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Chapter 17
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Phantom of the Opera, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Natural vs. the Supernatural
Love vs. Jealousy
Violence, Revenge, and Redemption
Beauty vs. Ugliness
Summary
Analysis
Since Moncharmin still proves mistrustful of his partner, Richard agrees to do whatever Moncharmin desires to put his mind at ease. Moncharmin concludes that Richard should repeat the exact same movements he did the night before, while Moncharmin keeps track of the envelope in his pocket. He orders Gabriel and Mercier to lock Mme Giry up up so that she will not be able to interact with the Phantom in any way.
Once again, Moncharmin’s inability to believe Mme Giry and to trust in the Phantom’s existence leads him to behave in absurd ways. Although the novel does show that superstition and paranoia can reach extreme levels, it also highlights the absurdity of certain characters’ efforts to deny that there is anything unusual or suspect about their circumstances—which would involve accepting the existence of unknown actors such as the Phantom.
Themes
That evening, Moncharmin and Richard thus repeat the previous night’s movements, making sure that no one touches Richard. However, Richard soon becomes irritated by his colleague’s suspicions and tells Moncharmin that he, too, could suspect him. The two of them thus conclude that they will need to attach the envelope to Richard’s pocket with the help of a safety pin, which they succeed in getting from a staff member at the same time as Rémy attempts to tell them about Christine’s disappearance.
These series of actions explain why, from the outside, Moncharmin and Richard’s behavior might have seemed completely crazy. These explanations once again highlight the narrator’s credibility, as he shows that he is just as capable of explaining mysteries by referring to the Phantom’s existence as he is by describing perfectly human actions—and must therefore be correct in asserting the Phantom’s existence when it constitutes the most satisfactory explanation.
Themes
In the office, Richard and Moncharmin wait anxiously for midnight. As soon as they hear the bells toll, they sigh with relief. However, when Moncharmin searches Richard’s pocket, he finds an empty safety pin. The envelope has disappeared. Richard then attacks Moncharmin, arguing that only Moncharmin had access to that envelope. When Mercier once again knocks on the door, Moncharmin, thoroughly confused, paying little attention to his surroundings, hands Mercier the safety pin and closes the door.
The narrator later discovers that the Phantom achieves this trick, in which it seems as though the envelope has dissolved mid-air, by reaching into Richard’s pocket through a hole in the director’s desk. The directors’ confusion once again suggests that they might finally be ready to accept the Phantom’s existence, since they now realize that they have run out of rational explanations to describe their situation.
Themes
