Um, well, some of those traits are pretty superficial, but otherwise:
- they're both ostracized because of their looks, and strike back at people because of this
- they both obsess over a single person, who spurns them
- and they both feel a deal of remorse over their actions at the end of the story
I'd say they're not too similar in a lot of other ways though. The monster is seeking a place in the world, an answer to why he was created. The Phantom is a bit trickier. He wants to be loved, but why does he single out Christine? The musical implies it's because of her musical ability. In any case, a bit of a different motivation.
EDIT: Just remembered the creature asks Frankenstein to create a mate for him. So, I guess at some level, they are both seeking companionship.
edited 30th Oct '13 8:59:19 PM by kalel94
The last hurrah? Nah, I'd do it again.I was reading the intro to the Oxford University Press translation of Phantom, and they too make the Frankenstein connection, which I would have thought is pretty tenuous, and also notes a lot of other influences from popular literature.
Another aspect noted, which I think probably is more important, is the "Wicked Cultured Evil Genius" trope which had developed. Verne's Captain Nemo is a good illustration, as would be The Count of Monte Cristo in that novel.
Interestingly, Leroux also wrote about another character who was The Grotesque, and that was probably a direct influence. I also recall reading that Notre-Dame de Paris and/or The Man Who Laughs probably contributed too.
Edit, edit, edit, edit the wikiOn a more meta level, a while back I decided to believe that the story of Frankenstein was made up out of whole cloth by the ship captain in the framing story, in order to entertain himself during downtime on the ship, rather than being a real story, and it now occurs to me that the same thing could be the case with The Phantom of the Opera, since the narrator describes piecing things together from various sources and sounds as though he is writing at the time that the book is published, rather than the time the plot takes place (early twentieth century versus 1860s or so, if I recall correctly.) I haven't read either book recently, and so my memory may be inaccurate, leading to a false interpretation, but what the heck.
There's an edition of The Phantom of the Opera that includes an Erik-is-Creature's-son-by-way-of-rape short story, written by the translators. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1932983139/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=SG3JN7QYC5KC&coliid=I4E1WS9YKGI9X
I haven't read it for myself though.
Being a huge, HUGE fan of both stories/characters, I'm surprised I didn't make a connection myself.

I was pondering the similarities between the creature from the novel <I> Frankenstein </I> and Erik from Gaston Leroux 's novel <I> The Phantom Of The Opera </I> .
Both fellows have certain features in common :
Discuss.
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