not.

{"Oh, he forbids her ... without forbidding her. It's like this: he tells her that, if she got married, she would never hear him again. That's all! ... And that he would go away for ever! ... So, you understand, she can't let the Angel of Music go. It's quite natural."

"Yes, yes," echoed Raoul submissively, "it's quite natural."}

No, it's not 'quite natural'- it's M A N I P U L A T I O N. Which is not okay even if he is in love with Christine!

{Raoul de Chagny rose and, with a very authoritative air, pronounced these peremptory words:

"Madame, you will have the goodness to tell me where that genius lives."

The old lady did not seem surprised at this indiscreet command. She raised her eyes and said:

"In Heaven!"

Such simplicity baffled him.}

Mme. Valerius, you're not exactly helping him get over the 'was Christine murdered?!?' theory.

{He walked home to his brother's house in a pitiful state. He could have struck himself, banged his head against the walls! To think that he had believed in her innocence, in her purity! The Angel of Music! He knew him now! He saw him! It was beyond a doubt some unspeakable tenor, a good-looking jackanapes, who mouthed and simpered as he sang! He thought himself as absurd and as wretched as could be. Oh, what a miserable, little, insignificant, silly young man was M. le Vicomte de Chagny! thought Raoul, furiously. And she, what a bold and ... sly creature!}

Raoul, you are a tenor and good-looking. You have absolutely no room to talk. Also, isn't mouthing the words required to sing?? WHy is he upset about that???

You are silly, yes, and young. But earnest and big-hearted and absolutely well-meaning and sweet! If Christine really is as sly as you currently think, then you really deserve better than to make yourself miserable pursuing her.