History Literature / ThePhantomOfTheOpera

* AboveTheInfluence: Christine obviously expects several times to be raped during her two abductions, but it turns out the Phantom [[AffablyEvil respects her privacy and honor]].

* AnAesop: Nobody is born inherently cruel, and people who have most likely become so due to a [[FreudianExcuse traumatic past]], and while FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse, it's still in society's best interest to be compassionate to those who are often shunned so [[HeWhoFightsMonsters they don't become monsters]].

* AnAesop: Nobody is born inherently cruel, and people who are have most likely become so due to a [[FreudianExcuse traumatic past]], and while FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse, it's still in society's best interest to be compassionate to those who are often shunned so [[HeWhoFightsMonsters they don't become monsters]].

* CorruptTheCutie: Long time before even meeting Christine, [[{{Backstory}} Erik worked for the Sha-in-Sha]]: the little sultana, the favorite of the Shah-in-Shah, was boring herself to death. Erik built a HallOfMirrors for her. When she got bored of that, Erik transformed it into a RoboticTortureDevice aptly named “the chamber of horrors”, used to [[DrivenToSuicide execute people sentenced to death]]. He also taught her how to strangle people efficiently with the punjab lassoo. The little sultana [[MoralEventHorizon soon applied that knowledge to simple peasants]] ''[[MoralEventHorizon and her own friends.]]''

* {{The Gentleman or the Scoundrel}}: Raoul and Erik.
* HallOfMirrors: The torture chamber in Erik's house is constructed with heat reflecting mirrors. The heat, along with the multiple reflections of trees, create the illusion that the victim is trapped in a desert forest.

** In Chapter XX, Raoul and the Persian come across a mysterious appearance while on the trail of the phantom. When asked by Raoul if this is another member of the theater police, the Persian responds "It's some one much worse than that!", the authors note attached to it further more states how the author "can give no further explanation touching the apparition of this shade", saying the reader must have to try and guess for himself. The nature of this mysterious person is then dropped, never to be mentioned again.

* RedundantRescue: Raoul's and the Persian's rescue mission ends with Christine forced to save ''them'' from the Phantom's DeathTrap.

--> ''"Then, tired of his adventurous, formidable and monstrous life, he longed to be some one [[IJustWantToBeNormal "like everybody else."]] And he became a contractor, like any ordinary contractor, building ordinary houses with ordinary bricks. He tendered for part of the foundations in the Opera. His estimate was accepted."''

* SmallNameBigEgo: InUniverse: [[PointyHairedBoss Pointy-Haired Bosses]] Richard and Moncharmin and ThePrimaDonna Carlotta. Madam Giry is lampshaded as this (see ItsAllAboutMe), a humble usher who thinks of herself as an equal to the Opera’s administrators… just moments before they fire her. But FridgeBrilliance shows us how this is subverted: In Parisian society at this point, [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections it’s not what you do, it’s who you know]]. Madam Giry ''knows the Phantom and he is happy with her work''. Therefore, ''she is more important that Richard and Moncharmin''. She gets her job back pretty quickly.
* StageMoney: How Erik gets his 20,000 francs each month without being caught. Moncharmin and Richard give Madame Giry an envelope containing the cash to place in Box Five as instructed by Erik. She has a second, identical envelope full of fake bills, given to her by Erik; she puts the fake in the box, pockets the real one, and drops it into a manager's coat pocket. Later, while the managers are in their office, Erik opens a small trapdoor in the floor and swipes the cash from that pocket.

* SupervillainLair: Erik's an architect who's had plenty of time to trick out his underground lair with both elaborate death-traps ''and'' sumptuous living quaters.

* TogetherInDeath: The Phantom's back-up plan.

* {{Fainting}}:
** Christine faints on stage after her splendid gala performance in chapter 2. Either an emotional or exhaustion type.
** Christine faints again during her first abduction when Erik grabs her. Fits both the monster reveal type faint, since it is the smell of death on his hand that causes her to faint, and also the emotional type faint, since she is already freaked out with what's going on.
** When Raoul first comes face to face with Erik unmasked in the Perros graveyard, he faints. Fits both the monster reveal and emotional type faints, since Erik had already been trying to freak him out by playing the ghost and throwing skulls at him.

** And the skeleton of Erik's featured in the novel was inspired by the persistent RealLife rumors that a real skeleton had been utilized for the 1841 Paris Opera staging of the "Der Freischütz".

* AnAesop: Nobody is born inherently cruel, and people who are have most likely become so due to a [[FreudianExcuse traumatic past]]; however, even if there's a reason, [[FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse it's still no excuse to be cruel]].

* FateWorseThanDeath: Christine tries to kill herself before the Phantom can force her to "marry" him in the climax.
** It's worth noting, that Erik seems to have an almost humorously non-sexual view of marriage- his chief goal in having a pretty wife, as described to Christine herself, is to buy her nice things and take her for walks in the park on Sundays, while he wears a mask that (he thinks) sufficiently makes him look "like anyone else".
*** From a ''modern'' perspective, the threat of Christine being unable to be with the man she loves (and actually ''wants'' to marry) and in a forced state of virginity thanks to a sexless marriage with a repulsive man who treats her like a living doll could be seen as a Fate Worse Than Death in itself.
*** For all his talk about the happily married life they're going to have, Erik seems to be dead-set on a double-suicide with his new wife, once they've been married; he explains in the end that he only began seeing her as his ''living'' wife once she promised herself to him to save Raoul, and her holding up her end of this and showing him compassion is what prompts him to let her go. It has to be remembered that Erik is extremely unhinged and has a morbid obsession with death which doesn't let him go even when he's trying to become "normal".

* HallOfMirrors: The Phantom uses one to convince Raoul and the Persian that they are trapped in a desert.

* InterruptedSuicide: The Persian only just manages to stop Raoul from shooting himself in the torture chamber.

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: The Phantom, at the end.

* LivingMacGuffin: ''Christine.''
%% ** On the other hand, she could be this trope until the end of the novel, but then we discover that any normal woman would have GoneMadFromTheRevelation or be DrivenToSuicide rather than marry Erik. Only Christine could have really agreed to marry him without trying suicide, and Erick is so shocked that he quits his plan to KillThemAll.

* LoveHurts:
* LoveMakesYouCrazy and [[LoveMakesYouEvil Evil]] ''and'' [[LoveRedeems Redeems]]: Probably one of the few cases of a single character managing to hit all three of these.
* LoveTriangle

* MailerDaemon: The Phantom's M.O. for seducing Christine is particularly HilariousInHindsight, considering it pre-dates the Internet by almost a century!

* NoMatterHowMuchIBeg: Christine eventually tells Raoul to take her out of the country away from Erik no matter how much she protests later (see StockholmSyndrome).
* OffscreenTeleportation: The Phantom is everywhere and sees and hears everything!
** JustifiedTrope: The Phantom can move through the hatches on the Opera, and some rooms were intentionally designed to be spied upon.

* SaveTheVillain: The Persian did this in the past; he now ''frequently'' laments "MyGodWhatHaveIDone"
* ScarpiaUltimatum: The Phantom threatens to blow up the Opera, killing everyone inside, if Christine doesn't "marry" him.

* StockholmSyndrome: Christine -- she herself {{lampshade|Hanging}}s it in everything but name, and Raoul is saddened but not at all surprised or confused to see how much she evidently truly loves her psychotic, jealous, possessive stalker while fearing him at the same time.

* SympathyForTheDevil: The narrator pities Erik as much as the Persian did after hearing the end of his love story. He succeeded in making his readers agree with him... [[GoneHorriblyRight perhaps even a little too well]].
** On the other hand, the {{Narrator}} never justifies Erik's atrocities before he even becomes The Phantom. Erik is shown as a PsychopathicManchild [[EvilCannotComprehendGood truly surprised he let Christine and Raoul go]]. In the epilogue, the narrator [[{{Hypocrite}} claims to pity Erik, but never attacks the shallow societies that persecuted him.]] Instead, he justifies their attitudes because Erik is ''really'' [[BeautyEqualsGoodness ugly]]. Instead of giving Erik a grave (or even the common grave) [[MoralEventHorizon his last line is a plea for Erik to become a]] DeadGuyOnDisplay in the archives of the National Academy of Music.

* TragicMonster: Erik.

* VampiresSleepInCoffins: Erik does.
* {{Ventriloquism}}: The Persian declares that Erik is the best ventriloquist in the whole world. He must be, because he uses this skill to do a lot of {{Practical Joke}}s, including convincing Opera Singer Carlotta (an all the Opera’s audience) [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments that she croaked like a toad]].

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Leroux's original Erik -- he murders at least three people over the course of the plot and is definitely not the sanest person on the block, but Leroux expresses pity for him in the epilogue, lamenting what Erik's genius could have given to the world if only the world had not mistreated him.

*** For all his talk about the happily married life they're going to have, Erik seems to be dead-set on a double-suicide with his new wife, once they've been married; he explains in the end that he only began seeing her as his ''living'' wife once she let him him kiss her forehead out of pity, and this prompted him to let her go. It has to be remembered that Erik is extremely unhinged and has a morbid obsession with death which doesn't let him go even when he's trying to become "normal".

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: [[AnAesop The whole point of the novel]] is that Erik never believed that Christine could love him and so [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds he was ready to destroy himself, her and everyone in the Opera house]], [[ThePowerOfLove but when she really accepts to be with him if he spares Raoul]] and kisses him, Erik is so moved that he lets her go.

*** For all his talk about the happily married life they're going to have, Erik seems to be dead-set on a double-suicide with his new wife, once they've been married; he explains in the end that he only began seeing her as his ''living'' wife once she kissed him out of pity, and this prompted him to let her go. It has to be remembered that Erik is extremely unhinged and has a morbid obsession with death which doesn't let him go even when he's trying to become "normal".

* TheMoralSubstitute: Erik is Theatre/DonGiovanni done right: While Don Giovanni (and all versions of the Don Juan legend) is TheCasanova who [[BastardBoyfriend never cared if he hurts the women he claims to love]] [[EnforcedTrope and is sent to hell at the finale of the opera only to please the]] MoralGuardians who insist that Don Giovanni must be punished so the audience [[DoNotDoThisCoolThing would not do this cool thing]], Erik (who is Don Giovanni's {{Fanboy}}) also plays BastardBoyfriend to Christine while claiming to love her, but after breaking Christine’s spirit and successfully blackmailing her into being her wife, let her go with Raoul ''by his own will'' after Christine gives Erik his first TrueLovesKiss.

* TenderTears: When Erik and Christine kiss, both weep: Erik because no one has ever kissed him before, and Christine because she realizes this.

** This was Erik's real plan all along. Erik really never believed that Christine could marry him without being DrivenToSuicide. When Christine convinces him she will not attempt suicide and kiss him, Erik is so shocked he lets her go.

* TrueLovesKiss: Well, the way the Phantom describes it, anyway...

* DirectLineToTheAuthor: The {{Narrator}} claims he put together the story from firsthand accounts from people who lived and worked at the Opera House

* LiteraryAgentHypothesis: The {{Narrator}} ''really'' insists that he's telling a true story.

* AnAesop: Nobody is born inherently cruel, and people who are have most likely become so due to a traumatic past; however, even if there's a reason, it's still no excuse to be cruel.

* ElaborateUndergroundBase

%%%* LoveAtFirstNote:
%%%* LoveHurts:

* MasqueradeBall

* {{Melodrama}}

* SupervillainLair

* TenderTears

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Leroux's original Erik -- he murders at least three people over the course of the plot and is definitely not the sanest person on the block, but Leroux expresses pity for him in the epilogue.

* HelloNurse: La Sorelli.

[[Franchise/ThePhantomOfTheOpera Also has a good number of adaptations throughout the years]].

* BastardBoyfriend: Erik could be a {{deconstruction}} if not an UnbuiltTrope: In the original book the author wants you to think Erik's a {{Jerkass}} and Christine is a saint for putting up with him: (DomesticAbuser meets LoveMartyr), but the MisaimedFandom (and [[LostInImitation all the adaptations]]) wants you to think Erik's totally hot and the relationship is [[CorruptTheCutie deliciously kinky]].

* LoveAtFirstNote: Writ large!
* LoveHurts: And how!

* UglyGuyHotWife: What would have been, had Erik carried through with his ultimate plan.

* TheMoralSubstitute: Erik is DonGiovanni done right: While Don Giovanni (and all versions of the Don Juan legend) is TheCasanova who [[BastardBoyfriend never cared if he hurts the women he claims to love]] [[EnforcedTrope and is sent to hell at the finale of the opera only to please the]] MoralGuardians who insist that DonGiovanni must be punished so the audience [[DoNotDoThisCoolThing would not do this cool thing]], Erik (who is DonGiovanni's {{Fanboy}}) also plays BastardBoyfriend to Christine while claiming to love her, but after breaking Christine’s spirit and successfully blackmailing her into being her wife, let her go with Raoul ''by his own will'' after Christine gives Erik his first TrueLovesKiss.