From ‘How like a woman is a mandolin…’ (Page 303, chapter 42) to ‘…there is our timpani.’ How is the theme of love developed in this section and how does this link to the development of the theme in the novel as a whole?
The theme of love is indeed an enigma in this novel. As the novel flows on, love is developing, but not necessarily on the right path. Our belief of love becoming a fully grown blossomed flower in this novel, takes setbacks every time we see an aspect of love.
Many modern day lovers see love as being attracted to the complete person. A person, who loves someone, either loves them because of their personality, or their ability to make them feel happy. This is a complete contrast to the theme of love in this novel. In this …show more content…

In the chapter they meet, the chapter ends with the presence of war looming, which re-assures the reader's belief that their relationship will be brief. They possess conflicting ideas and hopes and we are shown how different their personalities are. As previously mentioned, love in this novel has nothing to do with personality, as we know Pelagia fell in love with Mandras ‘Round bum’, and not Mandras himself. This proves the point of love of the looks, and to be more precise, love of the body parts. Mandras seems to feel he has adopted the role of a lover when he meets Pelagia. By engaging in childish behaviour, such as imitating Tarzan by swinging from a tree, in order to impress Pelagia causes Pelagia to state, "He's not a serious fellow", and eventually later on in the novel, Pelagia falls out of love with Mandras. This proves that love won’t develop in the novel, especially because it is love of the looks. Maybe this is preparing us for Corelli’s love for Pelagia and how their love won’t develop as it is love of the looks. However, the way Pelagia, and possibly the reader, perceived Mandras is not an accurate picture of who he really is, as we see him become a man, when we witness the state he comes back from war in, and then goes back to war again, but this time at sea.
As previously mentioned, love never does develop in this novel. There have been many opportunities for love to develop, especially with Pelagia, but love has never prevailed in the novel.