“Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering..."
Preface
Let me start this post with a statement. I’m not here to debate the rights or wrongs of the story or to discuss how it could have been written differently. More than anyone, I’m quite aware of the intense opinions in the Phantom community regarding Love Never Dies. My purpose here is to reflect on the story, offer up thoughts, and give you a ride on the ferris wheel to enhance the view. Take from my articles whatever you wish, learn lessons if there are any, and find your own interpretation. If anything, I hope you'll enjoy the ride ahead free of charge.
The Phantom in Love Never Dies
The Phantom of the Opera is now Mr. Y. He’s a mystery to the normal crowd. No longer the Opera Ghost, but a Myster-Y, who no one has seen according to the reporters that greet the de Chagny’s at the dock. So who is this man? Well, to look at the present Mr. Y, one must refer back to the Phantom who haunted the Opera Populaire.
I find it very interesting how easily fans accept the Phantom in the first version as a psychopathic murderer who kills without thought, obsesses over a woman, kidnaps her, keeps her in bondage, and blackmails her by threatening to kill Raoul. We easily forgave his transgressions in that version, didn't we? We cheered when Christine showed him the ounce of compassion he so desperately needed and appeared redeemed by love or so we thought. If you haven’t read my earlier posts about Erik (His Humanity), Opera Ghost (His Persona), and Phantom (The Spectral Shade), I encourage you to do so in order to remind yourself of the original man behind the mask as you compare the new one now living in New York.
Ten years have past. As most of you realize by now, the story in Webber’s musical continued through the song Beneath the Moonless Sky. Christine returns, finds the Phantom, and is sorrowful over her choice. As some of you cringe over the storyline and as some of you have accepted, Christine and the Phantom finally cross that "Point of No Return" they so passionately sung the day before laced with desire and seduction. It was definitely a moment of no "thought of right or wrong," as Christine spoke before, and a child is conceived. As the song further reveals, the Phantom leaves the next morning ashamed of what he has done (or is, as one of the recent comments interprets below) before Christine awakens to swear her love and desire to remain with him.
He runs away to New York, returns to his roots doing freak shows. Finally he builds a life at Coney Island, and we see him 10 years later bemoaning his useless existence without Christine. He’s depressed, wishes to die, and has no reason to live. He’s made a new likeness of Christine to replace the one in the lair – the obsession continues. Unable to let go of the past, he’s stuck in ancient history but refuses to admit he’s got a problem. He’s blind to the pain of those around him, self-centered, angry, and a brooding man hell-bent on hearing Christine sing one more time.
The great manipulator is at work again and woos Christine to New York by offering an enormous amount of money to get what he latter terms “as mine.” The master hasn’t changed much. He’s still short-tempered and insanely driven over his music that now frustrates him because Christine isn’t there to sing his creations. His hands still have the tendency to wrap around the throats of others and threaten strangulation throughout the story. Old habits are hard to break.
The Phantom you’ve grown to love is now a menacing broken-hearted shell of a man carrying an unhealthy obsession over Christine Daae once again. Sigh. What’s wrong with this guy? Didn’t he learn a thing in the lair? How come he hasn’t grown and changed? Why can’t he let the past die and move on? So much for redemption at the kiss of Christine’s lips and the culmination of their passions making them one. And to top it off, he really has a warped sense of “beauty” in his new residence to say the least. Where has it all gone wrong? What must the dude learn to grow into normalcy?
A few key things happen in the story that are turning points to move the Phantom along on the journey he must take. When Christine and the Phantom reunite for the first time, her answer is perhaps not the one he wishes to hear. She declares there is “no now” for either of them and that they must live with their choices. Perhaps at that point he would have accepted it, until another turning point – he discovers that Gustav is his son. The child, however, cries “horrible” when he sees his father’s face, and once again the Phantom is broken as he realizes not even his own flesh and blood can give him an ounce of compassion.
Like most emotional moments in our lives, he's faced with choices. He decides that he will give anything to his son and at the same time, he relentlessly pursues Christine by making a diabolical bet playing on Raoul’s weaknesses. Poor Christine hasn’t a clue either. It’s that obsessive love returned - what he cannot have willingly, he will take by other means.
What is it going to take to catapult this man into maturity? Perhaps, he just needs a little more time and the right event to move him along to that end. Let's face it, some of us are a bit more dense when it comes to learning. Is it the pain of our past that shackles us to old behaviors? Does the Phantom after his long existence of pain and rejection deserve just a little more time to put the pieces together? It appears he's going to have to walk through the fire in order to be purified and refined. That's the tragedy of it all, isn't it, that human misery is what often brings us to lasting change.
After all his trickery to gain Christine, she sings for him and Raoul leaves losing the bet. The Phantom knows what has happened and slyly stands quiet as she reads Raoul’s departing note – showing no remorse and keeping secret the reason why Raoul has gone. He’s won the hand.
Well, as you all know, poor Christine is shot by Meg. The Phantom caresses her in his arms and their last kiss happens as life drains from her body. All his desires and obsession have just died in his arms. The woman he has loved his entire life is gone and now all that is left is one thing – a son.
Where does he go from here? A boy once terrified of his father, looks once again upon that face he cried earlier as "horrible" and now shows unconditional love and acceptance. He embraces the beauty underneath – his father. It takes a while before the Phantom is able to embrace his son in return, but finally he does and the curtain comes down.
The story has ended. It’s a tragedy indeed that Christine is gone. The two men who fought over her their entire lives have both left empty handed. Did either of them really deserve her?
What now? What do you think happens to the Phantom beyond this point? His obsession lies dead a few feet away. His son has his arms wrapped tightly around his body. Does the man have the capacity to be a father? After all, the Phantom had no father figure and was rejected by his mother. Will being a parent finally teach him sacrificial love? Instead of Christine, perhaps it's really a child of 10 that will finally reach the heart of this broken man bringing the final redemption.
Interesting to note the name Gustav means “the staff of gods.” Could it be that Gustav is the staff that will lead our dear Phantom to learn the true meaning of sacrificial love? If you've never been a parent, I can tell you it's a role where sacrifice and love consumes your life and never dies!
So how’s the view from your seat on the ferris wheel? Do you see anything different now? Formed any new opinions? Has the Phantom really changed in Love Never Dies from the original or is a still a man brought to a point of redemption but by a child this time? Sometimes experience isn't enough to change us - a mere kiss doesn't do the trick - but learning to live and love in action is what brings lasting change.
My prodding has begun, and I hope you'll see the beauty underneath.
Sincerely,
The Phantom’s Student
Let me start this post with a statement. I’m not here to debate the rights or wrongs of the story or to discuss how it could have been written differently. More than anyone, I’m quite aware of the intense opinions in the Phantom community regarding Love Never Dies. My purpose here is to reflect on the story, offer up thoughts, and give you a ride on the ferris wheel to enhance the view. Take from my articles whatever you wish, learn lessons if there are any, and find your own interpretation. If anything, I hope you'll enjoy the ride ahead free of charge.
The Phantom in Love Never Dies
The Phantom of the Opera is now Mr. Y. He’s a mystery to the normal crowd. No longer the Opera Ghost, but a Myster-Y, who no one has seen according to the reporters that greet the de Chagny’s at the dock. So who is this man? Well, to look at the present Mr. Y, one must refer back to the Phantom who haunted the Opera Populaire.
I find it very interesting how easily fans accept the Phantom in the first version as a psychopathic murderer who kills without thought, obsesses over a woman, kidnaps her, keeps her in bondage, and blackmails her by threatening to kill Raoul. We easily forgave his transgressions in that version, didn't we? We cheered when Christine showed him the ounce of compassion he so desperately needed and appeared redeemed by love or so we thought. If you haven’t read my earlier posts about Erik (His Humanity), Opera Ghost (His Persona), and Phantom (The Spectral Shade), I encourage you to do so in order to remind yourself of the original man behind the mask as you compare the new one now living in New York.
Ten years have past. As most of you realize by now, the story in Webber’s musical continued through the song Beneath the Moonless Sky. Christine returns, finds the Phantom, and is sorrowful over her choice. As some of you cringe over the storyline and as some of you have accepted, Christine and the Phantom finally cross that "Point of No Return" they so passionately sung the day before laced with desire and seduction. It was definitely a moment of no "thought of right or wrong," as Christine spoke before, and a child is conceived. As the song further reveals, the Phantom leaves the next morning ashamed of what he has done (or is, as one of the recent comments interprets below) before Christine awakens to swear her love and desire to remain with him.
He runs away to New York, returns to his roots doing freak shows. Finally he builds a life at Coney Island, and we see him 10 years later bemoaning his useless existence without Christine. He’s depressed, wishes to die, and has no reason to live. He’s made a new likeness of Christine to replace the one in the lair – the obsession continues. Unable to let go of the past, he’s stuck in ancient history but refuses to admit he’s got a problem. He’s blind to the pain of those around him, self-centered, angry, and a brooding man hell-bent on hearing Christine sing one more time.
The great manipulator is at work again and woos Christine to New York by offering an enormous amount of money to get what he latter terms “as mine.” The master hasn’t changed much. He’s still short-tempered and insanely driven over his music that now frustrates him because Christine isn’t there to sing his creations. His hands still have the tendency to wrap around the throats of others and threaten strangulation throughout the story. Old habits are hard to break.
The Phantom you’ve grown to love is now a menacing broken-hearted shell of a man carrying an unhealthy obsession over Christine Daae once again. Sigh. What’s wrong with this guy? Didn’t he learn a thing in the lair? How come he hasn’t grown and changed? Why can’t he let the past die and move on? So much for redemption at the kiss of Christine’s lips and the culmination of their passions making them one. And to top it off, he really has a warped sense of “beauty” in his new residence to say the least. Where has it all gone wrong? What must the dude learn to grow into normalcy?
A few key things happen in the story that are turning points to move the Phantom along on the journey he must take. When Christine and the Phantom reunite for the first time, her answer is perhaps not the one he wishes to hear. She declares there is “no now” for either of them and that they must live with their choices. Perhaps at that point he would have accepted it, until another turning point – he discovers that Gustav is his son. The child, however, cries “horrible” when he sees his father’s face, and once again the Phantom is broken as he realizes not even his own flesh and blood can give him an ounce of compassion.
Like most emotional moments in our lives, he's faced with choices. He decides that he will give anything to his son and at the same time, he relentlessly pursues Christine by making a diabolical bet playing on Raoul’s weaknesses. Poor Christine hasn’t a clue either. It’s that obsessive love returned - what he cannot have willingly, he will take by other means.
What is it going to take to catapult this man into maturity? Perhaps, he just needs a little more time and the right event to move him along to that end. Let's face it, some of us are a bit more dense when it comes to learning. Is it the pain of our past that shackles us to old behaviors? Does the Phantom after his long existence of pain and rejection deserve just a little more time to put the pieces together? It appears he's going to have to walk through the fire in order to be purified and refined. That's the tragedy of it all, isn't it, that human misery is what often brings us to lasting change.
After all his trickery to gain Christine, she sings for him and Raoul leaves losing the bet. The Phantom knows what has happened and slyly stands quiet as she reads Raoul’s departing note – showing no remorse and keeping secret the reason why Raoul has gone. He’s won the hand.
Well, as you all know, poor Christine is shot by Meg. The Phantom caresses her in his arms and their last kiss happens as life drains from her body. All his desires and obsession have just died in his arms. The woman he has loved his entire life is gone and now all that is left is one thing – a son.
Where does he go from here? A boy once terrified of his father, looks once again upon that face he cried earlier as "horrible" and now shows unconditional love and acceptance. He embraces the beauty underneath – his father. It takes a while before the Phantom is able to embrace his son in return, but finally he does and the curtain comes down.
The story has ended. It’s a tragedy indeed that Christine is gone. The two men who fought over her their entire lives have both left empty handed. Did either of them really deserve her?
What now? What do you think happens to the Phantom beyond this point? His obsession lies dead a few feet away. His son has his arms wrapped tightly around his body. Does the man have the capacity to be a father? After all, the Phantom had no father figure and was rejected by his mother. Will being a parent finally teach him sacrificial love? Instead of Christine, perhaps it's really a child of 10 that will finally reach the heart of this broken man bringing the final redemption.
Interesting to note the name Gustav means “the staff of gods.” Could it be that Gustav is the staff that will lead our dear Phantom to learn the true meaning of sacrificial love? If you've never been a parent, I can tell you it's a role where sacrifice and love consumes your life and never dies!
So how’s the view from your seat on the ferris wheel? Do you see anything different now? Formed any new opinions? Has the Phantom really changed in Love Never Dies from the original or is a still a man brought to a point of redemption but by a child this time? Sometimes experience isn't enough to change us - a mere kiss doesn't do the trick - but learning to live and love in action is what brings lasting change.
My prodding has begun, and I hope you'll see the beauty underneath.
Sincerely,
The Phantom’s Student
