Christine Daae and Erik

Christine Daae and Erik, the man who calls himself the Opera Ghost, share the most complex and tragic relationship in Gaston Leroux's novel. It begins as a spiritual bond forged through music, develops into a captivity marked by horror and pity, and ends in a renunciation that transforms the monster into a figure of pathos. Their connection is the emotional engine of the book, driving Christine's artistic triumph, her terror, and her eventual escape, while leading Erik from obsessive love to a selfless act that costs him his life.

The Angel of Music and the Voice

Christine's relationship with Erik begins not with his face but with his voice. After the death of her father, Daddy Daae, who had promised to send her the Angel of Music from Heaven, Christine hears a beautiful, captivating male voice in her dressing-room at the Paris Opera House. She believes it is the promised angel, especially when the voice confirms her expectation, saying it is the Angel's voice. The voice asks to give her lessons daily, and Christine agrees, meeting it in her dressing-room at eight o'clock in the morning. The voice, which she later learns is Erik's, teaches her with divine artistry, and she makes astonishing progress, culminating in her triumphant performance at the retirement gala, where she sings Margarita in Faust and faints from the intensity of the experience.

Christine's faith in the voice is intertwined with her memory of her father. She tells Raoul de Chagny, her childhood friend and secret love, that the voice is the Angel of Music, and that it plays The Resurrection of Lazarus on her father's violin at his grave in Perros-Guirec. The voice is jealous of Raoul, and Christine, fearing its displeasure, swears that Raoul is no more than a brother to her. She is, as she later confesses, "no longer mistress of herself" and has become "his thing."

The Unmasking and the Captivity

The turning point comes when Christine, driven by curiosity, tears off Erik's mask. She sees his face, a death's head with four black holes for eyes, nose, and mouth, and is filled with horror. Erik, enraged and despairing, reveals his true nature: he is a corpse that loves her, and he declares that since she has seen his ugliness, she can never leave him. He imprisons her in his house on the lake, deep beneath the Opera, in a Louis-Philippe Room furnished with his mother's belongings. During this captivity, Christine experiences a range of emotions: pity, enthusiasm, despair, and horror. She lies to him, telling him she will return, and he believes her, allowing her to go free on the condition that she wears a gold ring he gives her, which will protect her as long as she keeps it.

Christine does return, as she promised, but her visits only increase Erik's madness. He gives her an ultimatum: she must choose between the wedding mass and the requiem mass, meaning she must marry him or die. He threatens to kill everybody and himself if she refuses, and he gives her until eleven o'clock the next evening to decide. Christine, bound and desperate, is saved when Raoul and the Persian enter the torture-chamber, and through a series of events, she turns the scorpion, which floods the gunpowder cellar and saves them all.

The Kiss and the Renunciation

After the ordeal, Erik, believing Christine has consented to be his wife, brings her to the Louis-Philippe Room. He kneels before her, and she, moved by his tears and his declaration of love, allows him to kiss her forehead. This is the first time Erik has ever kissed a woman, and he is overwhelmed with joy. He tears off his mask, and she does not run away; she weeps with him. He hears her say, "Poor, unhappy Erik!" and she takes his hand. In that moment, Erik realizes he cannot keep her. He gives her back the gold ring, which she had lost and he had found, and tells her she can marry Raoul when she pleases. He releases Raoul from the dungeon where he had been chained, and the two young people kiss before him. Erik makes Christine promise to return after his death to bury him with the ring, and she kisses him on the forehead herself, the first time she has ever kissed him. He lets them go, and they leave together, seeking a priest in a lonely spot.

The Aftermath and Erik's Death

Erik's renunciation is complete. He tells the Persian that he is dying of love, and that he has tasted all the happiness the world can offer. He sends the Persian Christine's papers and personal effects, and later, the Epoque publishes the advertisement "Erik is dead." The Persian, who had known Erik in Persia, finds his skeleton near the little well where the Angel of Music first held Christine fainting. The skeleton wears the plain gold ring, which Christine had slipped on his finger when she came to bury him, fulfilling her promise. The relationship, which began with a voice and ended with a kiss, leaves Erik dead but redeemed, and Christine free to live her life with Raoul, though she never forgets the man who loved her so terribly.