Erik's black mask made me think of the natural mask of the Moor of Venice.

He was Othello himself.

Suddenly, I felt a need to see beneath the mask.

I wanted to know the FACE of the voice, and, with a movement which I was utterly unable to control, swiftly my fingers tore away the mask.

Oh, horror, horror, horror!" Christine stopped, at the thought of the vision that had scared her, while the echoes of the night, which had repeated the name of Erik, now thrice moaned the cry: "Horror! ...