Erik (The Phantom of the Opera) Erik (The Phantom of the Opera) Erik (also known as The Phantom of the Opera, commonly referred to as The Phantom) is the title character from Gaston Leroux's novel "Le Fantôme de l'Opéra" (1910), best known to English speakers as "The Phantom of the Opera". He is unique in that he is both the titular protagonist and at times the antagonist of the novel. The character has been adapted to alternate media several times, including in the 1925 film adaptation starring Lon Chaney, the 1943 remake starring Claude Rains and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical. In the original novel, few details
The Phantom of the Opera 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