Gjorg Berisha
Gjorg Berisha is the protagonist of Broken April. Despite his central role in the novel, not much information about him is provided. It is revealed that he is 26 years old and that he had been engaged to a young woman “who lived in a distant Banner and whom he had never seen” who died a year before the events of the novel take place (20). Gjorg lives with his parents in the fictional town of Brezftoht, in the High Plateau of northern Albania. For seventy years, the Berisha family has been involved in a blood feud with the Kryeqyqe family. After Gjorg’s brother, Mehill, is killed by a Kryeqyqe, Gjorg is forced to avenge his death according to the laws of the Kanun. Before the present of the novel, Gjorg had attempted, and failed, to kill Zef Kryeqyqe and was thus forced to pay a large fine. At the beginning of the novel, however, Gjorg is successful in killing Zef. For the remainder of the novel, Gjorg waits until his bessa, or “truce,” with the Kryeqyqe family expires, at which time he will likely be killed. As he wanders the High Plateau, he comes across Diana and Bessian on their honeymoon, and he falls in love with Diana. On the day his bessa expires, he is killed while trying to find Diana.
Gjorg is a tragic protagonist. He questions the purpose of the blood feud and feels that “he could not hate the man he was supposed to kill” (45). Still, he feels bound by family and cultural obligation to seek vengeance against the Kryeqyqe family, even though he knows it will likely lead to his death. Indeed, Gjorg’s death is foreshadowed heavily throughout the novel. In this way, Gjorg is bound to an inescapable fate–a fact which he himself realizes. For this reason, Bessian and Diana compare him to the titular protagonist of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Like Hamlet, Gjorg is tasked with avenging the death of a family member, an obligation both characters contemplate with grave seriousness. Like Hamlet, Gjorg is killed by the end of the work. By creating a character as sympathetic and honorable as Gjorg, Kadaré is effectively able to demonstrate the devastating effects of the blood feuds.
Diana Vorpsi
Diana is the young wife of Bessian Vorpsi. She lives in the high society of Tirana, and has traveled to the High Plateau to spend her honeymoon with Bessian. She is described as having “light chestnut hair” and her beautiful eyes are noticed by all who see her (65).
Upon her arrival into the High Plateau, Diana is unsure–and even frightened–of the cultural practices of the region. She struggles to understand her husband’s enthusiasm for the region, and comes to resent him for bringing her on the trip. Slowly, however, her attitude begins to change, as she grows enamored with the traditional way of life in the region. After seeing Gjorg outside of an inn, she finds herself unable to stop thinking about him. Bessian notices that she is occupied with thoughts about Gjorg, and he grows frustrated. Diana desperately wants the opportunity to see Gjorg again, and, when Bessian and Diana visit a local village, she breaks Kanun law to run into a tower of refuge in the hopes of finding him. They then leave the High Plateau region with their marriage in shambles, and with Diana mourning the fact that she will never see Gjorg again.
Bessian Vorpsi
Bessian is the husband of Diana. In Tirana, he is renowned as a writer who had previously written “half-tragic, half-philosophical sketches about the North” (64). He holds romantic, idealized notions of the culture of the High Plateau, which he regards as a “part-imaginary, part-epic world” (64). As they travel through the region, he describes the local customs and cultural practices to Diana, “though his delivery scarcely allowed for any responses on his part” (81). At times, it is clear that he does not quite know what he is talking about, and the reader is prompted to feel embarrassed by his pompous attitude.
Kadaré also guides the readers to be suspicious of Bessian’s motives for coming to the High Plateau. For example, when he explains the centrality of the figure of the guest in the Kanun, he says that “any ordinary man, on any day, can be raised to the lofty station of a guest. The path to that temporary deification is open to anybody at any time” (82). Bessian also suggests that becoming a guest allows one “an escape from everyday life into some divine reality” (82). In this sense, Bessian wants the power that comes from being a guest more than an authentic experience with the people of the region.
In the end, Bessian’s plans for the trip to the High Plateau have entirely backfired. In addition to Diana falling in love with Gjorg, Bessian is severely chastised by the doctor who accuses him of being complicit in the violence of the blood feuds, saying “you help death, you look for exalted themes, you look here for beauty so as to feed your art” (195). Thus, by the time that Diana and Bessian leave the High Plateau, Bessian regrets going on the trip in the first place.
One might be tempted to see Kadaré himself in the character of Bessian. Like Bessian, Kadaré is an outsider writing about the Kanun and the culture of the High Plateau. Fortunately, Kadaré takes a far less idealized approach to these subjects. Here, Kadaré may be seen to use the character of Bessian to acknowledge–and offset–the criticism that might be directed towards him for writing about a culture that is not his own.
Mark Ukacierra
Known as the “steward of the blood,” Mark Uckacierra is tasked with facilitating the blood feuds in the High Plateau, and collecting the taxes that are paid after each killing. He is described as being feared by all those around him, including his cousin, the Prince. In the fourth chapter, which focuses on Mark, Kadaré accentuates the vileness of his character. He is angry and seems to despise the people around him, including Diana and Bessian who are staying at the Prince’s castle. During the novel, Mark is agitated because “the code, and especially the blood feud, had shown signs of weakening recently” and he worries that the Prince wants to replace him in his role as the blood steward (135). For Mark, the blood feuds are a little more than a way to earn money through blood taxes. Thus, while they ruin the lives of families across the High Plateau, Mark regards the feuds as “an ancient mill that worked day and night” (146).
Kadaré uses the heinous character of Mark to advance his critique of the blood feuds. In Kadaré’s opinion–made clear through Mark’s character–the Kanun and the blood feuds are a way of manipulating and controlling the local population.
Ali Binak
Ali Binak is renowned in the High Plateau for his “subtle interpretations of the Kanun,” which he uses to solve disputes in the region (113). He is described as being pale and short and that his “movements, his face, and especially his eyes suggested the calm of a man without illusions” (39). He is seen by Gjorg at the inn, and later by Diana and Bessian, who join him as he resolves a boundary dispute in an area known as Wolf’s Pass. Binak is highly admired by all those around him, and he projects a natural sense of authority to the extent that the local innkeeper is said to be “very proud of his guest” (108). After Ali solves a dispute involving the killing of a pregnant woman, a local villager declares that Ali “has pronounced judgment in a way that will go down in history” (188). In his prudence, rationality, and respect for the villagers and their disputes, Ali stands in stark contrast to Mark Ukacierra.
The Surveyor
The surveyor travels with Ali Binak in order to measure property lines in the case of a boundary dispute. He is described as a drunkard who resents the mountain people for solving boundary disputes “with stones, with curses, with witches and what not” instead of accurate measurements (107). When Diana sees the surveyor, she describes him as being “repulsive” (97).
The Doctor
The doctor travels with Ali Binak in order to resolve disputes according to Kanun law. In a conversation with Bessian near the end of the novel, the doctor reveals that he had studied surgery in Albania but had failed in his profession before joining Ali Binak’s team. Curiously, he does not treat wounds or heal people, but rather his job is to “count the wounds, classify them, and nothing else” in order to calculate the blood debts that are owed according to the Kanun (192). In the doctor’s opinion, the blood feuds are an economic interaction in which “blood has been transformed into merchandise” (194). When Bessian critiques the doctor for saying so, the doctor attacks Bessian for being “naive and cynical at the same time” (195).
Zef Kryeqyqe
Zef is the man killed by Gjorg in the blood feud between the Berisha and the Kryeqyqe families. Previously, Zef was shot by Gjorg in the jawbone but survived the attack.
Mehill
Mehill was Gjorg’s brother. He was killed a year and a half before the events of the novel in the blood feud between the Berishas and the Kryeqyqe, thus forcing Gjorg to seek vengeance.
Gjorg’s Fiancée
Early in the novel, it is revealed that Gjorg previously had a fiancée “who lived in a distant Banner and whom he had never seen,” however she died of an illness before they could marry (20). She is seldom mentioned in the novel, but Gjorg believes that “perhaps it was better for her that she had gone first to where he would soon overtake her, rather than to have before her a long life as a widow” (28).
Gjorg’s Father
Gjorg’s unnamed father appears several times in the novel, most often to pressure Gjorg to seek vengeance for Mehill’s death. Unlike Gjorg, his father feels an intense hatred for the Kryeqyqe family. When Gjorg shows reluctance to kill Zef, his father says, “‘Gjorg, you're putting it off… our honor, but yours especially…” (46). Although he is not a prominent character in the novel, Gjorg’s father epitomizes the kinds of family and cultural pressures placed upon Gjorg.
Gjorg's Mother
Gjorg's mother seldom appears in the novel, yet it is said that she has washed Mehill's bloodstained shirt after Gjorg kills Zef.
The Prince of Orosh
The Prince never appears directly in the novel, but he is nonetheless central to the plot. He is described as being “restrained in his speech” and, according to Bessian, he actually bears no relation to the Albanian royal family (134). Instead, his family has been granted powers under the Kanun for centuries, and has avoided attempts to “‘put the High Plateau under the authority of the national government’” (119). For unclear reasons, the Prince invited Bessian and Diana to visit him at his castle. While the Prince is not as extreme in his beliefs as Mark, he is also concerned that the rate of blood feud killings has been falling.
