The English Patient: Caravaggio In Michael Ondaatje's novel, The English Patient, Caravaggio remains an enigmatic character who greatly influences each of the other characters as well as their complex inter-relationships. His role as a Canadian-Italian thief has ultimately engulfed his life by lies: "He [has] lived through a time of war when everything [has] offered up to those around him [is] a lie. He [has] felt like a man in the darkness of a room imitating the calls of a bird … There was no defense by to look for the truth in others"(117). The existence of the anonymous English patient has therefore encouraged Caravaggio to see