The Phantom of the Opera

This initial section establishes the genre of the text as a Gothic mystery. The Prologue acts as a frame for the narrative, creating the appearance that the text is a real historical investigation of supernatural mysteries. The narrator—supposedly the real Gaston Leroux—will explain the mysterious events of the Paris Opera and to dispel belief in the phantasmic Opera Ghost, who he firmly believes "really existed" (9) as a man. The main narrative of the text, therefore, is the result of the narrator's "investigation." As rumors of an Opera ghost and an accident involving a chandelier crash did occur in Paris during Leroux's life, his use of these real-world cultural stories blurs the lines between fiction and reality. This effect is further produced by the various "sources" the narrator includes in the narrative to corroborate his findings. Such fictional texts like Memoirs of a Manager by Moncharmin, or the letters, newspaper clippings, and police reports in Chapter 4 establish a false intertextuality but work to create the illusion that there is a physical paper-trail of the book’s events elsewhere. By thanking the book’s characters in his acknowledgements, Leroux again affirms the story's “veracity” of which he is the final truth-teller for compiling the evidence together in one narrative. Throughout the text, Leroux continues to include validating sources and comments on the truth behind the characters’ versions of events.

These chapters introduce the theme of belief in superstition versus skepticism. The artists and employees of the Opera are all superstitious and quick to believe the ghost is real. The young dancers are especially impressionable to the rumors. Though their imagination about a ghost who "had several heads which he changed about as he pleased" (18) makes the figure seem like a fantasy, stories about ghost sightings from the level-headed Joseph Buquet and Gabriel give the rumors more truth. Soon, people of all levels of belief "[begin] to feel uneasy" (17) whenever a strange incident occurs, as the ghostly rumors are top of mind. Sorelli and the dancers hold objects to protect themselves against bad luck, like Jammes's special ring and the iron horseshoe that repels evil spirits. The new managers, Richard and Moncharmin, enter their tenure during this superstitious frenzy, and the text illustrates them in contrast as deeply skeptical. The two men believe the rumors are a "harmless enough" (44) joke, but they soon grow tired of the earnestness of believers like Mme. Giry. As the narrator affirmed the ghost's existence in the Prologue, the extreme dismissiveness of the managers towards the ghost's communications creates anticipation for the ghost's eventual reveal.

Chapter 2 introduces the major characters and a key mystery of the text. Christine begins the story having experienced a recent miraculous change. At the gala performance, she has a “seraphic” voice that “no one had ever heard” (26). As Christine was “not known to have a professor of singing at that moment” (26), the miracle of her newfound talents ignites the audience’s wonder. Christine’s change involves more than just her musical abilities, as the doctor further emphasizes, "She is not herself tonight. She is usually so gentle" (31). This chapter also introduces one of Christine’s love interests, Raoul de Chagny. Raoul’s main motivation in the text is to “expose” the mysterious man who Christine speaks to in her dressing room. His instant jealousy at overhearing the man's voice illustrates his emotional fragility, a major flaw he battles throughout the text. Raoul's jealousy of the voice—which belongs to Erik, the Opera Ghost—sets the two in competition for Christine's love and establishes the men as foil characters.

The symbol of the mask, particularly the “death’s head” (17) that the ghost wears, appears first in Chapter 1 and again in Chapter 3 when a man with this mask sits at the managers’ dinner. The mask represents secrets and hidden identities, and it is a central symbol of the text. Though the death’s head is terrifying, it covers a much more wretched appearance beneath it. The sight of this mask reminds the characters of the Opera Ghost’s threatening trickery, causing “unspeakable terror” (35) in an instant. The story also introduces the motif of music, which the text employs to elucidate the plot. In Chapter 2, the narrator lists what the performers sang at the gala. Christine sang from Romeo and Juliette, a story of star-crossed lovers who don’t know the other’s identity when they first fall in love—mimicking her relationship with the hidden voice. The text also alludes to Faust, a reoccurring opera in the text about an innocent young girl seduced by tricks of the devil. Christine plays the role of Margarita with a “splendor, a radiance hitherto unsuspected” (26). Christine’s performance produces such a frenzy that she faints and the audience “[goes] mad, rising to its feet, shouting, cheering, [and] clapping” (26). Music here also acts as a vehicle for passionate emotions.

Chapter 3 and 4 reveals how the ghost actively interacts with people in the building, often from a position of power. The previous managers retire because they are tired of working in “a domain where that tyrannical shade held sway” (38). The ghost writes in a memorandum book ordering the men to give him 20,000 francs per month and an entire private box to himself. As the managers and staff are already convinced the ghost is behind every strange incident at the Opera, they readily obey him to save anything worse from happening. The announcement of Joseph Buquet's mysterious death terrifies the ex-managers, as it “brought them to a sense of their dependence” (38) on the ghost’s appeasement. The ghost tries to contact Richard and Moncharmin in a civil manner, acknowledging that they “must be so very busy” (43) with their new positions to obey his wishes immediately. However, the ghost knows that they’ve heard of his demands, so he threatens them too: “If you wish to live in peace, you must not begin by taking away my private box” (44). The ghost doesn’t only get his way with curses: He is generous to those who are helpful to him and who follow his orders, like Mme. Giry. For her kindness and obedience, the Ghost “always gives [her] two francs, sometimes five, sometimes even ten when he has been many days without coming” (53). Moncharmin and Richard do not want to be blackmailed by the ghost like their predecessors, and their desire to reveal the man behind the extortion makes up their primary narrative arc.