In the novel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis De Bernieres uses stereotypes for some characters. Antonio Corelli fulfills the typical stereotype of an Italian. The stereotype of an Italian, in De Bernieres view, is being loud, musical, chivalrous, romantic, and charismatic.
Captain Corelli is described to the reader only in chapter twenty-four through the eyes of Carlo who has been the main character and is a likable character so what he says and how he describes Corelli seems to be truthful and sincere. He describes him as being dramatic and humorous as he “say things for the sake of their value as amusement, with an ironic disregard for the truth”, this shows that Corelli is easy-going and funny. Captain Corelli is described by De Bernieres as very humorous, this is shown when he orders his troops to stare at Pelagia, the “Bella bambina at nine o’clock”. She had to endure “a march-past of the most comical and grotesque antics and expressions devisable by man”; it was so funny that she had to go against her “duty to hate them” and “put her hand to her mouth” to hide that she is laughing. His humorous and entertaining character portrays an archetypal Italian.
He is also portrayed as a chivalrous man. He is very respectful and polite towards women. When he learns that he is taking Pelagia’s bed he says that it is “out of the question”. He wouldn’t have even thought of taking her bed and making her sleep somewhere else, showing that he is very gallant and well-mannered. Corelli feels guilt and “shame of having displaced a rightful owner from her own bed”. Being chivalrous and courteous is typically associated with Italians.
After Francesco’s death Carlo thought he could never love again, he was completely broken, until there he saw “a small miracle whose name was Captain Antonio Corelli”, he became Carlo’s “source of optimism”, this shows that Captain Corelli is extremely charismatic and captivating. It shows that Captain Corelli is so energetic and joyful that he manages to make Carlo come out of the breakdown that he fell into after Francesco’s death. He even “grew to love him as much as I had loved Francesco”. These qualities of being charismatic and charming are very much stereotypically attributed to Italians.
Captain Corelli is linked to music throughout the novel. Even the title ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” shows that his mandolin is extremely important to him and he even names it Antonia because “it’s his other half”, suggesting that music is inside him it is half of him. The way Captain Corelli speaks about and protects his mandolin shows how much it means to him; he “clutched it tightly to his chest”. Without music he isn’t full, he isn’t his full self. He has also created “La Scala”, “a little opera club” showing that he is very musical and he pushes others to sing as well, for example, Carlo.
To conclude, Captain Antonio Corelli fills the stereotype of a typical Italian very closely. All these stereotypes that Captain Corelli fulfills aren’t bad stereotypes so I think that De Bernieres is trying to suggest that not all stereotypes of any country are bad ones. Corelli should be detested by the Greeks as it is their “duty to hate them” but he still manages to befriend them showing that even during the war, people from enemy countries could still be friends and live amongst each other. Louis De Bernieres is suggesting that people are individuals and that even someone so representative of a typical Italian can become friends with Greeks.
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