E.M. Foster once wrote: "I do not believe in Belief...Tolerance, good temper and sympathy- they are what matter really, and if the human race is not to collapse they must come to the front before long".

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E.M. Foster once wrote: “I do not believe in Belief…Tolerance, good temper and sympathy- they are what matter really, and if the human race is not to collapse they must come to the front before long”.

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin supports the view that ‘tolerance, good temper and sympathy are more important than ‘Belief’ in a cause or ideology’ to quite a certain extent, however personally I think that those feature and belief were mostly parallel to each other and very similar and combined at the same time. Many characters in the book reflect strong belief or more of a tolerant, sympathetic and good tempered nature, whilst also interception of both is illustrated where a few incidents may contain strong faith and those positive aspects as well. However at most times, the characters have a certain belief in love or political idea or music with helps them embrace their good qualities.

Characters like Dr Iannis are portrayed in an extremely positive light, however containing irony in itself, considering that he has no Belief as such in the religious category. According to the historical context in those times, in Greece people are portrayed as being comparatively more attached to religion than nowadays where many people are atheists. Therefore during that time Dr Iannis, being an atheist whilst also compiling good natured features expresses the ironic situation that those features are more important than Belief even during that time in a society where religion was an essential base of life. He is seen as a strong moral figure, with clear idea of what he is doing especially medically, where people would come to him for healing, and therefore he is a source of comfort for the villagers, with his good temper and sympathetic nature and patience. These characteristics formed situations where he would deal with everyone in a humble manner, such as the time when Pelagia would lose her temper and get emotional fits; he would resist her attitude and violent actions. This showed a lot of patience and understanding towards her. In the beginning of the novel when the Greek boat sinks, and many of the village men show grief, where Dr Iannis shows sympathy, and puts aside his lack of faith, and offers to go to Church with them. This shows that these qualities are more important than Belief like other characters in the book.

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Another instance where his sympathy and good temper is expressed, when the priest falls ill in the Church in a revolting manner, with bad smell, Dr Iannis comes up to help him, without any refraining of the hard situation, and therefore provides assistance to the drunk priest. This shows his good temper with even people who contradicted his own belief of no religion, and also expresses how much he is respected for all those features. The human race in that small village benefits from the good nature of Dr         Iannis rather than belief of anything.

When Dr Iannis saves ...

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