Erik is selfish? Doesn't love Christine?

[toxic fruit]

Ok..everyone has the impression that Raoul is using Christine..but I feel that Erik is!

Masquerade- "Your chairs are still mine. You belong to me!"

All I Ask of You (reprise)- "He was bound to love you when he heard you sing" Like no one would love her for anything but her singing.

Finale-

Christine= "Have you gorged yourself atlast in your lust (?) of blood? Am I now to be prey to your lust for flesh?"

Erik= "That fate which condemned me to wallow in blood, has also denied me the joys of the flesh" (This says to me "Christine I want your body and I don't care how you feel about it."

I'm pretty sure there are other quotes to back me up on this.
What do you think about this other look on Erik?

(Besides the fact that he has a big ego if he thinks that sunburn is what causes people to fear and loathe him)

[Luciana]

Why would he use her? She's all he has really. Although it may be true he went about gaining her love/trust the wrong way, I don't think he used her.

Christine said, 'This haunted face holds no horror for me now.' Not many people can see past his deformity. And I can see people rejecting and hating others for deformities. Just look at people with crooked teeth or missing limbs. You really think that people walk by and wonder 'Gee, I'd only hate them if they were a murder', or 'Maye I should go talk to them.'?

You're defined by how you look, and that's what caused Erik to act the way he did. The amount of people looking at him, going only skin deep.

He said that he was denied the joys of the flesh. Not that he was about to tear her dress off.

To him, she was his student who turned into an obsession. He practically worshiped her, not used her. Would you draw pictures, make manakins and get a wedding dress for someone you planned on using?

*sorry, in a mood for a good, friendly debate*

[Miss Daae]

I would call it obession as opposed to selfish. I do agree with the "Your chains are still mine, you will sing for me." He is trying to control her love. I do believe that Erick does love Christine, but only really because she is able to accept who he is to her. Everyone runs away from him, fears him.

The joys of flesh thing is really because he's never felt to warmth of one's skin upon his, not in the sexual way. But you know, like how a mother cares of her child, he had never gotten the love that he wanted. That's what I see in that one.

Once again, not selfish unless I'm proven wrong, but I think that Erik is lonely and Christine is the one that makes him feel like a whole, he is in love with her no doubt. If he was selfish, he wouldn't have helped her land the lead in those many plays.

[Erik]

Brava Miss Daae and FatesAngel123! I couldn't agree more. Erik truely loved Christine, he wasn't just using her. He told the Persian himself of the love he held for her.

[The_Persian]

Nope.... on this one, I don't agree with you Hillary...

I believe that Erik loved Christine, I don't think he ever used her. I think he loved her so much that sometimes he panicked at the though of losing her to Raoul. That would explain the "Your chains are still mine... you belong to me!"

[Black Ribbon]

I'm sorry, but I think that'll have to go with everyone else here. Erik, as Jen said , was obsessed with Christine, in a good way. I mean, he made a maniquen out of her, that's a lot of love there. And he was crying for her, and stuff.

[Night feather]

Yes I go eith eveyone else here I must say. Erik's tutoring of her voice and almost fatherly love turned into an obsession as she turned into a woman. He saw for the first time, someone who might actually love him for who he were. And about the sunburn, yes the deformity in the movie was not bad enough for my taste, but you have to realise that in the books he practically looks like a rotting corpse in his face.

Erik= "That fate which condemned me to wallow in blood, has also denied me the joys of the flesh" (This says to me "Christine I want your body and I don't care how you feel about it." I simply interpret that as him telling her, that he was condemned by other people for the way he looked, and he turned to the man he were in that way. And that no woman has ever wanted him in a sexual manner, that he yearns to experience the sexual joys, he's not telling her that he simply wants to use her body.

All I Ask of You (reprise)- "He was bound to love you when he heard you sing" Like no one would love her for anything but her singing. Hilary I think the reason for this is that Erik himself fell in love with Christine's voice, it was the thing that drew his attention. He must have seen hundreds of pretty balletgirls in his time in the opera house, but Christine held a thing, her voice, that he wanted to shape.

Masquerade- "Your chairs are still mine. You belong to me!" Well in this part of the movie he is slowly turning insane with jealousy, he thinks that Christine belongs to him, because he has quite plainly given her everything he has.

of course these are my interpretations, but just thought I would give a completely other opinion on this, because I don't think you are right in what you're saying.

[down_with_eric14]

Unlike everyone, I hate Erik(as my username states) and agree completely that he was using her. Christine deserves far better than him...i.e., she deserves Raoul!!! *smiles triumphantly* Any losers supporting Erik and mad about this post can e-mail me their complaints. But you're never, ever going to convert me to being an Erik fan. Ever.

[sunshine]

I am sorry but I totaly disagree. Erik does not use Chrisitne at all yes I must agree with FatesAngel123 about him going the wrong way about gaining her trust and love but what he means when he says he was denied the joys of the flesh is not that he wants to rip Christine's clothes off. Its like when he says "A face that earned a mothers fear and loathing, a mask my first unfeeling scrap of clothing" He is saying that he was denied even the slightest affection. Like in the book by Leroux he never even touches Christine in the end he is mearly content for her to lean forward and allow him to kiss her on the forhead. Also when he tells the persian (Dargoa in the particular chapter) that he was mearly a dog at her feet willing to die for her. He wants for nothing but emotional love and maybe even the slightest physical love. A physicaly ugly and disfigured person does not ask for much in return for mear exceptance and emotional love. Sorry for going on and on but I love Erik and think he honestly loves Christine and I think he did not use her in any way. :)

oh ya and I forgot to mention In the end he lets Raoul and Christine go together even though he loves her he lets her go with Raoul. And he tells the persian that he let her go because she let him cry with her. And he feels sorry for everything he had done and he tells Christine not to cry anymore because he knows she loves Raoul. If he only wanted to use her he wouldnt have just let her go. He truly honestly loved her thats why he let her go. :mask:

[IamErik771]

Personally, I'm going to have to agree with the majority in this thread. I feel that Erik truly did love Christine. However, because nobody ever showed him love, he didn't really know how to express it when he discovered Christine. Therefore, he often became very controlling and posessive of her. He failed to realize that he couldn't just trick or force her into loving him. In the end, though, when Christine kissed him, he realized what love truly meant, and that he had been going about it the wrong way. Appalled at what he had almost done to force her to love him, he finally decided that Christine deserved to be with the one who would make her happiest, and let her leave with Raoul.

[Red_Rose_of_Tears]

Erik truly loved Christine, he loved her more than anything in the world. He's just a little protective, if you know what I mean. He wants her to be with him, without that prissyboy Roaul in the way. (No offense, Roaul fans, I'm in a bashing mood today) As for the body thing, he loves her so much, he just wants some lovin'. :cool: He's neevr had a woman touch him before because if his face, he doesn't JUST want her for her body. He loves her too much. That's all I can say.

Love from an insane E/C fan,

Red_Rose_of_Tears

[PhantomofFrance]

But Erik Loves Christine if he didn't he would kill her.

[Red_Rose_of_Tears]

Originally posted by PhantomofFrance
But Erik Loves Christine if he didn't he would kill her.

Um, can't agree with you there, Jess...Erik isn't that crazy...:tp7:

[Phantomgirl05]

Originally posted by IamErik771
Personally, I'm going to have to agree with the majority in this thread. I feel that Erik truly did love Christine. However, because nobody ever showed him love, he didn't really know how to express it when he discovered Christine. Therefore, he often became very controlling and posessive of her. He failed to realize that he couldn't just trick or force her into loving him. In the end, though, when Christine kissed him, he realized what love truly meant, and that he had been going about it the wrong way. Appalled at what he had almost done to force her to love him, he finally decided that Christine deserved to be with the one who would make her happiest, and let her leave with Raoul.
Agree with you 100%. Well-said. I don't think I could've said it better.

[Erik]

Eep! Watch the spam guys ;)

Originally posted by PhantomofFrance

But Erik Loves Christine if he didn't he would kill her.

Sorry, dear, I've got to agree with Phantomgirl05 on this one. No, he wouldn't kill Christine. He was killing for Christine. Kind of. I think?

Anywho, he loved her, and wouldn't kill her because he loved her. Because then he wouldn't have her anyway.

Originally posted by down_with_eric14

Any losers supporting Erik and mad about this post can e-mail me their complaints.

Ow. I'm not a loser >_< That wasn't very nice.

[Christine Daaé]

Originally posted by The Phantom
Sorry, dear, I've got to agree with Phantomgirl05 on this one. No, he wouldn't kill Christine. He was killing for Christine. Kind of. I think?

Anywho, he loved her, and wouldn't kill her because he loved her. Because then he wouldn't have her anyway.

Oh, yes, he would kill Christine. He was about to, in Leroux. Basically he said, "Marry me, and you and everyone else in the Opera House will live. Refuse me, and everyone is blown to bits -- including you."

Yes, he would have killed her, if she refused him. And even in ALW or Kay, if he got angry enough, he would kill her. He is that crazy, yes. Sure, he might regret it afterward -- in fact, of course he would. But that wouldn't change what he did.

~ Zelda

[Erik]

Riiiiiiight.

I forgot about that, Zelda. Oops, haha.

Right, well, I don't think he would in ALW's or Kay's version, though. He might do things he'd regret, but no. Not that. Then again, it's been a while since I read Phantom.

So now I'm all confused >_< haha. Oh well. Thanks for bringing that to my attention, though.

[erik's_admirer]

No, I really don't think he would have killed Christine if she had refused him. I mean, sure, in Leroux's book he was going to blow the entire Opera to little bits, but he would be dead, too, and not just her. So in his eyes he wouldn't be killing her. Sort of. Does anybody else get what I mean?

[Erik]

OK, I was just coming to edit something similar to that in my post when I read that!

See, my thought was that he couldn't hurt her and live with it. But he could blow up the opera house without much thought because he would be dead too. So on a logical level, Erik would never physically hurt Christine and live with himself afterwords.

Yeah, I think that's right. Opinion, Zelda?

[Christine Daaé]

That's one motive. Another would be that Christine could be his in death, since she would never be his in life. Also, in Erik's mind, he was "a living corpse" -- a walking, breathing dead man.

". . . it is a corpse that loves you and adores you and will never, ever leave you!" -- Erik, Leroux

He's dead to the world, and dead to himself. If Christine is dead, too, they can finally share something in common, and in death, they can be together. Erik lives in a separate world from Christine's -- her world is full of life, and his is nothing but death. If she is dead, they can occupy the same sphere.

It's crazy, yet somehow not. This is how Erik's mind works -- by hurting other people, including the one he loves, he can be happy. See? He thinks only of himself, and this is made evident not only in the novel, but in the book and movie, as well. He thinks only of his own happiness, not of Christine's. Of course, this changes at the very end -- but only at the end.

~ Zelda

[AAW0487]

Erik using Christine..I don't think so! He loved Christine with all his heart! He was really mad that Christine had lied to him at Masquerade. I can't really blame him. I mean he's head over heels for her and has given her lessons and love, and there she is with Raoul. Not even bothering to tell the Phantom how she feels. I mean she had to know he would find out sooner or later. She should have just told him that she loved Raoul more, and yes Erik would be mad and probably would want to kill Raoul, but he wouldn't do it because Christine loves him. When he says "Your chains are to mine. You belong to me." He just wanted her for himself because he loved her soo much and was mad at the time.

In "All I Ask of You," the Phantom is once again upset! He thought that Christine and him had something, but then she said she was scared of him and pretty much broke his heart. He knew that Roul loved her more than just for her voice! But you have to understand that he didn't really know much about their childhood together either.

And Erik didn't want her just because he wanted her body. If he just wanted a woman's body he could have captured someone or payed someone off the street to give him love that way. He wanted Christine's love! And he was just answering her question anyway. He hadn't known what it was like to touch another person's flesh in a loving way.
:phanc1:

[northangel27]

Another terrific question? In answer to it I would say, yes, Erik is selfish, and yes, he did love Christine.

I have said it elsewhere and I will say it again here - Erik is a very complicated character, and I view Erik basically as a combination between Leroux and Kay (just so you know where I am coming from). He did love Christine, but his view and understanding of love was so twisted and skewed that it wouldn't really resemble anything that you or I might call love. It was more like an obsession and a desire to possess. In modern times he would probably be labeled a stalker, and he was definitely emotionally and mentally unstable.

Now after Christine kissed him at the end of the story I think he got a glimpse of what love really was and that it really shook him up. Unfortunately we do not know what happened after that, as that is where the story ends.

Someone here said that Erik would not have killed Christine because he loved her. I would have to disagree with that. I really don't think that he saw murdering her as something morally wrong in the state that he was in. Rather, he saw it as a way to unite them forever in love. He was already a corpse, a living dead man (that is how he viewed himself), as it were, and if she died then they could both be united forever. It is kind of like in "Dracula" when Dracula bites Mina so that they can finally be united for eternity. It makes sense in his mind.

At any rate, I feel that Erik's love for Christine was real, obsessive, terrifying and profound, and after she kissed him, given time, he may have been able to love her in a more healthy way . Though we will never know....

[queen]

I agree in a way with toxicfruit,but I don't think he wanted to use her body....I think he wanted her to love him,and when she was gradually moving away from him,that obseesion become more heated.

If you move away from the movie...have you read leroux or Kay?I f not,then I highly recomend it,Because your suggestions are essienty corect .There's this one bit in Kay when Erik wanted to rape her,and in Leroux he said to Christine 'When a woman see's me she belongs to me!I am Don Juan Truimphant!'

[eriks_protege]

Erik was extremely selfish. He obviously didn't give a damn about what Christine wanted until the end, when he realized that if he really loved her, he would want her to be happy, and therefore go with the man she REALLY loved, Raoul. He didn't REALLY love her until the end.

[queen]

yeah.I delete my old post.I am a reformed RC shipper now.
I think erik was exweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemly selfish

[More than Music]

Originally posted by down_with_eric14
Unlike everyone, I hate Erik(as my username states) and agree completely that he was using her. Christine deserves far better than him...i.e., she deserves Raoul!!! *smiles triumphantly* Any losers supporting Erik and mad about this post can e-mail me their complaints. But you're never, ever going to convert me to being an Erik fan. Ever.

Why would we ever want to turn you into something you're not?
If anyone is mad at you now, it's because of the way you're so rude about how you dislike Erik,
not because you do. Not, back on-topic...

Of COURSE Erik loves Christine. But because he was never shown love or care,
he doesn't know how to show it. Christine wasn't too nice either.
How would you feel, that after you KILLED to help someone,
that they could only say horrible things about you?

Then, after you've loved them for SO LONG, they loved another?
I seriously think that this was Erik's mental issue for not telling her that,
but that's not the point. Erik did not use Christine. He loved her deeply.
But he was very confused about it all, and had been driven mad because of all the people that had laughed and made fun of him,
and even captured him for their own selfish purposes.

No one cared for Erik before Christine, so he didn't know what to do.
He wasn't being selfish. He was just acting the way he was used to being,
because he had been forced to fight for his very life since it began.

But I don't know very much, and will therefore leave. Continue your sophicticated arguement, please.

[MystMoonstruck]

I find Erik a fascinating character, but he is selfish. He preys upon Christine's loneliness, loss, confusion and childish belief. Yes, he teaches her, but he has commanded her not to go out. She warns Raoul about this.

Erik wants what he wants. Carlotta is out; Christine is in. He murders Joseph Buquet. Why? Was it necessary? Then, he murders Piangi--poor man! Again, why? He intends to kill Raoul. He's rather like Kong going after Ann Darrow. Nothing is going to stand in the way of possessing her. He will kill and destroy in order to have her, even when she shows terror in his presence.

Did Christine say, "Please come for me, Angel"? She was thrilled to see Raoul again then feared what the Angel might do since she was forbidden to see anyone. She tried to protect Raoul at other times, too. What about that end threat? Raoul could live only if she stayed with the Phantom, and Erik is anything but loving and gentle toward her; he's quite savage, threatening her with living with his face, so she's dealing with a madman obsessed with her and certain that his face is the horrible thing that keeps them apart. Instead, it's his violent, irrational actions that terrify her, not his face. Now, if Erik had taken another approach and not been so murderous, who knows? Perhaps Christine would have felt more toward him. But her song expresses near-hatred and revulsion at what he has done.

Does Erik intend to marry her? Is he going to kidnap a priest? She ends up dressed as his bride. By the way, the mannequin is rather creepy, isn't it? Did he sculpt/make it? Has he had someone create it for him? Then, he keeps this replica of her in his lair. I'm reminded of another movie--"Mad Love", in which Peter Lorre plays a brilliant surgeon who has become a madman, obsessed with an actress who is married happily to a concert pianist. When the play she has starred in at Paris' Grand Guignol theater closes, he buys the wax figure of her used to advertise the very violent play. He doesn't care if she loves him or even cares about him; he wants her and demands her, operating on her husband's hands simply to try to win her favor, fully ready to take her away from her husband.

His obsessiveness, jealousy and actions very much match Erik's. The Phantom cares about what he wants. When does he give Christine any sort of choice besides whether he should or shouldn't kill Raoul? By that time, he realizes that, although he loves Christine (he thinks), he has driven her away from him with his horrid deeds. He has destroyed her trust and her illusion about the Angel of Music sent by her father; she has been terrorized and kidnapped, taken from the world she certainly felt safer in.

I want to end by saying that I do find the Phantom a fascinating character. Now, if the musical Erik looked like the one in the novel, I'm not sure we'd be having such strong arguments about him. No one has argued in favor of Chaney's Phantom or some of the more-horrific ones. Our debates seem to focus on the romanticized, hunkified Erik. BUT, despite Gerard's basic gorgeousness, his Erik is an unbalanced, highly dangerous man who has explosive outbursts. How long before Christine would be on the receiving end of that anger? Can Erik change his nature so much? Besides, once they knew where his lair was, where could they go? Obviously, they could not continue living there.

Ooh! Going through all of this has given me some ideas for a phanphic! Woah! I wonder if I'll remember it.

[masquerading rose]

I do believe he was only obsessed with her. I guess it had a little bit of love behind it...

He was bound to love you, when he heard you sing... I interperet that as: "I gave you your voice, I put my voice in your throat and now everyone loves you, but what do I get, Nothing! Not even one ioda! So Doom on you, I will make you miserable now" Well, something along those lines.

That fate wich comdems me to wallow in blood has also denied me the joys of the flesh... I interpret that as: "I am obsessed with you, Christine."

And I agree with Zelda about how Erik would kill Christine, he would kill everyone in the world if he had to.

[Victoria]

Erik selfish? No, no, no, no not at all!

He may may have gotten extreme in the book but he did everything for her. He loved her completly.

Refering to Kay, he did have a few chances to "have her body" but couldn't bring himself to do it. Wouldn't call that being selfish.

And even if he was selfish, I think he'd have a good reason to be. He's been robbed of a normal life since birth so when Chrisitne comes along he gets one thing...hope. Then we all know the story where he'll stop at nothing to get his girl.

That's all there is for me...

[Hidden Away]

Ok..everyone has the impression that Raoul is using Christine..but I feel that Erik is!

Masquerade- "Your chairs are still mine. You belong to me!"

All I Ask of You (reprise)- "He was bound to love you when he heard you sing" Like no one would love her for anything but her singing.

Finale-

Christine= "Have you gorged yourself atlast in your lust (?) of blood? Am I now to be prey to your lust for flesh?"

Erik= "That fate which condemned me to wallow in blood, has also denied me the joys of the flesh" (This says to me "Christine I want your body and I don't care how you feel about it."

I'm pretty sure there are other quotes to back me up on this.
What do you think about this other look on Erik?

(Besides the fact that he has a big ego if he thinks that sunburn is what causes people to fear and loathe him)

Whoa you have it all wrong!
one, It's your chains are still mine you belong to me. Two that means that Chrsitine has betrayed him and he's saying that she still must sing for her. A bit demanding, but not all that bad!

Christine= "Have you gorged yourself atlast in your lust (?) of blood? Am I now to be prey to your lust for flesh?"

Erik= "That fate which condemned me to wallow in blood, has also denied me the joys of the flesh" (This says to me "Christine I want your body and I don't care how you feel about it."

One, Erik is soo not like that ewww!!! And, two, if you really look at him, he truely does love Christine? I hate to admit it, but for standing up for him sakes...hands down! How could he not love her if he saw that she love Raoul more than anything and let them leave alive? Even though he was half way done with Raoul...he should have finished him off!!!! He was completely lonely in life. He knew he could never have to chance to just love someone. Until Chrsitine's naivity got her into this lot and so, she just fell all by herself! no one forced her or anything...and Erik is not a lustful man!

Now, have read the book, if you look at the end where Erik was dying *tear* he said, not exact but close my book's being borrowed:

"Oh, Daroga, to kiss someone on the forehead...my poor mother never even let me kiss her...she threw me my mask and ran..."

I think that shows that he was very greatful to be cared for that moment of his life. And then with that he die...doesn't that show that he's IS NOT!!! a lustful man!?

[marissamayhem]

While, I don't think that Erik is "lustful", he certainly is VERY selfish.

He couldn't accept that Christine had chosen Raoul. Instead of being selfless and leaving her alone, he decided to further terrorize her. He didn't care how SHE felt. All he cared about was himself and his need to have her.


All I Ask of You (reprise)- "He was bound to love you when he heard you sing" Like no one would love her for anything but her singing

I take this to mean that Erik thought that Raoul's love was purely superficial, while he loved her completely. I didn't think he meant it in that no one could ever love her for anything but her singing. I agree with all your other quotes though. They describes that he was indeed very selfish.

[Hidden Away]

Well Webber made him say that (not saying anything again Webber) but hey it was in the script. . .right? I think...but that's me, always forgeting!!! hehe! and well I think Erik's basically in denial of Raoul's love. Knowing what I know, I believe that Erik only wished to be the only one that love Christine. But with men being prone to women's innocence that made Christine adored my the 1000s. And well it got down the the two of them...*tear* such a wonderful story! hehe!

[A_Single_Rose]

Well, when thinking about Erik's personality, I usually think of Leroux!Erik instead of ALW!Erik since it's more... accurate, I guess. I think that he is selfish, but he does love Christine. He wanted Christine for himself. I don't think he's very lustful. He was denied "the joys of the flesh" and most probably has hidden desires within him, but he wasn't quite lustful. I doubt he would ever physically force his desires on Christine; he loved her too much to do that to her, I believe. I also believe he does have a pretty big ego sometimes, but not because of the "sunburn deformity". Leroux!Erik must have been pretty terrifying; more terrifying than the sunburned ALW!Erik. His ego would have had more to do with his talents (i.e. his musicianship, being a ventriloquist, being able to pickpocket very well, etc...)

All in all, Erik was selfish, but still loved Christine with all his heart, whatever was left of it, at least.

[Christine Daaé]

To be honest, I don't know that selfishness is compatible with love. As has been pointed out before -- if you love someone who doesn't want to be with you, you let him or her go. You don't drag him or her kicking and screaming back to you; if you love this person that much, you respect his or her desire to not be with you.

Meanwhile, Erik tried to more or less force Christine to love him. That isn't love; that's tyranny -- as if the heart could be ruled by something such as someone else's will. As well, I believe that Erik was in love with an ideal he thought he saw in Christine. She was, in fact, his ideal love interest -- except for the fact that she didn't love him in return; but he thought he could change this. Only when he finally realized that this was impossible was he able to let her go, and therefore let his being in love develop into a true love. There is a huge difference between being in love and loving someone.

For what it's worth.

~ Zelda

[Hidden Away]

Just a quick reply, basically we all know that Erik knows almost nothing of real society for people have pushed him away from it. Well if you ask me, that's the cause of his lack of knowledge of love. . .he must learn exactly what it truly is. . .and I believe that (Gerry believes this too) that Erik was once in love with Christine until it grew to a unhealthy obssesion, until it was basically nothing...

[phantom's_rose]

I am going with the majority. Erik loved Christine. He wouldn't have any reason to cry at the end of All I Ask of You if he didn't! I love Erik...I'm on his side!! :D

[IamErik771]

I also believe that Erik truly loved Christine -- if not from the beginning, then certainly by the end. In addition, I don't think it's fair to say he was acting selfishly. That's because he had never known what it was to be selfless. No one (except perhaps the Persian) had treated him with anything close to true compassion until he met Christine. Therefore, I believe that he had no idea what selflessness meant; after looking at the way he toyed with Carlotta and the managers in Leroux and the ALW musical, one could reasonably argue that he hated not only humankind for the way he had been treated since childhood, but also upper-class society for the petty and selfish ways they behaved. However, having never seen the alternative, he likely came to the conclusion that selfishness was human nature -- he hated humanity, in a way, without understanding the full reason why.

However, when he saw Christine, he saw in her an inner beauty that had been completely unknown to him before -- perhaps he saw her as somehow being more than human, and thus believed that she could show him true love. Not knowing the true meaning of love or selflessness, however, caused him to behave extremely possessively. He knew of nobody except Christine who could be that unselfish, and therefore believed, in some perverse way, that he was the only one truly deserving of her.

So you could argue that in his eyes, he was no more selfish than Raoul or any other human; Christine was the only one who he thought had the potential to rise above that. But once she showed the greatest selflessness of all, by agreeing to marry Erik rather than have a quarter of Paris be blown to bits -- I'm pretty sure he was expecting her to refuse -- he then realized just how abominably he had been acting, and could no longer live with himself unless he set her free. At least, that's my interpretation of his actions.

Apologies if the above ramble didn't make a whole lot of sense; 'twas all that came to mind. XD

[angelgirl]

I think Erik's love for Christine wasn't really selfish. More like obession. What normal person does all that to someone they love? I wouldn't. No, Erik is not selfish, just obessed. (A little TOO obsessed, if you ask me.)
A.G.

[darcimkire]

I don't think he's selfish. It's just simple: he LOVED. I mean, isn't it amazing that such a man like Erik, despite the abuse, the bitter past, he's still capable of loving. That, I believe, is not selfishness. He just wanted to reach out and feel what everybody else feels, what everybody else should feel.. To LOVE and be LOVED... Unfortunately, he sought it in a wrong way... I can't blame him, he never knew love because no one taught him. No one taught him HOW. What he did, all he did to win Christine's love was the only thing he knew HOW to get it...

He is not selfish, he just LOVED...

[Madame le Courayer]

"I know you love the boy...don't cry..."
He did let her go...therefore he loved her. No question. Poor Erik finally learned how to love in the last days of his life. *sniff* :violin:

[The Countess]

Erik didn't know any better. He saw the oppertunity for a quote unquote "normal" life and didn't want the idea to slip away. Honestly, everything in his life he had to firecly fight for (don't we all?) so this matter is no different.

I do think though that he was selfish in a way because he wanted her love him. Think about it, it's not like he thought "Gee, I'm gonna make Christine super-duper happy by having her love me". He most likely wasn't thinking of her feelings toward their relationship; no, he wanted to be happy. This is only human nature so it is hard to place a word to this. Perhaps he's not selfish but more desperate.

[Hidden Away]

Now that I can agree with!!!! yea someone with a same POV if I had to comment here I wouldn't change a word of what you said Viktoria.

ummm, Erik does feel burdened because he's not known compassion his entire life, but when Christine had mistaken him for the Angel of Music he felt what he wanted. Christine wouldn't have known that it wasn't the Angel of Music for living behind Opera House walls since the age of seven will close you up from the world.

And yes, Erik didn't go around thinking, "I'm going to make Christine happy by this this and that." He simply thought of himself, but he didn't know any better....and I'm basically regurgitating what Viktoria said...XD