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Symbols
The leopard is the heraldic symbol of the noble Salinas family and especially of its Prince, Don Fabrizio Corbèra. In the novel, the leopard more generally symbolizes the nobility’s unchallenged rule over the lower classes in pre-revolutionary Sicily. A leopard should be able to sweep away social and political changes “with a wave of his paw.” But as Italian society reorganizes, the Prince discovers that he cannot do this. He sometimes pictures himself as a leopard about to destroy an irritating lesser beast like a jackal (an animal that symbolizes the rising, new-moneyed class). But the Prince learns that predatory creatures like jackals and hyenas are destined to replace the reign of the noble, magnificent, and seemingly immovable animals like leopards and lions. The leopard is not as powerful or enduring as he had always believed, just as the nobility realizes that their position of power is fragile in the wake of the revolution. At the end of the novel, Concetta throws away the preserved coat of the Prince’s beloved dog, Bendicò, who briefly floats in a leopard-like shape before collapsing in a useless heap on the ground. This image indicates that the reign of Sicily’s “leopards,” and even their memory, is truly over.
Leopards Quotes in The Leopard
The The Leopard quotes below all refer to the symbol of Leopards. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1. Introduction to the Prince
Quotes
The divinities frescoed on the ceiling awoke […] the major gods and goddesses, the Princes among gods, thunderous Jove and frowning Mars and languid Venus, had already preceded the mob of minor deities and were amiably supporting the blue armorial shield of the Leopard. They knew that for the next twenty-three and a half hours they would be lords of the villa once again.
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Chapter 4. Love at Donnafugata
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Chevalley thought, “This state of things won’t last; our lively new modern administration will change it all.” The Prince was depressed: “All this shouldn’t last; but it will, always; the human ‘always,’ of course, a century, two centuries…and after that it will be different, but worse. We were the Leopards, the Lions; those who’ll take our place will be little jackals, hyenas; and the whole lot of us. Leopards, jackals, and sheep, we’ll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth.”
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Chapter 7. Death of a Prince
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It was useless to try to avoid the thought, but the last of the Salinas was really he himself, this gaunt giant now dying on a hotel balcony. For the significance of a noble family lies entirely in its traditions, that is in its vital memories; and he was the last to have any unusual memories, anything different from those of other families […] the meaning of his name would change more and more to empty pomp […] He had said that the Salinas would always remain the Salinas. He had been wrong. The last Salina was himself. That fellow Garibaldi […] had won after all.
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Chapter 8. Relics
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As the carcass was dragged off, the glass eyes stared at her with the humble reproach of things that are thrown away, that are being annulled. A few minutes later what remained of Bendicò was flung into a corner of the courtyard visited every day by the dustman. During the flight down from the window his form recomposed itself for an instant; in the air one could have seen dancing a quadruped with long whiskers, and its right foreleg seemed to be raised in imprecation. Then all found peace in a heap of livid dust.
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Get the entire The Leopard LitChart as a printable PDF.
Leopards Symbol Timeline in The Leopard
The timeline below shows where the symbol Leopards appears in The Leopard. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1. Introduction to the Prince
...the ceiling. Deities like Jove, Mars, and Venus hold up the armorial shield of the Leopard.
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Chapter 3. The Troubles of Don Fabrizio
...he hasn’t been able to resist it “with a wave of his paw” as a leopard should do.
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...care in dressing before he meets with Don Calogero, trying to imagine that he’s a leopard about to destroy a jackal. However, instead, he is irritated when he remembers a picture...
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Chapter 4. Love at Donnafugata
...him that day at the convent—he assumes that it was out of pride in the Leopard. Meanwhile, Concetta’s sisters, Carolina and Caterina, keep making eyes at Cavriaghi.
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...modern government will change all this. The Prince, however, believes all this will last. The “Leopards” and lions will be replaced by jackals and hyenas, and all will continue to think...
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Chapter 7. Death of a Prince
...at himself in the mirror: he looks withered and unkempt, with three days’ beard growth—“a Leopard in very bad trim.” He wonders why God never lets anyone die looking like oneself....
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Chapter 8. Relics
...is flung into a corner of the courtyard. Mid-air, it briefly looks like a whiskered leopard with one foreleg raised, as if cursing someone. Then it falls at last into a...
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