Second: Identify and Sort

Five main elements of The Phantom of the Opera are:
-much suspense
-traps and obstacles
-immediacy
-mood or atmosphere
-plausible

Sorted list:
-immediacy
-plausible
-much suspense
-traps and obstacles
-mood or atmosphere

The most important element in the book to my opinion, is the immediacy. The events of the story happen fast, unexpected, and certainly leave an impression on the reader. It gives the unease of the ballerinas, the tension of the Opera house, and the fright of mystery behind the Ghost. Nothing happens with prior explanation, it just happens, and happens realistically timed.
It gives the feeling of not merely viewing the story, but feeling as though you are a background character in it.

During the very beginning, the young dancers encounter the ghost, and regale Sorelli with their tale. "And they all began to talk together. The ghost had appeared to them in the shape of a gentleman in dress-clothes, who had suddenly stood before them in the passage, without their knowing where he came from. He seemed to have come straight through the wall." (Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera 9) This is a prime example of how the 'ghost' operates. He does not give off a peculiar warning sign at all, he appears and vanishes. The girls burst into the room seeking refuge from their menace, all without warning, at the very start of the novel.


Leroux, Gaston. Phantom of the Opera. New York: Harper and Row Publishers. 1911. Print. pages 9-10