The Phantom of the Opera contains a love triangle: the Phantom loves Christine while Christine's childhood friend Raoul also loves her. Christine is stuck in the middle, as she loves both Raoul and Erik. Raoul's feelings towards Christine are genuine. Erik's feelings for Christine are also genuine, although they seem very different from Raoul's love. When Christine doesn't challenge Erik's love at the beginning of the story, he feels nothing but pure affection for Christine. He selflessly teaches her to sing and gives her comfort when her father dies. Erik doesn't know the difference between love and obsession and thinks his obsession with Christine is love because he has never been loved. Erik's love for Christine is, without a doubt, sincere and true. He is desperate for acceptance and someone to love him, as seen when he says, “I love you Christine. Marry me, be my wife, and love me” (143). The Ghost says it with sincere eyes and also with pain, which implore Christine's love. However, when Christine and Raoul meet again after several years, Erik sees that Christine was still in love with her childhood friend. Erik decides that the only way to win Christine was to force her to love him. However, she realizes that her love for Raoul will never fade. This makes him angry and he is ready to kill himself and everyone in the opera house if he does so