"The Phantom of the Opera" is branded as a love story, and the implied centers of that love story are Christine and the Phantom (Erik). However, the manipulative and aggressive actions of Erik disallow for this implication to be true. Many fans of the novel and stage musical are dissatisfied with the story's conclusion: Christine chooses Raoul over the Phantom. The common complaint is that Erik deserved her love. He had lived his life estranged from society and he was trying to reach out to be loved. However, Raoul is the one who deserved Christine's love because she was actually in love with him. A lot of Christine's relationship with Erik relied on her pity and his manipulation.
Erik and Raoul showed their love in different ways: Erik was selfish, possessive and manipulative, and Raoul was concerned for Christine's happiness. To put it shortly, Erik was willing to kill for her and Raoul was willing to die for her. Erik's obsession with Christine led to consequences that did not show positive love: he killed the stagehand Buquet out of revenge; he loosed the chandelier onto the audience when Carlotta was given a lead over Christine; and he kidnapped Christine and, in the novel, he threatened to destroy the entire opera house with explosives unless Christine stayed with him.
Raoul is not perfect, but he did what he could for Christine's happiness. A low point for his character was when he pushed Christine too hard to rid Erik from their lives. During the song "Notes / Twisted Every Way" Raoul puts together a scheme to catch Erik. Christine's deep fear that Erik will take her is pushed away by Raoul's persistence to catch him. Raoul put too much pressure on her to take down the man who had abused and manipulated her. But he did what he could to ensure her happiness. Erik did what he could to ensure his own happiness.
Claiming that Christine did not want to stay with Erik because of his face is making Christine more shallow than she was. His demeanor was far more terrifying than his face. In the musical, Christine says, "This haunted face holds no horror for me now. It's in your soul that the true distortion lies." He feared Christine would leave him because of his appearance so he forced her to stay with him. Maybe because Erik is such a pitiful figure, he became more sympathetic. His tragic life is used as a justification for his actions.
Ultimately, Christine made the right decision to choose Raoul over Erik. Erik's obsession was deadly and showed all the negative aspects of obsessive, possessive love. Raoul was concerned for her happiness and she made the decision that was better for her well-being. The sympathy she had for Erik was not enough for her to accept his love and to love him.
