Its ironic how Carlo (sort of an outsider of the family)hits connie but in part 2 Mike hits Kay. I think it shows how low mike has gone.

What do you guys think?

Good point. Not to defend Mike or hitting women in general, which is what a man should NEVER do, there is a difference in Carlo's beating Connie and Mike hitting Kay. It appears that Carlo did it on a regular basis, while Mike rarely and quite possibly that was the only time he lost control.

I agree. I don't condone what he did but Kay was kind of asking for it.

What it shows is how Mike had put his Mafia life ahead of his family's life. He hit her after she attacked his Mafia way of life.

I didn't see it that way. I thought he hit her because of her having an abortion of a male child. Male children are more desired by the old line Italian men then females.

I think elements of both triggered Michael's violence. Certainly Kay's abortion deprived him of another male heir, and trhat was the main reason. But Kay specifically said she did it because "...this Sicilian thing...must end." That's a direct criticism of Michael's chosen way of life, and by her own words is inseparable from her decision to abort the child.

I like the insight of the originator of this thread. The responses are all accurate, but it does indeed show that Michael was nothing more, as Kay would later say, than a "common mafia hood."