Gaston Leroux: the original Raoul-basher?

[betweensunandmoon]

irukandji thinks so.

Raoul Bashing-Was Leroux the one who started it?

I'm skeptical, because I never got the impression that Leroux hated his hero. And Erik wins? Um, he dies, dearest. Did you miss that part, since it's unclear whether you've read the entire book?

Comments

[igenlode]

"This young man simply cannot get a break" sums up Leroux-Raoul pretty well :-)

And if the author *tells* us that his character is brave and intelligent but fails to give any indication of this in the actual story, then that's a flaw in the writing! I don't think Raoul comes across as outstandingly brave or brainy -- he is rash and impetuous, rather, jumping to conclusions and hurling himself into trouble -- but I don't think there's any doubt as to his physical courage, or to his intelligence, on those occasions when he bothers to think. It is his social awkwardness and inexperience that cause him to flinch and suffer agonies.

But from the author's perspective, as I've said elsewhere, Raoul is not actually supposed to be the 'hero' of the story; he is simply the viewpoint character via whose confused perceptions the audience are to be led up the garden path. His 'bad attributes' -- his impetuosity and jealousy -- exist in order to keep him apart from Christine and promote the mystery. Leroux was not writing a romance where Raoul is the perfect suitor (even if the musical version doesn't really have much more of an identity than that!), he was writing a mystery in which the love interest (like Bénédict's hopeless love for another Christine in Leroux's La Poupée Sanglante) exists as a plot mechanic.

Personally, I'd assume that the author's intent was for us to identify with Raoul, favour his suit, and be frustrated at Christine's refusal to divulge the truth... but then I don't think it had occurred to him for one moment that his readers would consider Erik the romantic lead of the book. "Erik still wins" in the sense that the readers are on his side.

[betweensunandmoon]

Leroux was not writing a romance where Raoul is the perfect suitor (even if the musical version doesn't really have much more of an identity than that!), he was writing a mystery in which the love interest (like Bénédict's hopeless love for another Christine in Leroux's La Poupée Sanglante) exists as a plot mechanic.

I think that's something a lot of people don't get. It's just like Dracula in that way. :(

*imagines Gaston Leroux and Bram Stoker meeting up in the afterlife and bonding over having written horror novels that people consistently misinterpret as romantic* *is amused*

Personally, I'd assume that the author's intent was for us to identify with Raoul, favour his suit, and be frustrated at Christine's refusal to divulge the truth... but then I don't think it had occurred to him for one moment that his readers would consider Erik the romantic lead of the book.

He succeeded with me. :P I did identify with Raoul, being prone to jealousy and emotional sensitivity myself. I felt sorry for Erik, but found him really scary and not romantic at all, and just wanted Christine to get away from him. Which I suspect was more along the lines of what Leroux had in mind.

[igenlode]

I was wondering how the fans were criticisng poor Jonathan Harker for failing to be the perfect suitor (I'm sure they do), when I realised you were referring to *Dracula* as the love-interest...!

I imagine Erik is supposed to be scary but rather pathetic; I certainly don't think that in the book Christine shows any sign of finding his passion for her romantic. The idea of his consuming love horrifies her, and not just because he is hideous but because he clutches possessively at her with a love that she does not return.

[betweensunandmoon]

Dracula/Mina is the one pairing I despise more than Erik/Christine (because, hello, he metaphorically raped Mina and turned her best friend into a bloodsucking, undead monster), but it gets the exact same treatment in fandom that Erik/Christine does, which only intensifies my hatred. (And yes, poor Jonathan is handled about as well as Raoul is...)

Exhibit the First, Exhibit the Second.

Considering how abusive, possessive stalkers are all the rage nowadays, I'm just happy that Leroux presented Erik as a villain and not a romantic hero! Yes, the book is over a century old, but I'll take what I can get!

[igenlode]

I have some Dracula-fic in my favourites, I think...

https://m.fanfiction.net/u/4782314/?cid=7815&s=0&a=fs

Assimbya has written some very dark AU fiction in which Dracula succeeds in capturing both Mina and Jonathan, but it's certainly not romantic.
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10704829/1/Jackal

[varianbetweenstars]

Erik *doesn't* win, he *dies* at the end of the book. He may have redeemed himself (in a way) by letting Christine and Raoul leave, but that doesn't excuse his actions, nor does that make him a romantic hero.

I see Raoul as a brave character, but thrown into a situation where he's in way over his head.

[betweensunandmoon]

I agree! I'm not sure where the poster got the idea that Erik is somehow "the winner." Maybe she's read too much bad fanfiction.

P.S. Welcome to the community!

[varianbetweenstars]

Thanks for the welcome! This was the first active Phantom community I found here, I'm new to Dreamwidth.