Summary
There is a backstory to the managers’ odd behavior that goes beyond the events of the night the chandelier fell. The ghost was calmly paid his first 20,000 francs. One morning, the managers found on their table a note from the Opera Ghost that asked for the first month’s payment. The managers did not hesitate and put the money into the envelope and give it to Mme. Giry, who placed it on the little shelf attached to the ledge by Box Five. The two managers, Gabriel, and Mercier were hidden in such a way that they did not lose sight of the envelope for a second during the performance and even afterward, because, as the envelope had not moved, those who watched it did not move either. At last, they opened the envelope after ascertaining that the seals had not been broken, but found that the notes had disappeared (being replaced by fake notes).
The second time around, the managers ask Mme. Giry why she has given herself to the ghost. She says that, one day in Box Five, she found a letter addressed to her (signed by the Opera Ghost), which said that her daughter, Meg Giry, was going to be an Empress one day. Richard says that he is going to have Mme. Giry arrested for thievery.
Mme. Giry is flabbergasted and enraged as a result of this accusation, and in response Mme. Giry tells Richard that he should know better about where the money is – because it went into her pocket. Mme. Giry tells them that the envelope she took to the ghost’s box was another one (both are identical), which the ghost gave to her beforehand and which she hid up her sleeve. She shows the managers the other envelope that she received for the second month’s payment, and they see that it is stamped with their own managerial seal. The envelope is filled with fake notes. Mme. Giry shows them how she does it: she slips the envelope into Richard’s pocket when he least expects it (behind the scenes, on the stage). That Richard does not even know the money is in his pocket makes it an opportune way to retrieve the money while removing any trail that Mme. Giry (the middleman) might be able to follow.
They decide to repeat the exact same movements as last time, but cannot figure out when the money is taken. Moncharmin suggests fastening Richard’s pocket to the money by using a safety pin, so that he will feel the hand that pulls at his pocket. When the clock strikes midnight, they decide to leave for their home. When Moncharmin checks Richard’s pocket, he finds the pin intact but the envelope missing. Richard accuses Moncharmin of taking the money, but Moncharmin says he hasn’t got it. Mercier knocks at the door, and Moncharmin quietly exchanges a few words with him.
The commissary of police enters the managers’ office, and he asks the managers if Christine is in the office. Both managers respond no, and are bewildered at Christine’s disappearance. Raoul says that Christine was carried off by an angel, and reveals that angel's name to be Erik. He says that the Opera Ghost and the Angel of Music are one and the same. Raoul attempts to tell the entire group of people present in the office about the ghost and his interactions with him, but they soon come to the conclusion that he has completely lost his mind. A detective interrupts the conversation and tells the commissary that Philippe immediately flung into his carriage and drove across Paris at a furiously fast pace. The commissary cannot confirm if Philippe has carried off Christine for sure, but Raoul decides to go after him. He is stopped at the entrance to a corridor by the Persian, who suddenly appears, apparently out of nowhere.
The Persian asks Raoul if he has betrayed Erik’s secret. Raoul becomes impatient with the Persian’s questions and wants to leave. But the Persian says that Christine is in the Opera House with Erik. Raoul asks the Persian to take him to Christine – and the Persian resolves to do so. He asks Raoul to take off his tall hat, but he keeps on his own astrakhan cap. They find themselves in Christine’s dressing room, and after closing the door, the Persian goes to a very thin partition that separated the dressing room from a big lumber room next to it. He listens and then coughs loudly. A finger taps at the door and in comes Darius, the Persian’s servant, who gives both of them pistols. The Persian shows Raoul how the mirror in Christine’s dressing room made her “disappear”: one needs to apply a counterbalance that lifts the whole of the wall onto its pivot. The mirror first rises an inch or two and then shifts an inch or two from left to right. It is then on a pivot and swings round. With his free arm, the Persian draws Raoul to his chest and suddenly the mirror turns like a revolving door, carrying Raoul and the Persian and hurling them into a deep darkness.
Raoul and the Persian are completely hidden behind a partition, and near them a small staircase leads to a little room in which the commissary appears to be walking up and down, asking questions. The faint light is enough for Raoul to see three corpses in the little room: the chief gas-man (he who controls the gas lighting for performances) and his two assistants were actually fast asleep. Raoul and the Persian watch the removal of the three bodies by a number of scene shifters, who were followed by the commissary and all the people with him. When they are alone, the Persian makes a sign to Raoul to stand up. Raoul stands up, but he does not lift his hands in front of his eyes, ready to fire; the Persian tells him to resume that position and continue to do so, regardless of what happens.
Raoul follows the Persian into the third cellar (there are a total of five). Once in the fifth cellar, the Persian draws his breath. He seems to enjoy a greater sense of security than he displays when they both stopped in the third cellar. They narrowly avoid many of the Opera’s employees who work and live in the depths of the cellars. They see a fiery face in the cellar – the rat-catcher – coming towards them, and narrowly avoid him too. Raoul slowly loses hope, but the Persian reassures him that Christine can only be saved if they enter Erik’s house unperceived. The place of entrance is between a set piece and a discarded scene from the play Roi de Lahore, and so they gradually arrive beneath the huge cellars below the stage. The Persian tries to enter through a partition wall but is unsuccessful, and then leads Raoul up a staircase by which they came down earlier.
They come to a discarded scene from the Roi de Lahore in the third cellar, and close to this scene was a set piece. Between the scene and the set piece there is just enough room for a body (this is the place where the body of Joseph Buquet was found). The Persian slips between the set piece and the scene from the Roi de Lahore, and with his free hand the Persian feels the wall. Raoul watches him bear heavily upon the wall. Then a stone gives way, leaving a hole in the wall. This time, the Persian takes his pistol from his picket, makes a sign to Raoul to do as he did, and cocks the pistol.
He and Raoul wiggle through the hole – which is narrow – and the Persian takes out the lantern again. He examines something beneath him and immediately extinguishes his lantern. They drop a few yards and stand motionless, listening. The darkness around them is thick, and the Persian sees that the stone has closed itself off. The Persian turns on the lantern again and picks something off the ground, a sort of cord, which he examines for a second and then flings away with horror. He calls the cord the Punjab lasso. He notices the trunk of a tree next to it nothing at all; the ray of light that seems to reflect itself. The wall is a looking-glass, and the Persian says that they have fallen into Erik’s torture-chamber.
Analysis
Suspicion runs strong in the minds of Moncharmin and Richard in regard to Mme. Giry, who they think is playing a trick and is taking their money. At the same time, the recounting of events that the commissary of the police hears also leaves him skeptical about the sanity of the Opera staff. The dark themes of deception and uncertainty seep into every interaction – and even Moncharmin and Richard begin to suspect one another before they both focus their accusations on Mme. Giry. In fact, one of the only relationships that remains rather unscathed is the relationship between the Persian and Raoul, because Raoul puts complete faith into him without much question.
This may have to do with the fact that Raoul is in a desperate position. He asks that Raoul not mention Erik’s name and only refer to him as “he” or “him.” The Persian, asking Raoul to deaden the sound of his footsteps, leads him down passages that Raoul had never seen before. They find themselves at the center of a real deserted square, an immense apartment ill-lit by a small lamp. After going up and down several staircases the two men find themselves in front of a door that the Persian opens with a master-key.
Raoul continues to blindly follow the Persian’s instructions. He lacks any insight of his own, and does not question whether what the Persian is saying makes sense or not. The Persian tells Raoul to keep his hand high as the wall behind them closes. The Persian draws out a lantern and gets on his knees. The Persian tells Raoul to follow him and slides into a cellar from the tunnel the mirror hurled them into. Raoul even continues to keep his fingers and arm cocked as if he is holding a gun.
The weakness and lack of motivation on the part of Raoul becomes strongly evident here. In many ways, though Leroux introduces the Persian quite late in the story, he (the Persian) takes on a much more important and prominent role in the story. In fact, his own narratives from his diary serve as entire chapters, which bring together his reasons for being in the Opera, his prior relationship to Erik, and his knowledge of the Opera House itself.
It seems at many points as if the Persian is the plot twist, in character form: he is the unexpected hero, the man who will save the day, defeat Erik, rescue Christine, and prevent people from dying. Though this is somewhat true (he does manage to get to Erik’s house and plays an important part in Erik’s decision to reunited Christine and Raoul), the Persian does not seem to be treated with the kind of stardom or gravitas expected for someone who plays as significant a role as he does. It's also worth noting that he is not included in some of the theatrical and filmic renditions of the novel, an odd and important exclusion of a character.
