Charles Ireland ’27

History and Gothic Culture Within Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera, a novel written by Gaston Leroux, uses elements from Gothic culture as well as historical events to weave together a complicated love story within the walls of an opera house. The novel explores societal tensions present in nineteenth and twentieth century France, as well as the historical events which spurred Leroux to write this story alongside the technological advancements that marked the time— the use of gas lighting and the phonograph. An opera house is the main setting of the novel, symbolic of the buildings of his time, and the space is a home for Gothic culture. Gothic motifs such as masked identities, forbidden love, phantoms, and architectural signifiers reflect the incorporation of Gothic culture as intentional within Leroux’s work. Through the lens of the grotesque and the supernatural, the Gothic aesthetic heightens the emotional intensity and psychological depth of the narrative, inviting readers to delve deeply into historical realities and the darker parts of the human mind. Although The Phantom of the Opera is primarily a work of fiction, Leroux masterfully integrates these historical and cultural elements to create a wildly vivid and realistic background for the novel, making it feel more authentic and providing the reader with insight into what that time was like.

“Discover the real history behind ‘The Phantom of the Opera,”an article written by Gillian Russo, delves into what historical events went into the creation of Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera. While the novel is not based on a true story, there are many true aspects to it, as well as many legends within it. None of what took place in the novel happened in real life, however, many parts of the novel were taken from events that happened. The chandelier crash, a wildly well-known aspect of the novel, was inspired by a true story. In the novel, a chandelier comes crashing down from its place in the ceiling, an event that translates beautifully (and terrifyingly) onstage when adapted into the musical version. In her article, Russo explains that on May 20, 1896, during a performance of the opera Helle at the Palais Garnier, a counterweight (something that, along with others of its type, holds up the chandelier) broke loose and fell through the ceiling, killing one person and injuring many others. Though it is not a chandelier exactly that fell, this incident inspired Leroux to incorporate the falling of the chandelier in his novel. Another historical aspect is the underground lake featured in the Phantoms lair. The Palais Garnier possessed an underground lake. People said that a faceless man had once lived there—inspiration for Leroux to put the Phantom underground—though in reality, the lake had a purpose besides looking pretty and being foreboding. The lake kept steam pump water away while the opera house foundation was built. Now, it serves as a home for a single white catfish and occasionally French firefighters, who practice their dark swimming there. The Phantom himself is not quite fact, but more a legend based off a ghost story. In 1873, a stage fire killed a ballerina and disfigured her fiancé, the pianist. Legend goes that he retreated below the Palais Garnier and lived there until he died. Additionally, there is the story of the ghost who haunts the Palais Garnier, which inspired the creation of Christine’s lover, Raul. With tales of death and destruction, terrifying underground lakes, faceless and disfigured men, and ghosts, it’s no shock that The Phantom of the Opera is a gothic horror novel, from its pages, to the stage, to the screen.

In ZitaAnne Reno’s honors thesis, “Setting the Stage: The Phantom of the Opera and Gothic Space,” she describes the architecture and foundation that make the opera house and setting of The Phantom of the Opera so undeniably based on Gothic culture and style. She writes about the outward appearance of this style of opera house, which is based on medieval cathedral: stained glass, gargoyles, and statues. Cathedrals, and furthermore, opera houses built from the stylistic hallmarks of medieval cathedrals hold potential to be places for supernatural occurrences and mystical happenings, for example, statues that move, like the candle-holder hands in the 2004 movie adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. Additionally in that film, when the Phantom takes Christine to his lair, there are large statues along the lake. In the Palais Garnier, the opera house that was the main foundation for the one in the novel, there were many aspects that did not conform to normalcy (a concept widely popular within today’s goth community) within opera houses. Most opera houses still used gas lighting, wood, and solid stone, something that happened to be the cause of fires in many opera houses; the Palais Garnier relied on a combination of gas and electric lighting, and was built around a hidden iron skeleton. The walls and ceilings were held up with an iron structure rather than the stone columns that decorated the inside. Akin to a gothic cathedral, the pillars appeared to be soaring into the realm above. Additionally, due to the gas lights, water vapor when people inside would breathe created a softness in the air, which in turn created a dream-like appearance in the rooms. Finally, outside of the Palais Garnier, again, much like Gothic cathedrals, there were statues. The statues represented many things within the opera house. “Like the gargoyles and saints and stained glass representative of the gothic, the patrons of music and performance are the Muses.” (Reno 8). The statues look over the people of the Palais Garnier, much like the godly figures in cathedrals look over their followers.

In the article, “Gaston Leroux was inspired to write Phantom of the Opera after Palais Garnier accident,” we learn more about the origins of the novel, and of Gaston Leroux himself. Again, we are introduced to the ghost of the Palais Garnier, who Leroux was convinced was real. Many others, too, were convinced it was real after the incident with the chandelier. When the counterweight had fallen, many thought the ghost responsible, which further fueled the ideas for Leroux’s novel. Leroux at this time was working as a journalist for the newspaper Le Matin, which is where he learned about the accident. Leroux wrote many fiction novels, though outside of France, he was only really known for The Phantom of the Opera. Leroux worked as a theatre critic and court reporter in his youth. Being a theatre critic, knowing the ins and outs of everything in the theatres especially gave him a wonderful base line for writing his novel. Being in places like the Palais Garnier gave him inspiration, and seeing shows in theatres like that especially gave him material for The Phantom of the Opera. After being a journalist for some time, he grew tired of that life and decided to write fiction novels instead. He had already been publishing short stories in newspapers, so he had a baseline for where to go from there. After many of his writings were made into film, Leroux decided to further pursue that, giving a copy of The Phantom of the Opera to the head of Universal Pictures. With his novel being adapted into film, and the novel’s popularity skyrocketing outside of France, The Phantom of the Opera was truly born— ready to be made into more movies, and later, a musical, and ready to fully transform into the story we know of today.

Finally, looking at Jerrold Hogle’s book, The Undergrounds of  The Phantom of the Opera: Sublimation of the Gothic in Leroux’s novel and Its Progeny, we learn more about the gothic aspect in The Phantom of the Opera. One of the most gothic elements of this novel is not the opera house, but rather, The Phantom, an outcast, sent away from everyone and forced to live in an underground hideout beneath an opera house. His face, which in the novel is an almost naked skull, sets him apart from everyone else. He looks much like Bram Stroker’s Dracula (Hogle 4). With sunken red eyes and a ghostly face, both The Phantom and Dracula constitute strong gothic symbols. In mainstream gothic media, faces like these are embraced and celebrated. Characters like these even more so. What people in that century thought of as ugly, the modern gothic culture thinks of as beautiful. Leroux, and by extension, every writer of his era who wrote stories like his, created a symbol for a community that most likely never crossed his mind when he wrote his novel. The Phantom, also, wore clothes that related to gothic figures and writings. When The Phantom invades the masquerade ball, he is seen to be dressed as the skeletal title figure from Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Masque of the Red Death.” Additionally, furthering the idea of death in his novel, Leroux writes about the feelings of people when they see The Phantoms face. Thoughts of death flood the persons soul when they see him and his skeletal face. After all, The Phantoms face represented in a way, the Christian ideas of death and sin and Hell.

In conclusion, though The Phantom of the Opera was written in a time where Gothic culture was not as mainstream or as accepted as it is now, Leroux’s novel undeniably conveyed a deep connection to it. With The Phantom of the Opera being so popular, even today, there’s no doubt that this novel has been an inspiration to many “goth” people, and people otherwise. From battling societal norms, to structural differences, to the beauty and darkness of religion and its connection to gothic culture, The Phantom of the Opera masterfully tackles many obstacles, many even unintentionally. Without a doubt, though, this novel and the way it can be perceived and read, will never stop being popular, and it will never stop being an amazing read.

Works Cited

Russo, G. (2023, April 20). Discover the real history behind “the Phantom of the opera.” New York Theatre Guide. https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/theatre-news/news/discover-the-real-history-behind-the-phantom-of-the-opera

Reno, ZitaAnne, “Setting the Stage: The Phantom of the Opera and Gothic Space” (2021). ……Honors Theses, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 341. ……https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/honorstheses/341

Lennon, T. (2018, May 5). Gaston Leroux was inspired to write Phantom of the Opera after Palais Garnier accident. The Daily Telegraph. https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/gaston-leroux-was-inspired-to-write-phantom-of-the-opera-after-palais-garnier-accident/news-story/3f826736f3a8a30a61edeaf7c9685e8d#:~:text=Gaston%20Leroux%20was%20inspired%20to,the%20Phantom%20of%20the%20Opera.&text=French%20author%20Gaston%20Leroux%20at,in%20Nice%20in%20about%201919.

Hogle, J. E. (2016). The Undergrounds of “The Phantom of the Opera”: Sublimation and the Gothic in Leroux’s novel and its progeny. Springer.