The themes reflect the main ideas in the novel
True love and sacrifice
The path of true love is not easy. Sacrifices have to be made. Raoul and Christine are in love but there are obstacles in their path. Raoul is willing to go underground through the dangerous passage that leads to the Opera House to save Christine who has been kidnapped by the Phantom. Christine sacrifices herself when she agrees to marry the Phantom so that Raoul’s life can be spared. When Christine kisses Erik, he is overwhelmed by her gesture that he is willing to sacrifice his own happiness and lets Christine go to Raoul. By this, we see that true love actually requires sacrifices.
Obsession and deception
As its central focus, the story presents the obsessive love that Erik has for Christine. Erik decides that Christine is the love of hi life and he kidnaps her. Erik goes through a lot of pain as he experiences the true meaning of unrequited love. What Christine is willing to offer to him is not love nut compassion and pity. She has no choice but to sacrifice herself as Raoul is threatened with death in the mirror room. Erik’s obsession with Christine is a result of the constant rejection by everyone else. This is because they are terrified of seeing him face to face as he look like a copse. However, all that is left at the end is the tragedy of deception. He is only deceiving himself that Christine will ever truly love him.
Hatred and revenge
Erik, the Phantom hates the whole world as he is rejected by everyone whom he comes in contact with. People would cry out with terror and run away from him. Even his own mother rejects him. His mother forced him to wear a mask at the age of two. Eventually, his hatred makes him take revenge on a hateful world which does not show any respect for his wishes. We see his revenge in the death of Joseph Buquet and the unfortunate incident of the crashing of the chandelier during La Carlotta’s opera performances. Erik also hates Raoul and plots to kill him in order to get Christine solely for himself. However, Christine’s love for Raoul is so great that she is willing to marry Erik so that Raoul’s life can be spared. Erik is touched by her selfless gesture and it releases the hatred in him. He actually allows Raoul and Christine to go free while he himself dies of grief and heartache. Hatred and revenge have ceased to control him.
Jealousy
La Carlotta is the best opera singer in Paris and she is proud of her status. She is jealous of Christine who is the new darling of Paris. She also feels threaten by her. When she receives a letter that warns her not to sing Margarita on Friday night, she is angry and she thinks it is written by one of Christine’s friends who is jealous of her.
Besides that, the Phantom is also not spared from jealousy. He wants Christine all to himself and he feels jealous when Christine is with Raoul. That is why he is delighted when Raoul and the Persian are tortured in the room of mirrors. He wants Raoul to die so that Christine will only love him alone.
Good and evil
Raoul and the Persian represent the good in man while Erik represents the evil in man. The evil in Erik makes him kidnap Christine and tortures Raoul and the Persian. Finally, Erik could see that the love between Christine and Raoul is so great. He could never hope to have Christine love him in the same way, so he lets the couple go. Good had triumphed over evil.
