Do we like them?

Do we like The Phantom of the Opera (Erik)?

A character from The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra) (1909-1910)

Our score: 3 out of 10. A genuinely gifted and tragic man, but he terrorises people and holds Christine captive. We feel for him and wouldn't back him.

Erik is the "Opera Ghost" of Gaston Leroux's novel. It starts with strange events at the Paris Opera: notes sent to the managers, a mysterious private box and unseen voices. The book is told as a journalist's investigation. Behind it all is a masked man living in the cellars beneath the building.

He is a brilliant composer, singer and builder, but his disfigured face has cut him off from other people. He becomes infatuated with Christine Daaé. He secretly coaches her voice and lets her think he is an angel of music. That gives us the sympathy for him, since he is lonely and rejected.

He is hard to back, though. He controls people through fear, dictates terms to the opera's managers, and kidnaps Christine, who is in love with someone else. Leroux makes him a tragic figure, but his obsession and threats outweigh his talent, so he scores low, a 3 out of 10.