zellephantom

{But look here!" he cried. "Can't you tell me what all this means! ... You are free, there is no one to interfere with you... You go about Paris ... You put on a domino to come to the ball... Why do you not go home? ... What have you been doing this past fortnight? ... What is this tale about the Angel of Music, which you have been telling Mamma Valerius? Some one may have taken you in, played upon your innocence. I was a witness of it myself, at Perros ... but you know what to believe now! You seem to me quite sensible, Christine. You know what you are doing ... And meanwhile Mamma Valerius lies waiting for you at home and appealing to your 'good genius!' ... Explain yourself, Christine, I beg of you! Any one might have been deceived as I was. What is this farce?"}

Well, Raoul, you really don't seem to act like you think Christine is 'quite sensible' and knows what she is doing... (At least he's admitting that he's probably been deceived.)

{Christine simply took off her mask and said: "Dear, it is a tragedy!"

Raoul now saw her face and could not restrain an exclamation of surprise and terror. The fresh complexion of former days was gone. A mortal pallor covered those features, which he had known so charming and so gentle, and sorrow had furrowed them with pitiless lines and traced dark and unspeakably sad shadows under her eyes.}

If *that* is what causes you surprise and terror, you won't last a minute of seeing Erik's unmasked face.

{"My dearest! My dearest!" he moaned, holding out his arms. "You promised to forgive me ..."

"Perhaps! ... Some day, perhaps!" she said, resuming her mask}

Yes, she said she might not be able to forgive you right away- just think of what you said to her only a few minutes ago! (Also I love that Christine wearing a mask is emphasized and connected to her putting up a front for Raoul. One thing I miss in the ALW musical is that Christine never wears a mask herself in masquerade- only sometimes carries one.)

{ He had only time to hide in the inner room, which was separated from the dressing-room by a curtain.}

Oh, so you're trespassing in her room without permission now, aren't you, Raoul?

{Christine entered, took off her mask with a weary movement and flung it on the table. She sighed and let her pretty head fall into her two hands. What was she thinking of? Of Raoul? No, for Raoul heard her murmur: "Poor Erik!"At first, he thought he must be mistaken. To begin with, he was persuaded that, if any one was to be pitied, it was he, Raoul. It would have been quite natural if she had said, "Poor Raoul," after what had happened between them. But, shaking her head, she repeated: "Poor Erik!"

What had this Erik to do with Christine's sighs and why was she pitying Erik when Raoul was so unhappy?}

Not everything is about you, Raoul. If anything, 'poor Christine' would be more appropriate, as she's currently under more strain right now than you or Erik. (Also why is Christine pitying Erik after these events? Because of how he as Red Death was treated at the masquerade? Because she realizes that she might potentially care for Raoul more than him? Or is it something else?)

#givechristinedaaeabreak

{"Here I am, Erik," she said. "I am ready. But you are late."

Raoul, peeping from behind the curtain, could not believe his eyes, which showed him nothing. Christine's face lit up. A smile of happiness appeared upon her bloodless lips, a smile like that of sick people when they receive the first hope of recovery.}

Why is he late? Did he have too much 'fun' terrorizing people at the masquerade? Did he run into the daroga? Was he checking on Raoul's whereabouts?

{The voice without a body went on singing; and certainly Raoul had never in his life heard anything more absolutely and heroically sweet, more gloriously insidious, more delicate, more powerful, in short, more irresistibly triumphant. He listened to it in a fever and he now began to understand how Christine Daae was able to appear one evening, before the stupefied audience, with accents of a beauty hitherto unknown, of a superhuman exaltation, while doubtless still under the influence of the mysterious and invisible master.}

Oooh, there's some excellent phrases here: 'gloriously insidious' 'irresistably triumphant' 'accents of a beauty hitherto unknown'. This paragraph is just gorgeously rendered <3

{The strains went through Raoul's heart. Struggling against the charm that seemed to deprive him of all his will and all his energy and of almost all his lucidity at the moment when he needed them most}

The Phantom definetely isn't as ambigously magical in Leroux as he is in ALW, but his voice does seem to have some sort of hypnotic quality that bends people towards his will or deprives them of the strength of ability to do more than just listen enrapturedly.

{Christine walked toward her image in the glass and the image came toward her. The two Christines—the real one and the reflection—ended by touching; and Raoul put out his arms to clasp the two in one embrace. But, by a sort of dazzling miracle that sent him staggering, Raoul was suddenly flung back, while an icy blast swept over his face; he saw, not two, but four, eight, twenty Christines spinning round him, laughing at him and fleeing so swiftly that he could not touch one of them. At last, everything stood still again; and he saw himself in the glass. But Christine had disappeared.}

Okay, seriously, WHAT just happened. Is he delirious from lack of sleep or food, is this magic, hypnotism, a hallucination, or just a weird inexplicable Phantom-y trick??? I'm so confused.

{Then, worn out, beaten, empty-brained, he sat down on the chair which Christine had just left. Like her, he let his head fall into his hands. When he raised it, the tears were streaming down his young cheeks, real, heavy tears like those which jealous children shed, tears that wept for a sorrow which was in no way fanciful, but which is common to all the lovers on earth and which he expressed aloud:

"Who is this Erik?"}

I wouldn't say Raoul's entirely empty-brained. Just young and a bit thoughtless and reckless and quick to jump to conclusions. (Also for someone who was so quick to link the Angel of Music = a guy who's just pretending to be that in order to get close to Christine, how is it that he can't figure out that the man's voice = Erik??? I mean, she was just talking about Erik, and then the voice showed up so??)

{He came upon a charming picture. Christine herself was seated by the bedside of the old lady, who was sitting up against the pillows, knitting. The pink and white had returned to the young girl's cheeks. The dark rings round her eyes had disappeared. Raoul no longer recognized the tragic face of the day before. If the veil of melancholy over those adorable features had not still appeared to the young man as the last trace of the weird drama in whose toils that mysterious child was struggling, he could have believed that Christine was not its heroine at all.}

For the last time, she is NOT a helpless child that needs to be taken care of, she is a grown woman and she IS the heroine of this 'weird drama'.