phantom plays up how insane he is because he’s trying to actively suppress the humanity in him that wants to be understood and acknowledged so that he may devote himself truly unconditionally, the horrifying secret in the depths of his being not that he is a murderer but that he loves overwhelmingly enough for it to be horrifying, the original human made unrecognisable by the reputation of monster he was given precisely because he continues to sing that role to make himself unrecognisable as a human, choosing to be horrifying in a way that is easier to understand even if it means he won’t actually be understood, wearing the mask of monster because he is, or rather, considers himself to be “someone who should not be understood”... but even so, when mozart understands him he’s glad. when mozart acknowledges phantom’s take on his lost composition phantom is overcome enough to cry. because he’s human
