Thursday, February 7, 2008

Enhanced Settings in the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera
Gaston Leroux
Pages read:40-75

The Phantom of the Opera has a meaningful setting in an opera house, hence the title of the book "The Phantom of the Opera". Usually in gothic literature stories take place in sublime landscapes, old ruins, decaying castles, and dungeons. However, the setting of being in an opera house does not lack any detail to what gothic literature is all about. In fact, this setting enhances the story, because of the eerie feeling any old building can give away, especially an old opera house, because of the many people that have been in and out of it and the history of the place. The way Leroux uses pathetic fallacy to enhance the characters feelings is outstanding, for example; the first two chapters went over how a man was murdered in a room and on the way to the room, it was very dark, and eerie, and it gave pathetic fallacy, because it was as if you, as the reader could feel the characters' hearts beating on the way to the room. I look forward to continue reading this book for now can truely see why it is a classic.

3 comments:

John said...

I really dont perfer classics but,what ever floats your boat.I really like that you kept talking about the books setting but then,go to talking about gothic settings.keep reading though its good.

Robert F said...

I am not personaly intersetd in graphic lit but after reading your post i think i might start to read them. You did a good jb on the post.

Mr. Malley said...

Patrick...excellent post sir. Pathetic fallacy is interesting, as authors use weather to mirror emotions or action. Leroux seems to employ this device to create the mood of the story.

But, where is the question at the end? You're not giving people much to comment on.