The love interest of Sophie, the director’s daughter. Teplov is only described through the letters of Medji and Fidèle, so it unclear whether his existence is real, or only part of Poprishchin’s hallucinations. Teplov is of a higher class than Poprishchin, which infuriates him, as it reinforces his belief that only the rich get rewarded in society.
Teplov Quotes in The Diary of a Madman
The The Diary of a Madman quotes below are all either spoken by Teplov or refer to Teplov . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Vintage edition of The Diary of a Madman published in 1999.
December 3
Quotes
So what if he’s a kammerjunker. It’s nothing more than a dignity; it’s not anything visible that you can take in your hands. Several times already I’ve tried to figure out where all these differences come from. What makes me a titular councillor, and why on earth am I a titular councillor? […] Maybe I myself don’t know who I am.
Related Characters:
Aksenty Ivanovich Poprishchin (speaker), Medji and Fidèle, Teplov
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Teplov Character Timeline in The Diary of a Madman
The timeline below shows where the character Teplov appears in The Diary of a Madman. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
November 13
Medji begins to talk about Sophie and describes a scene in which a man named Teplov shows up at Sophie’s home. Sophie calls for him to be let in, and rapturously...
(full context)
Medji then jokes that if Sophie likes Teplov, she might soon like the clerk who sits in the director’s study. Medji makes fun...
(full context)
Medji goes on to write that Sophie loves Teplov “to distraction,” which makes her father, the director, very “happy.” Medji comments that the director...
(full context)
December 3
Poprishchin does not want to believe that Sophie will marry Teplov. He begins to rant about how Teplov cannot be that much better than anyone else....
(full context)