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.