On the Behavior of Susan Kay's Christine 

This is an excerpt from an email conversation I had with a fellow Phan, Emma.  I thought the 
topic was so interesting that I couldn't resist posting it here.

Emma:  Just a thought/question about Christine in Kay - she went back to Erik...before her 
wedding...do you think it was because she wanted to say the last good bye to him , or stay with 
him?  And if he had not died, would she have stayed with him?  What do you think??? Looks like
there is still something about Christine I cannot understand, as well as what she really felt 
for Erik...like a puzzle, a piece from which is missing!

Heather:  What I think about Christine in Kay is this - before the scene where she and Erik 
kiss, she was just like the Christine in Leroux, childish and silly.  But then Kay writes that 
Christine underwent a kind of change, that her eyes had "the light of revelation."  I think that 
at that point she realized exactly what kind of love Erik offered her, and that she became a 
different person.  I think she really loved him after that, and everything with the seperation 
happened so fast that she didn't have time to register.  She was too struck with wonder at her 
revelation.  And I think that the only reason she allowed herself to be taken away from Erik at 
all in the end was because she was going to come back before the wedding like he asked.  That's 
why she went, even when Raoul told her not to - she needed to, because that visit was all there 
was to reconcile her to being apart from Erik at all.

As for whether she would have stayed if Erik hadn't been dying, that I don't know.  I think that 
Erik didn't expect her to return, and if he had been well I think he would have been completely 
shocked when she did. Then there are 2 things that could have happened as I see it - 1) he could 
have sent her back, which is possible because he had done it before;  2) he could have said to 
himself, "She must really love me!" and then taken her away.  I think, however, that if Erik had 
not been dying, Christine's fate would have been entirely in his hands.  I don't think she would 
have walked away from him if he asked her to stay, and I don't think she would have fought him 
if he told her to go.

Heather (h_sullivan@bigfoot.com) and Emma (El Star@hotmail.com)
11:30 AM 7/2/98