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The Phantom of the Opera,
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Emma Rose
Potentially but I think he better fits the description of a Byronic hero. They are moody, brooding, mysterious, and obsessive. They have past trauma, follow self-destructive impulses, and are highly intelligent. They are flawed by their appearance or ideals.
Erik fits this description well, being passionately obsessive, highly mysterious, and possessing genius levels of intelligence.
Erik fits this description well, being passionately obsessive, highly mysterious, and possessing genius levels of intelligence.
Nolan
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ORION
I personally did not see Erik as a hero of any sorts. On one hand, you want to feel bad for Erik. Knowing that his appearance has led to a life of misery and mistreatment when all he wanted was love and humanity, you can't help but feel an inkling of sympathy. However, the thing to remember about his character is that he is extremely vindictive, manipulative, and abusive and he was no less towards Christine in the way he tried to force her to be with him. Unfortunately, his circumstances do not excuse his behavior nor justify them in any way. A lot of people would see this as a tragic romance when in reality it was the case that the Phantom using his powerful gift to sway the actions of a young talented singer regardless of her feelings or whether she asked for his influence or not.
hans
Yes, I believe that after all, in the end, he truly was. His terrible crimes against humanity were born from humanity's terrible crimes toward him. Since the world did not see him as a human being, rather a monster, a monster is what he became. He truly did just want to be loved for himself, and once Christine showed him that she did indeed care for him, he did the right thing and gave up his life to let her go.
Scott Cinsavich
I my humble opinion Erik was a dyed-in-the-wool psychopath. And as in all psychopaths any outpouring of emotion is usually manipulative and self serving. Unfortunately we have no history of his past so there is no way to determine if his behavior was a result of childhood trauma. Frankly he reaped what he had sown.
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