In Gaston Leroux’s novel The Phantom of the Opera, pages 149-150 show off Leroux’s use of both mono and polysyllabic diction, various types of sentence structures; syntax, and a few other literary devices in order to explain how emotions effect the characters minds; which causes them to act without thinking, or doing something out of their love for another.
Leroux begins this passage with setting the scene for the reader, through his explanation, he will often mention the amount of time something took, as almost a reminder of how quickly or slowly the pace is going. Everything is somehow connected and Leroux exhibits the event’s connections as he states one thing happening at a specific time or over a length of time. For example, as he sets the scene he reveals that "at the Opera, a few minutes before Christine’s disappearance." (149), he indirectly mentions that no one really knows when she disappeared. The importance of this is that Raoul is worried about her because he loves her, and these emotions lead him to go out of his way to find her, no matter the consequences; his heart overpowers his rational thinking.
He also uses repetition to illuminate "nine o’clock" (149) as an important event-filled time. His use of cataloging could be considered too much and annoying, but seeing as he varies it throughout the novel it does not overpower his other uses of syntax. Specifically within this prose he shows his run-on sentences as he keeps the reader stuck on the same subject for a little while before progressing them through the story, most likely because at some point those details will be needed to help them understand, "the flight…the road to be taken" (149). Here Raoul is preparing for Christine to go away with him and he has patiently been waiting for this moment so he is shown to be almost frazzled. The purpose of the cataloging to emphasis on Raoul’s excited emotion, which it helps to show that he can hardly breathe between his thoughts as he makes sure that he is not forgetting anything. This pace-change is relevant to the importance of time within this passage, as so many things are going on; however the time seems to go so slowly, while Raoul waits for Christine to go away with him.
Not only does this passage illuminate time as being important, but it brings up the emotions toll on the mind through Leroux’s imagery, and oxymoron. He makes the readers contemplate what is truly going on. When Christine is ready to sing she notices "the feminine element in the brilliant audience seemed curiously puzzled."(150). This is ironic as well as an oxymoron because the words "brilliant" and "puzzled" are almost opposite ideas and they are used to describe the same people, in the same sentence. Overtime in the Opera house so many random and unsatisfying things have gone on, but the audience doesn’t have the luxury of knowing the actions behind the curtain; they are clueless, therefore, they are puzzled and not quite brilliant. Leroux seems as though he went more for the fact that there were quite a few females in the audience verses how smart they were.
Looking more at Leroux’s language, his use of the word "FAUST" (150) is a cultural connection to the Opera itself. Within the Opera House there is said to be a ghost and they practically live by pleasing him do to his murderous actions in the past. In this particular passage Leroux specifically mentions that "they were giving a FAUST, as it happened, before a splendid house." (150), which covers the concept that the cast and owners of the Opera felt as though they were selling themselves to the ghost in hopes of getting more power over what they did in the Opera in return. Overall this connects to the object of time playing into this passage because the idea of FAUST is from the medieval time period and Germany, but this passage takes place in France.
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