Another plot hole emerges
13 July 2020 04:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
igenlodeJust discovered a massive canon discrepancy in "The Writing on the Wall" (which I did think was struggling to an end; I just need to get Raoul convinced that Erik really is going to bestow his hand upon Christine instead of murdering him quietly in the dark en route, which isn't all that easy for him to credit under the circumstances).
I've written the whole thing, from the moment that Raoul awakes from drowning, depicting Erik as unmasked and hideous. But looking back at the relevant chapters of the novel makes it clear that, contrary to musical-canon, Leroux-Erik retains his mask throughout the climax, removing it only when Christine's tears fall upon his masked face after she allows him to kiss her forehead. Erik must have had his face blank and covered during everything that preceded that event, including reviving Raoul, taking him down to the cells, and chaining him up.
But because I've written it on the contrary assumption, it's going to be beastly difficult to remove all the allusions that are intrinsically woven into the action :-(
The entire revival scene doesn't work:
If he can't see Erik's face, I can't use the remembered comparison to the ship's surgeon to establish Erik's disinterested actions, nor the image of expecting to die and finding oneself confronted by the vision of the Grim Reaper, and most of the scene as written falls apart :-(
And that's not the only section...
I've written the whole thing, from the moment that Raoul awakes from drowning, depicting Erik as unmasked and hideous. But looking back at the relevant chapters of the novel makes it clear that, contrary to musical-canon, Leroux-Erik retains his mask throughout the climax, removing it only when Christine's tears fall upon his masked face after she allows him to kiss her forehead. Erik must have had his face blank and covered during everything that preceded that event, including reviving Raoul, taking him down to the cells, and chaining him up.
But because I've written it on the contrary assumption, it's going to be beastly difficult to remove all the allusions that are intrinsically woven into the action :-(
The entire revival scene doesn't work:
Arms raised and flung wide, compelling his ribcage to rise; clamped back against his chest to expel involuntary breath. He'd seen artificial respiration performed before, on a sailor who'd survived a fall from the yard-arm. Bent over him now, for all its rotting horror, Erik's face held all the surgeon's detached, focused intent.
Too drained for fear, Raoul turned his head and managed a weak protest [...]
But he'd expected death, after all. And here was Death, just as Christine had described him; reeking death from head to foot.
He was overwhelmed with a sudden hysterical desire to laugh; felt a faint giggle force its way up against his will, and saw Erik recoil. Raoul found himself released, abruptly, conscious for the first time of the rough handling he had received and the hard floor on which he lay.
If he can't see Erik's face, I can't use the remembered comparison to the ship's surgeon to establish Erik's disinterested actions, nor the image of expecting to die and finding oneself confronted by the vision of the Grim Reaper, and most of the scene as written falls apart :-(
And that's not the only section...
