I’ve pondered the next emotion to dissect, and love seems to be the one picking at my heart recently. For the Phantom of the Opera, I want to focus on the types of love found in the story, but to understand love, you have to understand its meaning. The word for love in the original Greek language actually describes three types. When we read love in the English language, we see a four letter word describing all aspects. The English word for love narrowly defines its meaning and does not do it justice.
The Greek language defines love as follows:
- Eros – the type of love that is sensual with desire and longing. It denotes passion rather than affection like Agape.
- Agape – the type of love associated with our spouses, children, parents. It denotes affection, rather than passion, like eros.
- Philia – a term used for platonic love, such as friends, family, community. It’s a concept of loyalty.
NOTE: The word for love is this text is Agape love, which is also the definition used to describe God's love for mankind in scripture. We can read the words above and see a description of love in its perfection, but I dare say not many of us have experienced such perfect love from humans in our own lives. Our concept of love as individuals is molded by our experiences from how others treat us. There are times that love hurts. For some it's easy to see love and life through rose-colored glasses. Sorry, I'm not that way. I definitely have the dark shades on.In the Phantom of the Opera, we see different types of love, do we not? There is the passionate sensual love filled with desire and longing the Phantom has for Christine - Eros. Then we have the caring and loving affection of Raoul for Christine, who portrays salvation and light - Agape. Then we have Madame Giry, who befriended our Phantom - Philia. What is Erik's perception of love? For him, as we have discussed, he was unable to discern true love. As posted below regarding Obsession, it wasn’t until the eros obsession he had for Christine was lain down, that he experienced what true love was through his sacrificial act of letting Christine leave with Raoul.
Each of my readers here have different perceptions of love. Our concept of love is formed from our life experiences. Whether we are children or adults, how we are treated by others close to us that profess love, paints a picture. For me, my romantic life has been the pits, riddled with personal heartbreak. Every man that has uttered the words, "I love you" has either betrayed me, been unfaithful, lied, or abused me emotionally or physically. Because of these experiences, do you think that my view of love might be a bit distorted?
How about your own? How about the Phantom’s? Erik in his humanity never received love from another human being. He was betrayed and abandon by those he loved, which naturally distorted his view as well. If you see in this post a little personal frustration, you are quite right. There is an underlying personal theme in what I write here. It’s a fact folks, there are those walking this earth that have never been loved romantically to such perfection as we dream about. Why do you think 80,000,000 have flocked to see a play portraying a poor man rejected throughout life - it's because they identify. Why do millions of women run to buy romantic novels? It's because it lacks in their own lives. Every human longs for perfect love, but not many obtain it.
Again, if you are one of the fortunate ones in life, count your blessings. For those of us who are not, I’ll keep shining my dark shades in the hopes they turn into rose-colored glasses some day. Does anybody have any lens cleaner?
As always,
Your Obedient Servant
PS -- I love you guys...just to clarify that's Philia love.
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