Abstract

MEDIOLI, Cristina Gaoni. The phantom of the opera. Reverso [online]. 2009, vol.31, n.57, pp. 77-80. ISSN 0102-7395.

The novel “The Phantom of the Opera” narrates the love story between two young people, Christine and Raoul. The story is strongly affected by the presence of the oedipal phantom that haunts Christine’s fantasy. She will have to choose between the seducing  but imaginary love for the phantom which hovers over the reality of her father’s death, and the symbolic love, that of the wedding ring, that she feels for Raoul, who will eventually become her husband. Christine’s path of life will confirm how the three dimensions, the Symbolic, the Real and the Imaginary, are inseparable. This relationship, not always harmonious, will lead Christine to ask herself at her father’s grave: “Who are you, a friend or a phantom? And also: “Why cannot the past simply die?” The real anxiety that Christine feels after her father’s death turns into fear of the phantom. It does not prevent her from exchanging wedding vows, although it will accompany her on the symbolic path that she will tread throughout her lifetime.

Keywords : Oedipal fantasies; Phantom; Anxiety; Bond.

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