I've covered both Dracula and The Phantom of the Opera (the books, obv), with Justin Fraser on the Wordy Pair Podcast, but I thought it might be fun to contrast them with each other in a bit more detail, so that's what I'm gonna do here (and in the video above).
Both of these books are classics of the Gothic Horror genre, yet they are about as different as can be!
For instance, Dracula uses slow parts to build a sense of dread or foreboding, and fast-paced parts to draw in the reader and accomplish some amazing action. Phantom is almost frenetically paced, which fits with its madman antagonist, but we must remember that the madman was patient enough to work via trapdoors! High tension is fine, but Phantom tries to maintain it for too long.
Dracula demonstrates his powers at several points in the story, but almost always by proxy. By contrast, the Phantom's abilities are rarely demonstrated; instead, we are told of them. The Persian, while an interesting character, unfortunately destroys all fear of the supernatural that the story builds up in its first half. However, the ideas of the mirror desert and the Phantom being a lasso master are very neat!
Both books do well in maintaining a good distance between the protagonists and the antagonists. Too far, and things are too safe, but too close and you have a climactic final battle on your hands! Dracula plans and acts from afar, retreating when confronted. The Phantom is often closer than you think!
Both also do a great job of demonstrating their antagonists' malevolence. Dracula is a supernatural dread force, completely uncaring about his victims. His abilities generally support this sense of terror--when he turns into mist, he symbolizes blindness, diffuseness, and deathly cold all at once. The Phantom is an enamored madman, playing mind games against his adversaries. He is unpredictable, threatening, and acts at a distance.
In the end, I think Dracula is the superior book, but there are still things to be learned from Phantom.
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