Major Characters
Corelli
Given the title of the novel, Antonio Corelli must be treated as the main character, although he is not mentioned until ch.23. He arrives with his mandolin and is inseperable from it before it actually becomes a physical part of him. His love for Pelagia can be seen as an extension of his love for his instrument; when he finally returns he finds the mandolin first, which leads him to the woman. His character is revealed in his love of singing, which represents his love of life, his sensitivity and how unsuited he is to being a soldier. Another important aspect of his character, and manifestation of his humanity, is his love of children and animals. His enjoyment of Psipsina and playfulness with Lemoni, and the affection he earns from both of them, are early indications of his tolerance and good nature. His naivety about war and politics, his humour, exhuberance, impulsiveness and liking for jokes all give him an aura of childlike innocence. He is a Romeo with piles, and therefore a real human creation rather than a conventional romantic hero, despite the fact that the Italian soldier with a mandolin was a stereotype in the interwar period. His creativity as a composer and the pleasure he provides as a musician are in direct and ironic contrast to the destructiveness of the war and the cynicism and philistinism of the ‘great men’, the leaders and decision-makers. Corelli plays the role of the little man with a big heart and gigantic courage, those who make a different kind of history, the one which really counts: the history of humanity. He chooses to be a lion, not a sheep; he ‘remained a man of honour because he knew no other way to be’ (p.191). ‘Why not smile in the face of death’, he asks (p.396), quoting the epigraph poem by Humbert Wolfe. He acknowledges the debt to someone who has made the supreme sacrifice, as shown by his annual pilgrimage to Carlo’s grave. he can summon up ‘intimations of Eden’ (p.440).
Pelagia
A beautiful Greek maiden, virgin, fairytale motherless child and romantic heroine with rival suitors, Pelagia is a victim of the times. She represents Cephallonia and Greece; she always smells of rosemary, which symbolises remembrance and fidelity in love. She is Drosoula’s surrogate daughter and a reminder of his wife to Dr Iannis. She is a symbol of the ageing and suffering process, a repository of memories, an inspirer of music and a would-be Italian. She insists on putting the personal before the political and is ‘too clever to be a humble wife’. She takes on her father’s roles of writer and healer. Her sewing makes her an artist, and her art saves her lover’s life.
Dr Iannis
Dr Iannis is a saint, a saviour, a healer, a writer and a humanist (‘You shouldn’t trust to God for anything. These things are ours to ensure.’ (p.65)). Tolerant, with a sense of humour, he holds modern views on women and is a devoted father and grandfather. ‘he thinks that he is a Socrates who can fly in the face of the custom’ (p.129); he is a martyr to the liberal cause. He understands love and history, and is a wise village patriarch whilst also being unconventional. He enjoys an argument and the loss of his voice is a symbol of free speech stamped out by oppression. His memory is overburdened with the horror of the darkness of war and the barbarianism of his fellow countrymen, but he remains an altruist to the end, never sacrifices his principles and after his death is mythologised.
Mandras
The novel presents Mandras as a Greek god, an Adonis/Poseidon figure, a fisherman and a disciple. He is a dolphin lover and an Odysseus-like traveller. He is illiterate and an unworthy suitor for Pelagia; he is by nature a soldier, not a lover. He becomes a communist by accident, and becomes the victim of indoctrination and ignorance, representing the damage done by extreme politics. He has an ‘adamantine’ soul but suffers terribly in the ice. Mandras is a rejected son, a naive youth who went astray and lost touch with personal values. A would-be rapist of Pelagia and Greece, and an actual murderer, he redeems his life by his death. He represents the two-sided nature of Greeks and is associated with the dictators Mussolini and Metaxas (ch.13). He is the reverse of a fairytale prince in that he turned into a ‘toad’; he ‘lost his soul’ to history and war. He became ‘a shabby caricature of the man who had replaced him’ (p.447) and a tarnished hero destined for the void (p.451). He is associated with symmetry, ‘a property of dead things’ (p.215). Though linked to Christ, he is a follower and not a leader, searching for an object of worship.
