Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Thérèse Raquin, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Passion and Pleasure
Consequences and Delusion
Dependency and Resentment
Money, Greed, and Class
Summary
Analysis
Every once in a while, Camille takes Thérèse on an excursion to Saint-Ouen on the outskirts of Paris. Madame Raquin is always very nervous about them setting out for such journeys, but Camille disregards her. On one Sunday in autumn, he decides to go to Saint-Ouen with Thérèse and Laurent. They make the long trek and, having eaten lunch, find a nice clearing to have a short rest before going on a longer walk in the country before dinner. For a while, Camille blabbers on while Laurent secretly admires Thérèse, whom he thinks has fallen asleep. When Camille nods off, Laurent kisses Thérèse’s ankle, which is lying right next to his head, and suddenly he feels filled with passion. He stands and sees that Thérèse isn’t actually sleeping—she’s staring straight up into the sky.
Even in mundane moments, Laurent and Thérèse’s passion for each other is capable of filling them with intense longing. The fact that Laurent kisses Thérèse’s ankle while they’re right next to Camille is especially illustrative of just how irresistible he finds her—so irresistible, it seems, that he’s willing to behave in reckless, ill-advised ways.
Themes
Overcome by his desire for Thérèse, Laurent goes over to Camille, who is sleeping with a silly look on his face. After a moment of consideration, Laurent raises his foot and lets it hover over Camille’s head, ready to crush in his friend’s skull. But Thérèse makes a muffled shriek and turns away as if to protect herself from the blood that would surely splatter if Laurent brought his foot down on Camille’s face. Unnerved, Laurent takes his foot away—it would be unwise, anyway, to kill Camille like this, since he’d surely get caught.
Laurent’s sudden rush of desire for Thérèse after he kisses her ankle ignites in him an urge to smash Camille’s face in that very instant. It’s obvious that killing Camille in this way would be extremely foolish, since it would leave blood all over his boot and also would be hard to frame as an accident. The fact that Laurent even considers doing such a thing is a testament to how overcome he is with desire, which ultimately makes it hard for him to think clearly.
Themes
Deep in thought, Laurent looks out over the Seine. Suddenly, he has an idea. When Camille wakes up, they go for a walk and make their way to a cheap restaurant that looks out over the river. It’s crowded, so Laurent suggests that they rent a boat while the restaurant roasts them some chicken. Camille is unsure—he’s afraid of water but doesn’t want to admit it, so he gives the excuse that Thérèse is too hungry to wait. But after Laurent gives Thérèse a meaningful look, she says that she can wait to eat, so Laurent selects a particularly narrow rowboat. As they’re all getting in, Laurent whispers to Thérèse that he’s going to throw Camille overboard when the time is right.
It becomes clear that Camille’s death is fast approaching, since Laurent has his mind set on killing him by throwing him into the Seine. Because he was able—at the last minute—to get ahold of himself before unwisely stomping Camille to death, Laurent has hatched a much better plan, as it will now be possible for him to frame Camille’s death as an accidental drowning. No longer in the immediate throes of desire, then, Laurent is able to think a little more levelheadedly—though not levelheadedly enough to decide against murdering Camille altogether.
Themes
Thérèse hesitates to get in the boat after Laurent whispers his plan. When Camille laughs and mocks her for being afraid, though, she feels a surge of resentment and makes up her mind, getting in the boat once and for all. As they push out, the sun is already going down and the trees throw shadows over the water. When they reach the middle of the Seine, they come upon a small corridor where there’s nobody in sight. Camille is lying down and dragging his hand in the water, and Laurent knows it’s time to act. He can hear a rowing team making their way upstream, but they aren’t visible yet, so he grabs Camille.
Although Thérèse eventually gets into the boat, her hesitation signals that she isn’t quite as sure as Laurent is about the idea of killing Camille. The novel will go on to explore how murdering Camille impacts Thérèse and Laurent’s relationship, so this hesitancy on her part is important—it suggests that she has more of a moral conscience when considering the plan. And yet, she ends up getting in the boat, essentially making an informed decision to kill Camille even after stopping to think about it—she is, then, nearly as culpable as Laurent in the plotting of Camille’s murder.
Themes
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At first, Camille thinks Laurent is joking around, so he laughs. But then he turns around and sees that Laurent’s face is twisted into a gruesome expression, so he frantically tries to scramble to his knees, yelling all the while for Thérèse’s help. Soon, though, he can’t yell quite as loudly because Laurent clutches his neck and squeezes. Just as Camille is about to run out of breath, Thérèse collapses into a heap on the floor of the boat, unable to keep watching. Laurent lifts Camille and prepares to toss him, but right before he does, Camille bites him in the neck, tearing out a chunk of flesh. Camille then falls into the water, and though he struggles fiercely, he can’t stay afloat.
At last, Laurent follows through with his plan to kill Camille. The struggle that takes place before he tosses Camille into the water is a striking scene, as Laurent’s crazed expression sheds light on his darkest characteristics. Suddenly, he goes from acting like Camille’s friend to acting like a senseless murderer. Until this point, the novel has almost invited readers to root for Laurent and Thérèse; after all, it’s not as if Camille is the most likable person. But now readers are forced to recognize the raw intensity of Laurent’s violent behavior, which emphases just how cruel and cold-hearted it is to murder another person— regardless of the circumstances.
Themes
Moments before the rowers coming upstream appear, Laurent capsizes the boat to make it look like they’ve had an accident. He times it perfectly, making it look like he saved Thérèse from drowning and was unable to do the same for Camille. This is the story he tells the rowers, who rush to their aid. He says Camille was joking around and dancing in the boat and ended up tipping it over, and though none of the rowers actually saw what happened, they all insist that they witnessed exactly what Laurent describes. When they reach land again, the rowers tell everyone that they saw Camille capsize the boat and Laurent bravely save Thérèse.
Laurent’s plan to make Camille’s death look like an accident succeeds because the rowers are so eager to be part of this scandal that they convince themselves that they saw what happened. In reality, though, Laurent has just manipulated their desire to be in on the local gossip. What’s more, he’s done so in a way that makes himself look like a hero instead of a murderer. So far, then, there are seemingly no consequences to his and Thérèse’s decision to kill Camille, at least not in terms of punishment.
Themes
Back at the restaurant, Thérèse wakes up from having fainted. She’s distraught and breaks into uncontrollable sobs, so the restaurant owners give her new clothes and a bed. Laurent, for his part, asks them to let her stay there while he returns to Paris to break the news to Madame Raquin. In reality, though, he wants to keep Thérèse away for a while because he’s afraid her nerves will get the better of her and cause her to confess. As such, he thinks it’s better if she has a little time to collect herself. As he makes his way back to Paris, the rowers sit down to eat the chicken that would have been Camille’s dinner.
Whereas Laurent is cool, calm, and collected, Thérèse is a bundle of nerves, perhaps because she hadn’t embraced the idea of killing Camille as much as Laurent had. And yet, she was equally excited by the idea when they first talked about killing Camille—it’s just that following through with the idea feels different, suggesting that it’s one thing to fantasize about committing a heinous and immoral act but another thing entirely to actually go through with it.
Themes
