David Caravaggio
Dublin Core
Title
David Caravaggio
Subject
David Caravaggio is a middle-aged thief who arrives at the villa. He has heard that Hana is living there with the patient, after the rest of the hospital has left. He knows Hana from before the war, was a friend of her fathers and saw her grow up. He has been working as a thief and collector of information during the war. He comes to the villa to see Hana, but he remains there and questions the English patient. Caravaggio has been scarred by the war, just like all the others. His thumbs have been cut off, after being caught by the enemy. He thinks to himself
“He had lived through a time of war when everything offered up to those around him was a lie. He had felt like a man in the darkness of a room imitating the calls of a bird. But here they were shedding skins. They could imitate nothing but what they were. There was no defence but to look for the truth in others” (Ondaatje 1454-1457).
Caravaggio realizes who the English Patient is, and names him as Laudilus de Almasy. The incoherent narrative that Almasy provides is better understood when Caravaggio arrives. Caravaggio questions the Almasy, but he already suspects who he is.
Hana at one point in the book writes, “There is a man named Caravaggio, a friend of my father’s. I have always loved him. He is older than I am, about forty-five, I think. He is in a time of darkness, has no confidence. For some reason I am cared for by this friend of my father” (Ondaatje 759-761).
Caravaggio tries to protect Hana from the English patient, tries to detach her from him. They reminisce about their past lives, but they also feel detached from it.
“Caravaggio sits there in silence, thoughts lost among the floating motes. War has unbalanced him and he can return to no other world as he is, wearing these false limbs that morphine promises. He is a man in middle age who has never become accustomed to families. All his life he has avoided permanent intimacy. Till this war he has been a better lover than husband. He has been a man who slips away, in the way lovers leave chaos, the way thieves leave reduced houses. He watches the man in the bed. He needs to know who this Englishman from the desert is, and reveal him for Hana’s sake.” (Ondaatje 1449-1454).
“He had lived through a time of war when everything offered up to those around him was a lie. He had felt like a man in the darkness of a room imitating the calls of a bird. But here they were shedding skins. They could imitate nothing but what they were. There was no defence but to look for the truth in others” (Ondaatje 1454-1457).
Caravaggio realizes who the English Patient is, and names him as Laudilus de Almasy. The incoherent narrative that Almasy provides is better understood when Caravaggio arrives. Caravaggio questions the Almasy, but he already suspects who he is.
Hana at one point in the book writes, “There is a man named Caravaggio, a friend of my father’s. I have always loved him. He is older than I am, about forty-five, I think. He is in a time of darkness, has no confidence. For some reason I am cared for by this friend of my father” (Ondaatje 759-761).
Caravaggio tries to protect Hana from the English patient, tries to detach her from him. They reminisce about their past lives, but they also feel detached from it.
“Caravaggio sits there in silence, thoughts lost among the floating motes. War has unbalanced him and he can return to no other world as he is, wearing these false limbs that morphine promises. He is a man in middle age who has never become accustomed to families. All his life he has avoided permanent intimacy. Till this war he has been a better lover than husband. He has been a man who slips away, in the way lovers leave chaos, the way thieves leave reduced houses. He watches the man in the bed. He needs to know who this Englishman from the desert is, and reveal him for Hana’s sake.” (Ondaatje 1449-1454).
Files
Citation
“David Caravaggio,” Digital History - Histoire Numérique, accessed September 19, 2024, http://omeka.uottawa.ca/jmccutcheon/items/show/246.