Tupolski- Alcoholism

Throughout the story, we are beginning to build a connection between Tupolski at the start and the discovery of his alcoholism. The end of the Three Gibbet Crossroads story is the second time that we have Tupolski stand to get a drink. He then uses it during the line-

“It tells me, on the surface I am saying this one thing, but underneath the surface I am saying this other thing.

By gesturing to the “surface” and the “underneath” using the vodka in his glass.

Later on in the play, Katurian tells the story of “The Tale of The Town on The River.” When he comes to the line “and his parents were Drunkards…” we decided to have Tupolski in the middle of taking a drink. This is a more obvious clue for the audience, but it can also tell us something about Tupolski as well. Despite his relaxed attitude so far, there are a few moments where he will react. The mention of “Drunkards” and his decision to stop drinking, shows how he is affected more by his fathers and his own alcoholism more than he chooses to let on.

This is possibly why he chooses to make a joke of it near the end of Act Three. He says

I’m sick of everyone using their shitty childhoods to justify their shitty behaviour. My dad was a violent alcoholic, am I a violent alcoholic? Yes I am, but that was my personal choice. I freely admit it.

This line perhaps digs a little deeper into Tupolski’s character than previous lines in the play. For one, he gives this information away despite his later claim that he doesn’t “go into this stuff with the condemned.” continue

Furthermore, because of Tupolski’s naturally manipulative behaviour you might assume that the whole statement is just something that he’s fabricated, as he does throughout the play. However, because of the moments we have previously built into the play I think it makes more sense that the line is genuine, although perhaps an example of his denial rather than the truth. One main thing I have gathered from Tupolski’s character is that he likes to be in control. You can see this through the way in which he leads each change in direction of the play and the sense of confusion when his theories prove to be wrong. I believe that this need for control stretches to every aspect of his life and is the reason why he jumps from one idea to the other, so that Katurian will not have time to think. In this way, Tupolski beliefs that there is nothing wrong with being an alcoholic, provided that he chose to be this way. However, for the audience, it is easy to draw a connection from his dads drinking to his own and suggest that perhaps Tupolski was influenced by the condition of his father in a way that he would never admit- in a way that would explain the reasons for his behaviours throughout the play.