Summary
We return to M. Firmin Richard and M. Armand Moncharmin as they decide to look into the matter of Box Five. They make their way to that box, and are rather distressed. They enter the box and see a shape in it. Neither man says anything, but they spontaneously seize each other’s hand. The figure disappears, and when they leave they feel as if they were victims of an illusion. Both are ostensibly very amused and laugh at each other; they move the furniture of the box, life the cloths and the chairs, and examine the arm-chair in which the ghost's voice used to sit. They find nothing, and think that someone is making a fool of them. They decide to watch the coming Saturday’s Faust performance from Box Five.
On that Saturday morning, the managers find a letter from the Opera Ghost, in which he declares that he takes the two to be at war with him. He demands that his private box be returned to him, that Christine sings the part of Margarita (a character in Faust), that Mme. Giry be kept as the box-keeper, and that, if they accept to the above conditions, they should deliver their letter via Mme. Giry. If they refuse, there will be a curse upon Faust in the Opera House that night. Richard reacts in anger. Just then, Mercier, the acting-manager, enters and says that Lachenel, the stud-groom (the chief manager of the Opera House’s horse stable), wishes to see one of the managers. Lachenel asks them to get rid of the stablemen, as one of the horses, Cesar, has been stolen. They try to figure out who could have done it, and Lachenel thinks it is the ghost. Richard finds Lachenel’s story about the ghost running away with the horse absurd, but nonetheless settles Lachenel down with some patience. Richard also invites his concierge, her husband, and her brother to the performance, having persuaded his concierge to take Mme. Giry’s place as box-keeper.
The performance runs smoothly, until Carlotta – who is playing Margarita – is singing a reply to Faust and suddenly croaks like a toad. The uproar in the house is indescribable, and everyone looks on in horror. Richard and Moncharmin turn pale, and this incident fills them with dread. They feel the ghost beside them, and they dare not to make a movement or say something that would tell the ghost that they knew that he was there. Richard calls out to Carlotta and tells her to go on. Carlotta’s voice fills the house again, but she croaks again and again. The house breaks into a wild tumult, and the two managers collapse in their chairs, not even daring to turn around. They hear his voice in their right ears, saying that her voice is going to bring down the chandelier. They look up and see the chandelier coming down, smashing into the middle of the stalls. The newspaper states that many people were wounded, and one was killed. The chandelier crashed down upon the head of Richard’s concierge, the one appointed to succeed Mme. Giry.
That tragic evening turns out to be bad for everyone. Carlotta feels ill, and Christine disappears after the performance. Two weeks pass before she is seen by anyone. Raoul is the first to be astonished by her absence and writes to Mme. Valerius’ flat, but receives no reply. Raoul goes to the managers to inquire of her absence, but managers are anything but calm and helpful. They are horrified by what happened that Saturday evening. They say that Christine had requested a leave of absence for health-related reasons. Raoul leaves the Opera House prey to the gloomiest of thoughts and hurries of Mamma Valerius. He sees Mamma Valerius, who tells him that Christine is with the Angel of Music. She also tells him that Christine fancies Raoul but cannot marry him, because the Angel of Music has forbidden her from marrying anyone at all. He says that if she gets married, then he will leave her forever. She also tells Raoul that she went to see the Angel of Music in Perros, where he promised to play her The Resurrection of Lazarus on her father’s violin.
She reveals that Angel lives in Heaven and has been training Christine for about three months. Raoul walks home to his brother’s house in a pitiful state, and his brother consoles him. His brother offers to take him out to dinner that night and says that Christine had been seen the night before in the Bois. Raoul dresses in a frantic haste, leaves his brother at dinner early, and finds himself alone in a cab behind the Longchamp racecourse. It is bitterly cold, and a little while later he sees a woman leaning her head from the window. He recognizes Christine and calls out to her, but as the carriage passes by him, the window is closed. The girl’s face disappears, and the carriage runs into the distance. Raoul is devastated, and the next morning he receives a letter from Christine, which states that he should go to masked ball at the Opera in two nights, and at midnight he should be in the little room behind the chimney-place of the big crush-room. She instructs him to wear a white domino, to be carefully masked, and to not tell anyone on earth about it.
The letter was all Raoul needed to revive his hope. The ball turns out to be an exceptional affair, and at midnight Raoul goes to the rendezvous point. He does not wait long, and a black domino passes and gives a quick squeeze to the tips of his fingers. He understands that it is Christine, and he follows her. At the same time, he could not help but notice a man dressed all in scarlet who was causing a sensation. His cloak is embroidered in gold letters with that spell out" 'Don’t touch me! I am Red Death stalking abroad!' Then one person tries to touch him, and a skeleton hand shoots out of a sleeve and violently seizes his wrist. The man – feeling the furious grasp of Death – utters a cry of pain and terror. Raoul recognizes the mysterious man as the death’s head of Perros-Guirec. Christine and Raoul go up two floors; Christine (the black domino) opens the door to a private box and beckons Raoul (the white domino) to follow her. Christine tells Raoul to remain at the back of the box and to remain hidden.
Christine listens for the mysterious man, and Raoul says that the Angel of Music (the mysterious man, that is) will not escape him. He tries to leave, but Christine tells Raoul – in the name of their love – to stop. Raoul replies angrily saying that Christine never loved him, and that she has taken advantage of him. He bursts into tears, but Christine thinks only of keeping him from leaving the box. Raoul asks for her forgiveness, and Christine says she might forgive him one day. She bids him farewell with such authority that he dares not move a step. He goes to Christine’s dressing room, and hides in the inner room (which is separated from the larger room by a curtain). Raoul hears Christine exclaim “Poor Erik!” Raoul wonders who Erik is, and he hears a voice without a body sing. Raoul has never heard anything more absolutely and heroically sweet or irresistibly triumphant. He draws back the curtain that hid him and walks to where Christine is standing. Christine walks toward her image in the glass mirror, and the image comes toward her. Raoul sees many Christines spinning around him, and suddenly she disappears. He cries and wonders aloud who Erik is.
The day after Christine vanished, Raoul calls to inquire about her at Mamma Valerius’. He sees Christine seated by the bedside of the old lady, and he no longer recognizes the tragic face of the day before: Christine’s face and complexion have returned to normal. Raoul and Christine begin to argue: Raoul reveals to Mamma Valerius that the Angel of Music is victimizing Christine. Christine tells Raoul to mind his own business, and that she does not intend to marry anyone ever. Raoul asks Christine where she got the ring that is on her finger, and when she refuses to tell him Raoul accuses her of receiving it from Erik. Christine turns white and stammers, asking Raoul who told him. He reveals that he was in her dressing room and overheard her. Christine tells Raoul to forget the man’s voice and his name. She tells them to never fathom the mystery of the man, because it is very terrible. Christine, in exchange, promises to send for Raoul the next evening.
Analysis
The theme of anger and rash judgment manifests itself in the behavior of Richard. On the Saturday morning following their first week in office, they receive a letter of warning from Erik. At that moment Mme. Giry comes in, and says that she received a letter from Erik, stating that she should come to the managers’ office to pick something up. Richard is furious, and seizes Mme. Giry by the arm, and he makes her tell her part of the story. She begins protesting. There is a certain degree of hubris (but it can also be considered an indifference to superstition) that prevents Richard and Moncharmin from believing their predecessors and Mme. Giry. This works to their detriment as it angers Erik himself, who responds by killing Richard’s concierge.
The theme of jealousy also becomes evident – not jealousy out of love, but rather out of fear of being replaced by someone more talented. For instance, Carlotta receives a letter warning her that her singing will lead to a terrible tragedy. The letter takes away Carlotta’s appetite for breakfast. She pretends that wicked plot is being hatched against her. She collects all her supporters and tells them that she is threatened at that evening’s performance with a plot organized by Christine (of whom Carlotta is jealous since Christine was received with rave reviews and applause when she replaced Carlotta (who was sick) during a performance) and declares that they must fill the house with Carlotta’s supporters.
Carlotta receives a second letter that warns her that, because she is sick, she would be mad to try to sing tonight. Carlotta shrugs this off. That night, her friends are faithful to her promise and show up to the Opera, looking around for the fierce conspirators whom they were instructed to suppress. They do not find anything unusual that night, except the presence of the managers in Box Five. The vengeful attitude directed towards Christine does not stop there, as Raoul also decides to – without getting to know Christine’s side of the story – insult and accuse Christine of deception (because she had disappeared without notice with Erik).
Raoul resolves to never see her again, but nonetheless demands why she brought him to the box. She takes off her mask, and Raoul is unable to restrain an exclamation of surprise and terror. The fresh complexion of former days was gone. A mortal pallor covered her formerly gentle and charming facial features. The rash, angry behavior takes a back seat, and immediately Raoul is remorseful. He asks for Christine’s apology. Many of Raoul's life goals at that time were aimed at obtaining Christine as an object of love and desire, without consideration of what exactly she wanted. Raoul’s character development – as becomes clear later on – does not change much. He, being the spoiled young man raised by his wealthy brother, ends up with Christine – but only at the expense of the life of his brother, Erik’s sacrifice of love, and Christine’s suffering in silence.
