Does any one see similarities between those two charachters. Ciccio is some ruthless Mafia Don that kills Vito's Dad and brother. Even though Vito's mother begs for mercy after her family insults the Don like they did, Ciccio is completely cold in forgiving them. Furthermore, Mike refuses his family's plea to forgive Fredo. At the end of Godfather 2, you see Ciccio very alone in his old age before Vito kills him. Mike as well pulls away from everyone else and is alone. Anyways, is Coppola trying to make this reference between these 2 characters? Subconsciously, does Mike become everything that persecutes his own father?

Good analogy. As you point out they both were cold in thier respective ways. The difference that I see though is that with Ciccio being the powerful Don that he was, had to kill Vito's brother, and had to try and kill Vito, to assure his own saftey. To make sure that no male from the Andolini family would be left to seek revenge on him. What you saw with a person like Don Ciccio is what you got.

With Michael, also being a powerful Don, he did not have to have his own brother killed to assure his own safety. There was never a threat of Fredo seeking revenge on him in the form of death or killing. Fredo had already taken his revenge on Mike, in his own way. Michael had his brother killed to show the others around him that he was not weak. With Michael, what you saw is not what you got with him. He was cunning. He made everyone in his blood family think that he had forgiven Fredo. He even mislead Fredo into thinking that everything was ok. And then he made an example out of Fredo so that anyone serving under him would know that the the penalty for betrayal would be death. He showed that he would kill anyone that even thought of betraying him, even if it was his own brother.

Yes, very similar characteristics as you've pointed out, but many differences also.


Don Cardi

Very interesting points, Rudik! But I go with Don Cardi, especially when he wrote:
"Michael had his brother killed to show the others around him that he was not weak. With Michael, what you saw is not what you got with him. He was cunning."
Exactly! Don Ciccio, from the little we saw of him, didn't seem cunning at all. Also, he seemed cowardly--when Sra. Andolini held the knife to his throat, he looked good and scared.

I think, TB and DC, that Michael eliminated Fredo for another reason as well.

Yes, I would agree that "Michael had his brother killed to show the others around him that he was not weak."

But I believe that he still may have perceived Fredo as a threat.

While Fredo's killing is not part of the novel, there is a scene at the end of the book when Tom goes to New Hampshire to bring Kay and the children back.

Although he is talking about Carlo, Tom is presumably echoing Michael's thoughts when he tells Kay

.....treachery can't be forgiven. Michael could have forgiven it, but people never forgive themselves and so they would always be dangerous

I'm not sure if that statement makes any sense or not, but I believe it reflects Michael's thinking.

That's one of my favorite scenes, PL. When Kay asks Tom why Carlo couldn't be forgiven, Tom replies, "In this world you could." I think it conveys Tom's wistfulness for a different world.