{Susan Kay-verse} Erik, The Phantom (of the Opera) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
not_mephistopheles) wrote2018-05-22 07:12 pm
not_mephistopheles) wrote2018-05-22 07:12 pmEntry tags:
not_mephistopheles) wrote2018-05-22 07:12 pm
(M) Chapter 2
We learn some background information about Madeleine and her upbringing. She was lovingly spoiled by her eccentric architect father, whose love of music led him to indulge her talents as a singer and violinist. Her father was pulling strings to prepare her for a career on the stage, but Madeleine met Charles, her future husband, and decided to hell with all that jazz, Imma marry me this sexy manbeast!
... or something.
And the guy is almost twice her age, too. Sssssooooo hawt. Leave me alone while I have my perv moment. Anyway, Charles works with Madeleine's father already; he's a master perfectionist stone mason. Everyone is down with Madeline marrying Charles up and they fly off for a honeymoon, in which they do little else other than bone like bunnies.
22's and Madeleine's parents are dead, because her dad was too nice to kick out a sick dude and he infected them all till they dead. Yup. Charles is sad and yets super protective of Madeleine and his bebe. Madeleine gets the inheritance, and doesn't want Charles to get crap for marrying above his station. That, and she didn't want to live in a place full of painful memories.
An invite from her friend Marie meant Madeleine and Charles went to the tiny village of Boscherville, where Madeleine fell in love with a gorgeous inconvenient house on the edge of town. At her insistence, they move there immediately.
It's May when the house is furnished and ready, and May 3rd when Charles dies at some building accident. Considering this scene/memory leads directly back to the moments after Madeleine gives birth, I would say maybe this is the point where the 'three month wait' began.
If so, it would place Erik's birthday in August...?
Anyway, cue some random bullshit and Madeleine half-jokingly refers to unborn Erik as 'a little beast', and Marie seems to think this is a bad idea. Marie is smart, be like Marie. Also, unborn Erik seemed especially unsettled the night his father died...
Returning to the present, Madeleine wakes to more quiet cries from her baby and, not wanting to go completely batshit, covered his face to tend to him. She wouldn't breast feed him again, and gave him some milk she had in the kitchen, because GREAT parenting Karen. Madeleine, I mean Madeleine.
OMG WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN. To me, it feels like we're seeing the very basic aspects of Erik's personality here, before they are alchemized into one person. Madeleine's father is a master architect and a music lover, Charles is a master stonemason, and Madeleine herself can be seen to represent Erik's swift anger, impatience, as well as his taste for luxurious items... Madeleine and Charles are both painted as perfectionists, and it noted that Madeleine did have some musical talent of note.
I think a little bit of all three of these people went into the creation of Erik's persona-- or at least, the part of it one could reasonably claim as genetic.
And it's really sad because Madeleine loses her parents and Charles as well, when she's basically got the essence of her father and charles returned to her in the form of her son. Erik obviously has strongly inherited traits from both his father and grand father, and it sucks that Madeleine can't even see how Erik is the closest she can come to being with these people again. She's so blinded by his ugliness, that she doesn't even want to imagine that he could be anything worthy of love...
SAD. But yeah. In my view, we kind of see the building blocks of Erik's personality here.
Possible August Birthday?After chatting with a knowledgeable Phan, we decided August 22 makes the most sense for his birthday, based on what is said in the book, and how Erik's personality fits with zodiac signs around that time of year.
Also, it's cool to understand his family, and how much they affected him without ever meeting him.
And a mask was the first piece of clothing he ever wore...
I'M NOT CRYING YOUR CRYING