Captain Corelli’s Mandolin: Chapter 49 Summary & Analysis

As Dr. Iannis and Corelli try to figure out an appropriate substitute for a mandolin string, Dr. Iannis abruptly asks if Corelli is going to marry Pelagia. Corelli is taken aback. Dr. Iannis tells him that they'll need to go to Italy or America, though he insists that Pelagia will wither outside of Greece. Corelli says that he thinks things will be just fine with Pelagia; she's suggested to him that because Corelli is obsessed with music in the same way that Dr. Iannis is obsessed with medicine, she's already learned how to love someone like him and their nationalities are of no consequence.

Dr. Iannis is touched but insists Corelli doesn't understand. He goes on to explain that all Greeks have two Greeks inside of them. The first is called the Hellene and is reasonable, loves education, and obeys the law. The other is called the Romoi and seeks power, money, and self-interest. The only quality the two share is a love of country, though the Hellene will fight humanely against threats and the Romoi is more like Mussolini. Corelli insists he doesn't believe that Pelagia has this horrible other side. Dr. Iannis says that he's just saying that they'd need to live in Greece. He leaves the room and returns to say that Greece has experienced nothing but slaughter for millennia and it's teeming with ghosts. He cautions Corelli that there will be more and he shouldn't make plans.