Opinion Piece: Why Christine Made the Right Choice (at the end of Phantom, that is)

Why Christine Made the Right Choice

First things first, I have been Team Raoul since I was six and first saw the show. While I do like some aspects of the Phantom, I don't think he was the right choice for Christine (so obviously I detest how Love Never Dies turned out). I realise this is a controversial opinion for most 'Phans', so let me explain myself. There's two big reasons, and then a bit of a summary. 

1. The Phantom is a murderer, kidnapper, extortionist, and blackmailer.

This is the most obvious one; sure, he loves Christine, but murdering innocent people (Buquet and Piangi) and nearly killing the person you supposedly love by dropping a chandelier on her isn't the greatest way to express that. Love is admirable, but the Phantom is clearly a lunatic, no matter which way you shake it. Murder is murder. Yes, the Phantom had kind of a sucky and unfortunate life, but that's no excuse. Onto the other things: he kidnaps Christine multiple times. Kidnapping is wrong. Enough said. He extorts money from the theatre managers (money which he hasn't earned or done anything to deserve; quite the opposite really). Blackmailer... well, you know the Final Lair. "Chose him and he dies, chose me and he lives." Basically, the Phantom is willing to do whatever he things is necessary to get what he wants. He's very selfish, really (it just gets worse in Love Never Dies). And just plain insane. I really don't need to elaborate on this one any more; it's pretty self explanatory. 

2. Christine and Raoul have known each other for years.

This is kind of a combined one. I honestly believe that the Phantom is in love with Christine's voice and beauty more than her as a person, whereas Raoul and Christine have been friends (and somewhat in love with each other) since childhood. I doubt anyone, save Meg and possibly Mme. Giry, know Christine as well as Raoul does. In POTO, the Phantom says "He was bound to love [Christine], when he heard [Christine] sing!" but he loved her before he heard her sing. He loved her before the Phantom even knew she existed. Raoul loves Christine for herself, not for what she can do. In my mind, that's more valuable a connection than one forged over a single ability that a person has. Really, the Phantom and Christine's relationship fits most of the qualities of an emotionally abusive relationship (http://thestir.cafemom.com/love_sex/ 138933/15_signs_youre_in_an take a look at numbers 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, and sort of 14 and 15). I mean, come on, Phantom uses Christine's dead father to try and manipulate her into loving him! That is just wrong on so many levels. What Raoul and Christine have is a relationship built on trust and genuine love for each other. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again: the Phantom is just mad. He's not a rational, normal human being. He's pretty darn close to being a sociopath. Yes, Raoul's a bit of a twit (I'm not fond of him basically using Christine as live bait to catch the Phantom, even if I do agree that it was the only option), but the bottom line is that he loves her as a person, so much so that he goes after her even knowing she's been kidnapped by a sociopath with no qualms about killing people. There's the other side of the argument, that Christine wouldn't be who she was without the Phantom's training, but I don't think that means Christine owes him love. Appreciation and thanks, yes. But not love. The only thing he ever did that was worth any kind of love was letting Christine go. I've heard the argument that Phantom loves Christine more, and that's why he let her go, but I think that's a nonissue. It's impossible to say who loves her more, and I don't want to go into it. In this case, Raoul needed to protect Christine from the Phantom, not vice versa. There isn't anything dangerous about Raoul, whereas the Phantom could easily lose it and kill her if she ticked him off enough (reminder: Chandelier nearly hitting her!).

By the way, the fact that I'm Team Raoul is not to say I'm fond of Raoul. He's not my favourite person (to use a theatre comparison: I usually would happily marry Fiyero (not Ben Freeman's, but all the others I've seen) in Wicked by the end of the show. I've only ever really liked one Raoul enough that I could actually justify anyone being in love with him (Antony Hansen's, FYI).) I think there's a lot of things he needs to work on before Christine fully commits to him. But he's not a murderer, not a sociopath, and for the other reasons mentioned above, I am 100% Team Raoul :) I don't hold it against anyone who's Team Phantom (although I question the kind of person you find an attractive prospect for marriage...), but I am, and always have been, Team Raoul.