Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

by

Louis De Bernières

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Captain Corelli’s Mandolin makes teaching easy.

Carlo Piero Guercio Character Analysis

Carlo is a huge and secretly gay man in the Italian army. He joins because he reads writing by Plato that suggests lovers make he best soldiers, and Carlo believes he'll be able to find someone to love in the army. This proves correct and Carlo falls in love with a married man named Francisco. He believes his love for Francisco makes him a better soldier and for a time, it makes Carlo feel better about being in the army in the first place. He admits that he doesn't believe in fascism and is uneasy about rebuilding the Roman Empire, but his disillusionment becomes complete when Colonel Rivolta sends him on a secret mission. Carlo and Francisco discover that they weren't supposed to survive the mission, which was intended to frame the Greeks for "border incidents." Not long after, Carlo's division is sent to invade Greece in the winter. Carlo comes to hate his uniform, which abrades his body, cuts off circulation, and can't keep him warm, and he watches Francisco become gradually madder. Carlo gets to the point where he believes that Greece should win if it will stop the carnage. When Francisco allows himself to be shot, Carlo brings him back to the trench and holds him until he dies. He then shoots himself in the thigh to get himself out of Greece. Months later, Carlo joins Corelli's division in Cephalonia. Though he arrives disillusioned and grieving, he soon falls in love with Corelli. Especially once Corelli "drafts" Carlo into the singing group La Scala, life begins to look up for Carlo. He collaborates with the local man Kokolios to print an anti-Mussolini pamphlet that they distribute across the island and is thrilled about his work. As it becomes clear that the Italians will lose the war, Carlo records his story and leaves a letter for Corelli with Pelagia and Dr. Iannis. When the division is executed by firing squad, Carlo places himself in front of Corelli in a final act of love. Velisarios buries Carlo under the olive tree in Dr. Iannis's courtyard.

Carlo Piero Guercio Quotes in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

The Captain Corelli’s Mandolin quotes below are all either spoken by Carlo Piero Guercio or refer to Carlo Piero Guercio. 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:
War: Horror, Beauty, and Humanity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

We were new and beautiful, we loved each other more than brothers, that's for sure. What spoiled it always was that none of us knew why we were in Albania, none of us had an easy conscience about this rebuilding of the Roman Empire.

Related Characters: Carlo Piero Guercio (speaker), Francisco, Mussolini
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:

I know that the Duce has made it clear that the Greek campaign was a resounding victory for Italy. But he was not there. He does not know what happened. He does not know that the ultimate truth is that history ought to consist only of the anecdotes of the little people who are caught up in it.

Related Characters: Carlo Piero Guercio (speaker), Francisco, Mussolini
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

(We lost the war and were saved only when the Germans invaded from Bulgaria and opened a second front that the Greeks had no resources to defend. We fought and froze and died for the sake of an empire that has no purpose...)

Related Characters: Carlo Piero Guercio (speaker), Francisco, Mussolini
Page Number: 127
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

Weber was still a virgin, his father was a Lutheran pastor, and he had grown up in the Austrian mountains, capable of hating Jews and gypsies only because he had never met one.

Related Characters: Captain Antonio Corelli (speaker), Carlo Piero Guercio (speaker), Günter Weber
Page Number: 201
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 35 Quotes

We have lost one-third of our merchant marine because He forgot to order them home before declaring war, we have been persuaded that halving the size of a division means that we have double the number of divisions, we have been made to invade Greece from the north in the rainy season, without winter clothing...All of our Albanian soldiers immediately deserted, and we only know what is happening to us by listening to the BBC.

Related Characters: Carlo Piero Guercio, Mussolini , Kokolios
Page Number: 227
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

"I should have brought her up stupid," said the doctor at last. "When women acquire powers of deduction there's no knowing where trouble can end."

Related Characters: Dr. Iannis (speaker), Pelagia, Carlo Piero Guercio
Page Number: 236
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 43 Quotes

No one could recognize anybody else, and Italian and Greek peered into one another's faces, denationalized by coughing, by grime, and by mutual amazement.

Related Characters: Pelagia, Captain Antonio Corelli, Carlo Piero Guercio, Lemoni
Related Symbols: The Mine
Page Number: 260
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 48 Quotes

"I don't have your advantages, Günter."

"Advantages?"

"Yes. I don't have the advantage of thinking that other races are inferior to mine. I don't feel entitled, that's all."

Related Characters: Captain Antonio Corelli (speaker), Günter Weber (speaker), Pelagia, Carlo Piero Guercio
Page Number: 285
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 54 Quotes

"I wish that you will have children together, and I wish that once or twice you will tell them about their Uncle Carlo that they never saw."

Related Characters: Carlo Piero Guercio (speaker), Pelagia, Captain Antonio Corelli
Page Number: 313
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 58 Quotes

He did not know it, but he buried Carlo in the soil of Odysseus' time, as though he had belonged there from the first.

Related Characters: Carlo Piero Guercio (speaker), Megalo Velisarios (speaker)
Page Number: 337
Explanation and Analysis:
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Carlo Piero Guercio Quotes in Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

The Captain Corelli’s Mandolin quotes below are all either spoken by Carlo Piero Guercio or refer to Carlo Piero Guercio. 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:
War: Horror, Beauty, and Humanity Theme Icon
).
Chapter 6 Quotes

We were new and beautiful, we loved each other more than brothers, that's for sure. What spoiled it always was that none of us knew why we were in Albania, none of us had an easy conscience about this rebuilding of the Roman Empire.

Related Characters: Carlo Piero Guercio (speaker), Francisco, Mussolini
Page Number: 32
Explanation and Analysis:

I know that the Duce has made it clear that the Greek campaign was a resounding victory for Italy. But he was not there. He does not know what happened. He does not know that the ultimate truth is that history ought to consist only of the anecdotes of the little people who are caught up in it.

Related Characters: Carlo Piero Guercio (speaker), Francisco, Mussolini
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

(We lost the war and were saved only when the Germans invaded from Bulgaria and opened a second front that the Greeks had no resources to defend. We fought and froze and died for the sake of an empire that has no purpose...)

Related Characters: Carlo Piero Guercio (speaker), Francisco, Mussolini
Page Number: 127
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

Weber was still a virgin, his father was a Lutheran pastor, and he had grown up in the Austrian mountains, capable of hating Jews and gypsies only because he had never met one.

Related Characters: Captain Antonio Corelli (speaker), Carlo Piero Guercio (speaker), Günter Weber
Page Number: 201
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 35 Quotes

We have lost one-third of our merchant marine because He forgot to order them home before declaring war, we have been persuaded that halving the size of a division means that we have double the number of divisions, we have been made to invade Greece from the north in the rainy season, without winter clothing...All of our Albanian soldiers immediately deserted, and we only know what is happening to us by listening to the BBC.

Related Characters: Carlo Piero Guercio, Mussolini , Kokolios
Page Number: 227
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 37 Quotes

"I should have brought her up stupid," said the doctor at last. "When women acquire powers of deduction there's no knowing where trouble can end."

Related Characters: Dr. Iannis (speaker), Pelagia, Carlo Piero Guercio
Page Number: 236
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 43 Quotes

No one could recognize anybody else, and Italian and Greek peered into one another's faces, denationalized by coughing, by grime, and by mutual amazement.

Related Characters: Pelagia, Captain Antonio Corelli, Carlo Piero Guercio, Lemoni
Related Symbols: The Mine
Page Number: 260
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 48 Quotes

"I don't have your advantages, Günter."

"Advantages?"

"Yes. I don't have the advantage of thinking that other races are inferior to mine. I don't feel entitled, that's all."

Related Characters: Captain Antonio Corelli (speaker), Günter Weber (speaker), Pelagia, Carlo Piero Guercio
Page Number: 285
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 54 Quotes

"I wish that you will have children together, and I wish that once or twice you will tell them about their Uncle Carlo that they never saw."

Related Characters: Carlo Piero Guercio (speaker), Pelagia, Captain Antonio Corelli
Page Number: 313
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 58 Quotes

He did not know it, but he buried Carlo in the soil of Odysseus' time, as though he had belonged there from the first.

Related Characters: Carlo Piero Guercio (speaker), Megalo Velisarios (speaker)
Page Number: 337
Explanation and Analysis: