I’m going to call this one “The Unforgivable Curse” because the implication that Erik is about to rape Christine is not only extraordinarily out-of-character and disgusting, but it diminishes the emotional impact of the entire story.
The audience is meant to sympathize with Erik in the end, not revile him–if they reviled him, that would defeat the whole point of the story. His actions are certainly worthy of condemnation, but it is love–not violence, not lust–that redeems him in the end. Love heals both Christine and Erik in the end.
It purifies his suffering in a way, and at the end of the novel and the musical, I’ve always felt the audience is meant to experience an emotional catharsis with Erik. Yes, it is an extremely sorrowful end, but it goes back to the idea of melancholy as one of the purest forms of beauty precisely because it results in catharsis.
Portraying Erik as a lascivious would-be rapist undermines the incredible character development he undergoes by the musical’s end. No one can deny that lust may have been on both his and Christine’s minds
“Music of the Night” and “Point of No Return,” anyone?–but in the end, it was love that won out. In Erik’s case, love is infinitely nobler than lust–as it usually is, I think.