Raoul vs Erik

For the literature component (form 2), I have to teach a novel, “The Phantom of the Opera.” My class consists of 33 girls. Half of the girls are naughty and love to chat while teacher is teaching. Unlike the other class, they love to ask me questions that are not related to the subject (e.g. "Do you have a boyfriend?", the beauty and cuteness of my brooches, my practicum-mate Guna.. normal because it's a girl school & etc.) Last week, they had to learn about the most important chapter of the novel, which is the scene when Christine finally agreed to marry Erik, the opera ghost and Erik was so amazed by Christine’s free will to kiss him that he freed her and Raoul.
So I had this discussion with the students about the chapter.
“So, if you were Christine, who would you choose?” I asked them.
“(obviously)Raoul!!!!!” the whole class answered.
“Why?”
“Because he’s handsome,” one of the girls in the naughty group answered.
“Yes, he’s handsome. Raoul has everything that Erik doesn’t. Wealth, pretty face and name for he is from well-established family. But Raoul also doesn’t have what Erik has. Do you know what is that ?”
One Indian student which I think is the most mature in the class responded, “Intelligence!”
“Yes, that’s true. Even though he’s not handsome and rich like Raoul he is a clever man. He’s a genius and a good music teacher.”
“But teacher, he’s cruel.” Another girl in the naughty group responded.
“Yes, he’s cruel. But why does he become like that?”
Another girl answered, “Because no one wants to accept him because of his face.”
“Yep. That’s right. It’s because of how the society treats him. They isolate him right? And I personally think that Raoul is shallow.”
“Why teacher?”
“Ok, if Christine weren’t beautiful (duh!) would he love her? I think he won’t.”
And the girls just nodded.
One girl who is also in the naughty group said, “Teacher, I don’t care. I want Raoul. I won’t choose Erik. He’s ugly.” And almost all students still want to choose Raoul.
“Ok. That’s alright. But I really think that compared to Erik, not many can relate to Raoul because only few people have what he has (beauty, wealth, and name). How many people in the world wish that he or she was pretty or rich but they can only dream for it which is the same case for Erik.”
The girls just nodded. And the same girl still insisted to have Raoul as her boyfriend. But I don’t mind. At least these girls are willing to respond and I think I’ve started to like teaching literature to these girls now.