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Education / Christine
Ideas for research and discussion
In his treatise on fairy tales and fables, The Uses of Enchantment, Bruno Bettelheim makes the statement, "Each fairy tale is a magic mirror which reflects some aspects of our inner world, and of the steps required by our evolution from immaturity to maturity."
Relate this statement to Christine.
How is The Phantom of the Opera the story of her maturity, of her "growing up"?
During The Phantom of the Opera, Christine is torn between three powerful men: Raoul, The Phantom, and the memory of her dead father.
Does she ever become completely free and her own person? If so, when?
In fairy tales and fables, a kiss always has magical properties (turning a frog into a prince, awakening Sleeping Beauty, etc.)
What effect does Christine's kiss have in The Phantom of the Opera?
Compare Christine's story with the following myths and fables:
- Pandora's Box
- Sleeping beauty
- Alice through the looking glass
- Bluebeards Castle
- Snow White and Rose Red
- The Frog King
- Pygmallion and Galatea
- Cupid and Psyche
- Svengali
Research the changing role of women during the Victorian Period.
How does Christine fit in to your research?
Would you say she was a "modern" woman? Why or why not?
How did literature written during the Victorian period reflect the shifting role of women in society?
Compare Christine with women in the following works:
- Madame Bovary by Flaubert
- A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
- Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
- The Mill on the Floss by George Elliot
- Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
- The Frog King
- Pygmallion and Galatea
- Cupid and Psyche
- Svengali
Do you think Christine made the right decision by staying with Raoul? Why?
What would you have done
Discuss the phrase, "Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder" in regards to Christine?
Remember that she is the only character to see "the man behind the monster," when she sings "Yet in his eyes / All the sadness / Of the world... / Those pleading eyes / That both threaten / and adore..."