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Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
War: Horror, Beauty, and Humanity
Power, Reality, and Absurdity
History and Storytelling
Politics and Friendship
Family, Opportunity, and Gender Dynamics
Summary
Analysis
Metaxas slumps in his chair and wonders what he's going to do about Mussolini and his daughter Lulu. He writes about Lulu in his journal and thinks that he's not even sure what exactly she's up to. He knows she doesn't publically support his policies and he's glad he brought the press to heel so they stop printing stories about her. Metaxas thinks it's a shame that he controls Greece but cannot control his daughter.
Metaxas notes that he's controlling the press when it comes to Lulu; this suggests that at least in some ways, he's much like Mussolini. This also shows that leaders with absurd amounts of power and the ability to control reality exist the world over, not just in Germany and Italy.
Themes
Metaxas feels momentarily like a prisoner in his own country. He wishes he'd retired early so he could die blamelessly. Metaxas thinks often about dying, as he knows he's not going to live much longer. He remembers an uprising that resulted in his persuading the king to suspend the constitution to thwart the communists, then name him Prime Minister. He tells himself that he had to do it, and wonders if he'll be remembered as an absurd ruler.
It's telling that Metaxas wonders if he'll be remembered as absurd, as this shows that he's far more self-aware than Mussolini is. In turn, this implies that while Metaxas may exhibit signs of a dictator, he's possibly not as horrendous as many of the other dictators in the novel.
Themes
The narrator notes that Metaxas is too caught up in romanticizing his role. Metaxas thinks of himself as a doctor, forcing Greece unwillingly in a direction that it will one day thank him for, but the narrator says that Metaxas is also vain and hungry for power. Metaxas wonders why his fascist international peers mock him, since he created a fascist regime in Greece that mimics Hitler's in Germany. He wonders why Mussolini is fabricating border incidents. He thinks that the only difference between him and the others is that he's not racist and he only wants to unify Greece, not conquer the world. Metaxas vows to not let Greece become part of someone else's empire.
It's worth noting that regardless of what Metaxas says here about his fascist regime, there's little evidence to support his claim that his mimics Hitler's. There's no mention from the Greek characters that people are being taken away and fear for their lives--there's been little mention of the war at all. With this, it shows that Metaxas likely just thinks more highly of himself than he should, which reinforces the narrator's point that he's vain and power hungry.
Themes
