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Coupeau

Zinc roofer (zingueur)

Gervaise's husband in L'Assommoir. A decent, hard-working roofer when she marries him, Coupeau falls from a rooftop and never truly recovers — physically or morally. He slides into alcoholism and drags Gervaise with him. His death from delirium tremens in the Sainte-Anne asylum is one of Zola's most harrowing scenes.
Good-natured and broad-shouldered in his youth; later slack-faced and trembling, the alcohol consuming him visibly.

Family & Relationships

Appears In

The Dram Shop major

Details

Branch
Other
Generation
III