THE STAGE OF THE PARIS OPERA, 1905 (The box is handed across to RAOUL. Instant downloads of all 1368 LitChart PDFs I have, I know, been told that this correspondence may have been forged from first to last by a man whose imagination had certainly been fed on the most seductive tales; but fortunately I discovered some of Christine's writing outside the famous bundle of letters and, on a comparison between the two, all my doubts were removed. However, both Raoul and the narrator’s trust in this mysterious character derives from nothing more than a subjective interpretation—the. He was not, as was long believed, a creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of the managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains of the young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, the cloak-room attendants or the concierge. Thank you. explained. la Baronne de Castelot-Barbezac, who was once the "little Meg" of the story (and who is not ashamed of it), the most charming star of our admirable corps de ballet, the eldest daughter of the worthy Mme. Well, I was at once able to prove that this corpse was that of the Opera ghost. At the paper, he wrote about and critiqued dramas, as well as being a courtroom reporter. Yes, he existed in flesh and blood, although he assumed the complete appearance of a real phantom; that is to say, of a spectral shade. Our, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in, The narrator recounts the different stages of his investigation on the. Our workshops have Thank you. An AUCTIONEER, PORTERS, All these were of the greatest assistance to me; and, thanks to them, I shall be able to reproduce those hours of sheer love and terror, in their smallest details, before the reader's eyes. Against you, sir, seven. Lot 663, then, ladies and gentlemen. The wretches who were massacred, under the Commune, in the cellars of the Opera, were not buried on this side; I will tell where their skeletons can be found in a spot not very far from that immense crypt which was stocked during the siege with all sorts of provisions. During the overture the opera house is number, sir? discovered in the vaults of the theatre, still in resumes) We spent a good part of the evening together and he told me the whole Chagny case as he had understood it at the time. buys the box for thirty francs) assembled. illumination, gentlemen? every detail exactly as she said . The truth was slow to enter my mind, puzzled by an inquiry that at every moment was complicated by events which, at first sight, might be looked upon as superhuman; and more than once I was within an ace of abandoning a task in which I was exhausting myself in the hopeless pursuit of a vain image. The action commences with a Your The original text plus a side-by-side modern translation of. Chagny. skulls from the 1831 production of "Robert le Cannot annotate a non-flat selection. And I should be ungrateful indeed if I omitted, while standing on the threshold of this dreadful and veracious story, to thank the present management the Opera, which has so kindly assisted me in all my inquiries, and M. Messager in particular, together with M. Gabion, the acting-manager, and that most amiable of men, the architect intrusted with the preservation of the building, who did not hesitate to lend me the works of Charles Garnier, although he was almost sure that I would never return them to him. Lastly, I must pay a public tribute to the generosity of my friend and former collaborator, M. J. robes playing the cymbals. It was first published as a serialization in Le Gaulois from 23 September 1909, to 8 January 1910. Diable" by Meyerbeer. ghost of so many years ago with a little Sold, to Raoul, Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. With his job, he was able to travel frequently, but he returned to Paris where he became a writer. When I began to ransack the archives of the National Academy of Music, I was at once struck by the surprising coincidences between the phenomena ascribed to the "ghost" and the most extraordinary and fantastic tragedy that ever excited the Paris upper classes; and I soon conceived the idea that this tragedy might reasonably be explained by the phenomena in question. (1919, Paris, France) AUCTIONEER: Sold. Mysterious though the ghost may at first appear, he will always be more easily explained than the dismal story in which malevolent people have tried to picture two brothers killing each other who had worshiped each other all their lives. I was at first inclined to be suspicious; but when the Persian had told me, with child-like candor, all that he knew about the ghost and had handed me the proofs of the ghost's existence (including the strange correspondence of Christine Daaé) to do as I pleased with, I was no longer able to doubt. In Which the Author of This Singular Work, https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=The_Phantom_of_the_Opera/Prologue&oldid=7255629, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. thank you. . Five I am bid. stalls), Phantom Of The Opera Lyrics provided by SongLyrics.com. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our, Erik / The Phantom of the Opera / The Ghost / The Voice, Baroness de Castelot-Barbezav / Little Meg Giry. restored to its earlier grandeur. Struggling with distance learning? Lyricapsule: The Surfaris Drop ‘Wipe Out’; June 22, 1963, Lyricapsule: The Byrds Drop ‘Mr. But we will return to the corpse and what ought to be done with it. Going at fifteen. Some of (Attention returns to the AUCTIONEER, as he Yes, he existed in flesh and blood, although he assumed the complete appearance of a real phantom; that is to say, of a spectral shade. you may recall the strange affair of the Lot 666, then: a chandelier in pieces. Note: When you embed the widget in your site, it will match your site's styles (CSS). It will be remembered that, later, when digging in the substructure of the Opera, before burying the phonographic records of the artist's voice, the workmen laid bare a corpse. From the beginning of this story, it is clear that the narrator’s purpose is twofold: to solve the mystery of certain events, as in any detective investigation, and to determine whether supernatural forces are at play. Prologue (The Stage of Paris Opera House, 1905) We are told ladies and gentlemen, The Phantom of the Opera/Prologue. I was immensely interested by this story of the Persian. This item, Ten francs for this. attention focuses on him for a moment) RAOUL (quietly, half to himself, half to the that this is the very chandelier which figures in Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. Tambourine Man’; June 21, 1965, Lyricapsule: Nirvana Drop ‘Bleach’; June 15, 1989, Lyricapsule: Derek and the Dominos’ First Gig; June 14, 1970. (The contents of the opera house is being On that day, I had spent long hours over The Memoirs of a Manager, the light and frivolous work of the too-skeptical Moncharmin, who, during his term at the Opera, understood nothing of the mysterious behavior of the ghost and who was making all the fun of it that he could at the very moment when he became the first victim of the curious financial operation that went on inside the "magic envelope". . Make sure your selection Miscellaneous Lastly, with my bundle of papers in hand, I once more went over the ghost's vast domain, the huge building which he had made his kingdom. restored it and fitted up parts of it with wiring An AUCTIONEER, PORTERS,
BIDDERS, and RAOUL, seventy now, but still
bright of eye. The Opera ghost really existed. Lot 663, then, ladies and gentlemen: a poster Instant downloads of all 1364 LitChart PDFs (including The Phantom of the Opera). Fifteen, thank you, the famous disaster. This, moreover, was the opinion of the more serious people who, at one time or other, were mixed up in the Chagny case, who were friends of the Chagny family, to whom I showed all my documents and set forth all my inferences. for this house's production of "Hannibal" by Showing here. Because of his fascination with both Edgar Allan Poe and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he wrote a detective mystery entitled The Mystery of the Yellow Roomin 1907, and four years later he publis… From Wikisource < The Phantom of the Opera. . eventually He studies it, as No, the ghost was not a myth! immense and glittering, rises magically from Phantom Of The Opera
Miscellaneous
Prologue
THE STAGE OF THE PARIS OPERA, 1905
(The contents of the opera house is being
auctioned off. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!”, “This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. (including. blow from the AUCTlONEER's gavel) I had just left the library in despair, when I met the delightful acting-manager of our National Academy, who stood chatting on a landing with a lively and well-groomed little old man, to whom he introduced me gaily. He was not, as was long believed, a creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of the managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains of the young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, the cloak-room attendants or the concierge. . He could not tell me what became of Christine or the viscount. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. PORTER: Showing here. Informs the Reader How he Acquired My I start at twenty francs? Eight once. Perhaps we may frighten away the My luck began to improve and I discovered him in his little flat in the Rue de Rivoli, where he had lived ever since and where he died five months after my visit. 665, ladies and gentlemen: a papier-mache Six, seven. The Phantom of the Opera (French: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. Selling twice. Le Croze, who allowed me to dip into his splendid theatrical library and to borrow the rarest editions of books by which he set great store. The fact that people who care about Raoul and his brother want the narrator to publish his story suggests that no account has so far explained the mystery of the former’s disappearance and the latter’s death. I came upon this track just when I was looking for the remains of the Opera Ghost, which I should never have discovered but for the unheard-of chance described above. Thank you, sir. This page was last edited on 18 February 2018, at 18:33. box) An annotation cannot contain another annotation. bright of eye. At last, I received the proof that my presentiments had not deceived me, and I was rewarded for all my efforts on the day when I acquired the certainty that the Opera ghost was more than a mere shade. LitCharts Teacher Editions. PORTER Sold, for thirty francs to the Vicomte de hint of what it may look like when re- Your number, sir? The magistrate took him for a visionary. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. Prologue Giry, now deceased, who had charge of the ghost's private box. BIDDERS, and RAOUL, seventy now, but still Fifteen I am bid. Although the narrator concludes that this story revolves exclusively around human beings, the actual nature of the titular Phantom of the Opera remains ambiguous through the rest of the work, as he displays both human and extra-human characteristics. when all the rest of us are dead? He, too, had been told of the curious manifestations that seemed to point to the existence of an abnormal being, residing in one of the most mysterious corners of the Opera, and he knew the story of the envelope; but he had never seen anything in it worthy of his attention as magistrate in charge of the Chagny case, and it was as much as he had done to listen to the evidence of a witness who appeared of his own accord and declared that he had often met the ghost.