Explore the ways in which the character Corelli fulfils the role of a stereotypical Italian.

In the novel of Captain Corelli’s mandolin, the character of Corelli is portrayed as a person who possesses stereotypical characteristics of an Italian, whom is very musical and chivalrous.

Though the title of the novel is Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, the character of Corelli is not introduced officially till a third of the book in chapter 24 ‘A Most Ungracious Surrender’. He is introduced by Carlo, who has been the main character throughout the earlier chapters, where the story chapters will alternate and always link back to Carlo. Now he is introducing the captain, and from his view the reader is told that Corelli is a very humorous person, being the captain of a battery who makes a “mockery of everything soldierly.” Having formed the “La Scala” which is an opera club that “shat together there at the same time every morning” shows that Corelli is a keen musician as well who enjoys music and is very passionate about it, which is another stereotypical characteristic of an Italian being musical, where famous composers like Antonio Vivaldi, composer of the Four Seasons is from. Carlo’s loss of Francesco left a huge impact on him, but after encountering Corelli, he has “grew to love him as much as I had loved Francesco”, also shows another stereotypical characteristic of an Italian that Corelli possesses, being very charismatic.

The way De Bernieres has structured his chapters can be seen as being very symbolic as well. Before ‘A Most Ungracious Surrender’, was the chapter ‘April 30^th 1941’, the highlight of the latter chapter was the mood, where Mandras was now “demanding” Pelagia to read the letters she wrote which was making her change her feelings for him which “grown first to pity and then to hate” . This makes the mood very dull and sad. However in the next chapter where Corelli is introduced, the mood of the novel suddenly changes and it feels bright, happy and free, as the reader is told of the humorous actions that Corelli does. So the structure is symbolic as it seems to represent that Corelli has been introduced now after the many disasters that has happened like the death of Francesco whom is Carlo’s love and also the tension between Mandras and Pelagia, making him as though a hero coming out all of a sudden in the novel, where he is the main character that every reader has been awaiting for. So through the chapters being symbolic, De Bernieres has shown the stereotypical characteristic of being a brave Italian in that Corelli is emerging as a hero. A key stereotypical characteristic of an Italian is being very musical, and Corelli and his mandolin represents the heart of Italy very clearly, the way Corelli talks about his mandolin and the way he looks after it seems as though that it is his life. He is bold when he talks about his mandolin. The way he is so protective of his mandolin, not allowing anyone including Pelagia to touch as he “clutched it tightly to his chest” supports this. Hence, the reader can see more stereotypical characteristics of an Italian through Corelli being very musical and bold.

In my opinion, I think that De Bernieres has included the stereotypical character of an Italian who is Corelli in this case as this allows a reader to maybe relate more to a fictional character. De Bernieres is not biased on his view of an Italian, and so he shows the good and bad stereotypes of an Italian through the character of Corelli. With these characteristics, a reader can agree more with their actions which makes the novel more interesting for the reader.