"What more can I tell you, dear? You now know the tragedy.
It went on for a fortnight--a fortnight during which I lied to him.
My lies were as hideous as the monster who inspired them;
but they were the price of my liberty."
It went on for a fortnight--a fortnight during which I lied to him.
My lies were as hideous as the monster who inspired them;
but they were the price of my liberty."
Reading Leroux once again is inspiration indeed! Just this morning a few statements made by Raoul and Christine flew off the pages revealing topics and character motivations I have not touched on before. Christine’s statement above was certainly one of them.
Lies
If you have not studied the original novel, Leroux will shock some of the die-hard fans of Webber’s portrayal of the story. I’ve used quite a bit of Leroux’s written work to expound on the motivations of the characters we see in Webber’s version, but there are other aspects of the story that might surprise you. Christine’s lies to the hideous monster might be one of them.
Christine is a very complex woman, to say the least, and so is her relationship with Erik. How she interacts with him throughout the original book is one bipolar experience to put it mildly. She thinks him a supernatural being, an angel from heaven, and then discovers he’s not an angel, but a man. She admires his genius, is horrified by his appearance, fears his actions, and declares to Raoul she does not hate him and that he fills her with horror. Christine confesses that horror was the motivation behind her lies to Erik in order to buy her liberty.
It's interesting that only a few chapters earlier Leroux pens these words when Christine answers a question from Raoul, “She was incapable of lying.” Was she incapable of lying to Raoul, but capable of lying to Erik? Or did she lie to Raoul that she lied to Erik? Now I have your head spinning.
Whatever the reason for her lies, we can conclude that any lying is birthed from some motivation, or the deceit would never fall from our lips. I can think of five reasons, and no doubt you can think of more!
Christine is a very complex woman, to say the least, and so is her relationship with Erik. How she interacts with him throughout the original book is one bipolar experience to put it mildly. She thinks him a supernatural being, an angel from heaven, and then discovers he’s not an angel, but a man. She admires his genius, is horrified by his appearance, fears his actions, and declares to Raoul she does not hate him and that he fills her with horror. Christine confesses that horror was the motivation behind her lies to Erik in order to buy her liberty.
It's interesting that only a few chapters earlier Leroux pens these words when Christine answers a question from Raoul, “She was incapable of lying.” Was she incapable of lying to Raoul, but capable of lying to Erik? Or did she lie to Raoul that she lied to Erik? Now I have your head spinning.
Whatever the reason for her lies, we can conclude that any lying is birthed from some motivation, or the deceit would never fall from our lips. I can think of five reasons, and no doubt you can think of more!
- We lie to protect ourselves as Christine did in the situation with Erik. She feared for her life, so she lied in order to find favor.
- We lie to protect others so they won’t get hurt by some truth we feel would be detrimental.
- We lie with the intent to deliberately deceive others for our gain.
- We lie to cover our actions. Started with Cain and Abel, “Where is Abel your brother?” asks God. “I do not know,” responds Cain. Oh, sure, you just killed the dude. Liar.
- We lie because we are just habitual liars, which is an evil inclination. The Devil is the liar of them all, "...for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44)
Well, we’ve all been lied to, and we’ve probably all told lies either big or small. The resultant outcome of those lies can vary in our lives. I know I've been devastated by lies told to me by people I've trusted. So why do we do it? How come we just can’t come out with it! If truth sets us free, why do we bind ourselves in lies? An interesting analogy that Christine felt her freedom would come from lies instead of truth.
There are multiple inferences of lying throughout the story. So whom do we believe? Wait! There’s another post coming down the line as to what the characters believed to be truth, but in the meantime I leave you with this quote to ponder:
See you then. No lie.
The Phantom’s Student
There are multiple inferences of lying throughout the story. So whom do we believe? Wait! There’s another post coming down the line as to what the characters believed to be truth, but in the meantime I leave you with this quote to ponder:
"A lie told often enough becomes the truth." (Lenin)
