A story about a mysterious phantom haunting Paris Opera House was linked with a mysterious number 666.
That's the original story by French writer Gaston Leroux, published 1909-1910:
Christine is given a position in the chorus at the Paris Opera House . Not long after she arrives there, she begins hearing a beautiful, unearthly voice which sings to her and speaks to her. She believes this must be the Angel of Music and asks him if he is. The Voice agrees and offers to teach her "a little bit of heaven's music." The Voice, however, belongs to Erik, a disfigured genius who was one of the contractors who built the opera and who secretly built into the cellars a home for himself. He is the Opera ghost who has been extorting money from the Opera's management for many years. Unknown to Christine, at least at first, he falls in love with her.
With the help of the Voice, Christine triumphs at the gala on the night of the old managers' retirement. Her old childhood friend Raoul hears her and remembers his love for her. A time after the gala, the Paris Opera performs Faust, with the prima donna Carlotta playing the lead. In response to a refused surrender of Box Five to the Opera Ghost, Carlotta loses her voice and the chandelier overhead plummets into the audience.
After the chandelier crashes, Erik kidnaps Christine to his home in the cellars and reveals his true identity. He plans to keep her there only a few days, hoping she will come to love him, and Christine begins to find herself attracted to her abductor. But she causes Erik to change his plans when she unmasks him and, to the horror of both, beholds his face. Furious, he lets her know of his despair and love. Fearing that she will leave him, he decides to keep her with him forever, but after two weeks, when Christine requests release, he agrees, on condition that she would wear his ring and be faithful to him.
The following night, Erik kidnaps Christine during a production of Faust. Back in the cellars, Erik tries to force Christine into marrying him. If she refuses, he threatens, he will destroy the entire Opera using explosives he has planted in the cellars, killing everyone in it, including himself and Christine. Christine continues to refuse, until she realizes that Raoul and an old acquaintance of Erik's known only as "The Persian," in an attempt to rescue her, have been trapped in Erik's torture chamber. To save them and the people above, Christine agrees to marry Erik and kisses him. Erik rescues the Persian and the young Raoul from his torture chamber thereafter. Erik, who admits that he has never before in his life received a kiss — not even from his own mother — is overcome with emotion. He lets Christine go and tells her "go and marry the boy whenever you wish," explaining, "I know you love him." They cry together, and then she leaves. The Persian, being an old acquaintance, is told of all these secrets by Erik himself, and on his express request, the Persian advertises in the newspaper about Erik's death.
In the film 1925, there's a few changes compare to the original novel
The character of Ledoux is not a mysterious Persian and is no longer a one time acquaintance of the Phantom. He is now a French Detective of the Secret Police. When Erik let go his lover, and lover's lover, he was killed.
Two Persian cats both named Mili , was the parents of my phantom cat, Maomao, whose face was half yellow and half black.
****************************************************************
The true story of the phantom, with my judgement and understanding, is a musical genius, a fallen angel, a earth demon star. A demon is able to attach to body more flexiblely despite their bad experiences.
The gift of composition to the music phantom is necessity to breath in life, even without a beautiful appearance. There's no inferiority being a composer to real musician,and it takes even need more understanding on music. However, his works was robbed, for a proepsective with physical gift in voice and appearance, even though superficial . When he was robbed, or contributed all his possessions willingly for love, nothing had left . Even more, his appearance might have been destroyed, depriving his right to claim his works with own performance forever. Due to inferiority from despised apparence, his spirit was crushed,and never had confidence any more to perform, and was totally muted. Such crush in the spirit, meant even when attached to a beautiful body, he would still have no confidence. A soul that needs lift. The phantom's revenge was terrorizing and extortion to the managers. He had a half black face and half yellow. As nature, however, a tender soul, eventually let go of his lover and the lover's lover, but was killed.
Musically, such phantom does exists. An example is Mariah Carey.
When one is over confident and ignorantly self-conscious in her own physical gift, she's close to mute deaf leaving her phantom. So a self-conscious and superficial singer will desperately clinch to her fame by extortion, rob and destroy, from new phantoms, unaware of or unwilling to admit their own deficiency.
Continue to study musical performance, to continue the work that phantom unable to accomplish, is the process revealing such secrecy of performing. The achievement of phantom was not admitted, not because they were not good enough, but too excellent , so that they became vehicle to make complacent singers shine . When a composition delivers intensity with clearly projected music language,it's like pen of beautiful colour used by an infant painter. But they will mess with pencil. Immoral singers are often technically polished. As technique growth largely depend on logical thinking that serves stability. However, they certainly lost the second part- the heart of music. But as music has its own rule, when they can sing every note in tune and easily, the beauty of the music will naturally show out- so then the singer is the vehicle of music. But further study taught , such performance is still far from art.
That's why, for the justice of art, I would like to organise the understanding of music used to show the weakness of these singers. When they don't have their second half of heart, it shows naturally, so as to return their honour to the phantom. An empathetic heart does not permit deprival without mercy. Their success will naturally show in their work of art.
There's also a special mention of opera Faust in the story of phantom, during which he kidnapped Christine. Is there any suggested connection between the opera and such impulse?
Faust or Faustus (Latin for "auspicious" or "lucky") is the protagonist of a classic German legend. Though a highly successful scholar, he is dissatisfied, and makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Mephistopheles will serve Faust with his magic powers for a term of years, but at the end of the term, the devil will claim Faust's soul and Faust will be eternally damned. Mephistopheles helps him to seduce a beautiful and innocent girl, usually named Gretchen, whose life is ultimately destroyed. However, Gretchen's innocence saves her in the end, and she enters Heaven. In some rendition, Faust was saved by God's grace , in some he was carried into hell, and some other, the demon was killed.
I wondered how the content at the end may have impulsed Erik. It does not have enough logic in psychological consequences. As serious punishment suggested , the kidnap of Christine,would be either a suggestion that she deserved the hell, or if the action from redemption and fear, salvation to the abandoned woman. And suppose it totally from hysterical fear for punishment, Erik must have taken an indication of assassination.
Story of Faust, as a well-known masterpiece, has lost in its philosophical question without solution . It revealed the contradiction between knowledge and pleasure, and questioned moral notion , as it revealed 'innocence' beyond morality with the instance of pregnant woman. However, if the judgement of innocence and guilt was still heavily limited by morality ,and became barrier to access nature simply without prejudice, such philosophy would become a trap without solution.
The real secrecy I believe, belong to this woman.
**********************************************************************************
Armed police are hunting Raoul Moat, who they believed shot his ex-girlfriend, killed her partner and wounded a policeman in northeast England, July, 2010.
Raoul Moat was released from prison on Thursday but two days later he allegedly went on the rampage, firing at Samantha Stobbart, shooting dead her boyfriend Chris Brown and leaving a policeman fighting for his life.
Police said the 37-year-old was under the false impression his ex-girlfriend Samantha Stobbart had started a relationship with an officer.
Meanwhile, Sam was selling her love story with Raoul for a good price. When she was selling her jewelry, she was full of tears.
A howl of Raoul in heavy rain pour after shot by taser from police, revealed a terrified soul, full of pain and loneliness . The pain of the man revealed his very nature- he is not a cold blooded serial killer. A soul that was betrayed by love, and deprived of possession . His face painted black, with his blood. That the whole xylophone in eclipse dedicated to, from the phantom of music.
This life he's arranged to learn the lesson he needed when he used to be a deaf mute attracted by the same, and pay the debt he owed. He dead in his howl, with open eyes for his new life.
continue
