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 Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:24 pm
Alright. I read the book a while back but something has been bugging me now. What exactly was the purpose of the Rat Catcher? He was mention twice in the book and I didn't really see him as anything important neither did I understand what he was. Leroux says he has a flame for a head but the passage where Raoul and the Persian find him when hunting down Erik confused me a lot.
They also had him in the original broadway play, I had noticed while flipping through the booklet. Why though? What purpose did he serve and what was he exactly?
Its probably obvious but I'm just slow sweatdrop
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Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2006 10:37 pm
I think he was simply a character to help along some details or the plot. I'm sure someone else has a different view on the character, though. We all seem to.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:42 am
I agree that he was just a random character... Something to flesh the story out and give Raoul and the Daroga something to confront on their trip to the lair. IIRC, what happens in that scene is that the fearless duo hears a scratching noise coming closer and sees what appears to be a floating burning head flying at them. They think it's one of Erik's tricks and run, but the Rat Catcher calls out to them and they realize what they thought was a monster was him holding an oil lantern up in front of his face and chasing the rats (which claw up Raoul and the Daroga's legs) deeper into the cellars.
In this he helps disassemble the illusion that Erik is a supernatural being, because the early rumors of the opera ghost having a head of fire are proven to be just the Rat Catcher with his lantern.
In the musical all he does is walk by Raoul and Mme. Giry when she's showing him the way to the lair. (Thus her scream.)
(As a note, chasing rats en mass with a lantern doesn't generally work; I've tried. They're cheeky little monsters.)
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 12:15 pm
I also think he's used to douse a rumor about Erik.. .going back to the story about the fireman seeing a flaming head in the beginning of the book... I think Leroux's just all "Yeah, that wasn't Erik that was someone else."...
Um... Leroux confuses me at times. I wish there was a biography written about him. I'd so read that.
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2006 3:02 pm
Ah, thank you. That clears things up... sort of. If he was down in there in the novel then did he know about Erik? I remember the Persian said Erik told him about the ratcatcher once, so does that mean he did know Erik?
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Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 1:10 pm
No, it could just mean that Erik had seen him. After all, he obviously wouldn't be able to walk up to a man leading hundreds of rats. He'd be scathed.
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Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2009 7:02 pm
I think it's pretty funny for them to put the ratcatcher in the play, when they seemed to replace the Daroga with a monkey music box in Persian robes... stressed I don't know why they would make the ratcatcher a more important role in the play than the Persian, though...He was such a wonderful character!
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