POTO-related

[tangofiction]

Of no interest to anyone except "Phantom" fans. Everyone else can move along.

There is a certain beautiful irony in the fact that the Phantom's downfall is brought about by his own actions.

There is a certain beautiful irony in the fact that the Phantom's downfall is brought about by his own actions. It is almost Shakespearean. I've written about this before, particularly as regards the murder of Buquet, which sends Christine running straight to Raoul for protection. But actually, Erik buggers things up for himself even before that, during Notes/Primadonna.



Consider: Erik had just successfully managed to put Christine onstage, almost without doing anything illegal (other than bullying Carlotta a bit). Christine was duly auditioned, found acceptable on her own merits, and was warmly received by the audience at her debut. So far, so good. Her subsequent visit to the Phantom's lair was also, by and large, a success (discounting his temper tantrum). Things are going swimmingly. Until...



...Erik decides to send those notes. Now, before the managers received the note, they were perfectly happy to have Christine fill any and all vacancies left by Carlotta. When Madame Giry informs them that Christine is back, their first reaction is an enthusiastic "will she sing, will she sing??" For reasons not entirely clear to anyone other than himself, Erik doesn't trust Christine's talent to carry the day, and decides that what is really needed here is a bit of blackmail. Unsurprisingly, this has the exact opposite outcome to the one desired, and the managers shift their attentions back to Carlotta. Who, it must be noted, would not even be there had Erik not sent her a note telling her to stay away. He could not have made more certain of bringing her back if he had sent her an engraved invitation. Equally, he rekindles Raoul's interest in pursuing Christine by sending him his own note, also advising him to stay away.



Yep, Erik is a master manipulator all right -- of seven year old orphans who believe in angels. When it comes to anything more complicated than that, he doesn't have the foggiest idea.



What is interesting about this, to me, is that it provides another example of the story as a tragedy of character. Just like in a Shakespearean tragedy, characters bring about their own downfall through their own nature -- because nature governs actions, and actions have consequences. Particularly in a rarified world like the theatre, where external circumstances are not a significant factor, this makes perfect sense.