Phantom Thoughts pt 7

[zellephantom]

THE PHANTOM FINALLY ARRIVES AND I AM EXCITED.

{Hardly breathing, he went up to the dressing-room and, with his ear to the door to catch her reply, prepared to knock. But his hand dropped. He had heard A MAN'S VOICE in the dressing-room, saying, in a curiously masterful tone:

"Christine, you must love me!"

And Christine's voice, infinitely sad and trembling, as though accompanied by tears, replied:

"How can you talk like that? WHEN I SING ONLY FOR YOU!"}

And thus begins Raoul's first foray into the wicked, wicked realm of eavesdropping. DON'T YOU KNOW THIS IS HOW MISCOMMUNICATION HAPPENS, RAOUL?? You'll just end up spending the whole book trying to untangle the out-of-context things you heard and gaaahh I am so tired of this plot device in media...

*GASP* A MAN'S VOICE? SIMPLY SCANDALOUS, MISS DAAE.

The adjectives used to describe their voices here are very interesting. "Curiously masterful" and "infinitely sad and trembling". Makes me wonder what happened in the conversation before Raoul showed up. Was it like the ALW 'insolent boy/this slave of passion/basking in your glory' 'Angel, my soul was weak forgive me' etc etc? But then this Raoul didn't invite her to dinner so Christine wasn't "tempted" away from her studies by any means.

I just really want to know the context, because I still can't get a good feel on the tone and meaning of the Phantom when he says "Christine, you must love me!". Is he feeling joyful, as in 'Oh, Christine, you were simply divine! Everyone must love you now, and you must love me for helping you achieve such greatness!' or is he still playing the angel role like 'You must thank me for my assistance in bringing you out of obscurity and into talent and fame and triumph. Remember, though, you must sing only for me.'

And why is Christine sad to possibly the point of tears? Did the Phantom doubting her devotion to 'the Angel' really upset her? Is she still overwhelmed by the earlier events of her triumph and subsequent fainting? Is she just tired and desperately needs some sleep? (I am rather weepy when fatigued, and I can easily see Christine being the same way. #LetChristineDaaeRest )

BASICALLY, I NEED CONTEXT.

Comments

[igenlode]

Makes me wonder what happened in the conversation before Raoul showed up. Was it like the ALW 'insolent boy/this slave of passion/basking in your glory' 'Angel, my soul was weak forgive me' etc etc?

When we finally, halfway through the book, get to Christine's own account of this scene, we learn that the Voice was jealous of Raoul despite Christine's valiant attempts to pretend she didn't know who he was (since she had already committed the error of disclosing her existing crush on him). (Although de Mattos has cut that scene heavily as well...)

Et la Voix était jalouse !… Les deux jours suivants, elle me fit des scènes atroces… Elle me disait : “Vous l’aimez ! si vous ne l’aimiez pas, vous ne le fuiriez pas ! C’est un ancien ami à qui vous serreriez la main, comme à tous les autres… Si vous ne l’aimiez pas, vous ne craindriez pas de vous trouver, dans votre loge, seule avec lui et avec moi !… Si vous ne l’aimiez pas, vous ne le chasseriez pas !…

"And the Voice was jealous. For the next two days, it made terrible scenes, saying "You love him! if you did not love him, you would not avoid him. He is an old friend with whom you would shake hands, like all the others... If you did not love him, you would not be afraid to be alone in your dressing-room with him in my presence! If you did not love him, you would not have driven him away!"

So I'm afraid "You must love me" probably was an 'insolent boy' moment, with Christine protesting on the verge of tears that she has just demonstrated her absolute devotion to the Voice, who has been raging against Raoul's temerity :-(