<P> Stylistically, the novel is framed as a mystery novel as it is narrated through a detective pulling his information from various forms of research . The mystery being uncovered is the Phantom who lurks through the opera house, seemingly appearing in places out of nowhere as if by magic . </P> <P> In his article, Fitzpatrick compares the Phantom to other monsters featured in Gothic horror novels such as Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll, Dorian Gray, and Dracula . The Phantom has a torture chamber where he kidnaps and kills people, and the walls of the chapel in the graveyard are lined with human bones . Indeed, Drumright notes that The Phantom of the Opera checks off every trope necessary to have a Gothic novel according to the Encyclopedia of Literature's description which says, "Such novels were expected to be dark and tempestuous and full of ghosts, madness, outrage, superstition, and revenge ." Although the Phantom is really just a disfigured man, he has ghost - like qualities in that no one can ever find him or his lair and he is seen as a monster . People are frightened by him because of his deformities and the acts of violence he commits . </P> <P> The novel features a love triangle between the Phantom, Christine, and Raoul . Raoul is seen as Christine's childhood love whom she is familiar with and has affection for . He is rich and therefore offers her security as well as a wholesome, Christian marriage . The Phantom, on the other hand, is not familiar . He is dark, ugly, and dangerous and therefore represents the forbidden love . However, Christine is drawn to him because she sees him as her Angel of Music, and she pities his existence of loneliness and darkness . </P> <P> By the time Leroux published The Phantom of the Opera, he had already gained credibility as a crime mystery author in both French and English speaking countries . He had written six novels prior, two of which had garnered substantial popularity within their first year of publication called The Mystery of the Yellow Room and The Perfume of the Lady in Black . The Phantom of the Opera, however, did not attain as much success as these previous novels, being particularly unpopular in France where it was first published . One book review from the New York Times expressed a disappointment in the way the phantom was portrayed, saying that the feeling of suspense and horror is lost once it is found out that the phantom is just a man and not a real ghost. The majority of the notability that the novel acquired early on was due to its publication in a series of installments in French, American, and English newspapers . This serialized version of the story became important when it was read and sought out by Universal Pictures to be adapted into a movie in 1925 . </P>

Plot of the story phantom of the opera