Thérèse Raquin

Madame Raquin—the old woman who sits next to Thérèse each day in the shop—used to run a haberdashery just outside Paris for 25 years. After the death of her husband, she sold the business and used the money to create a pleasant life of relative solitude with her son, Camille, and her niece, Thérèse. They all lived together in a house situated on the banks of the Seine. Camille was already 20, but Madame Raquin still treated him like a child—he had been sick throughout his childhood, so she was used to constantly pampering him. He had turned into a weak young man, but his vulnerability just made his mother love him all the more.

When Camille turned 18, he felt bored and stifled by his mother’s overbearing attention. Prone to a certain restlessness, he sought out a job, working for a local cloth merchant and earning a small monthly wage. Madame Raquin didn’t like him leaving the house for work, but he enjoyed it: working gave him “infinite pleasure” and a certain “vacant feeling” that he cherished. Although he saw himself as a loving person who greatly appreciated other people, the truth was that he only cared about himself and was focused solely on doing whatever would bring him the most satisfaction in life.

When Camille wasn’t working, he would go down to the Seine with his cousin, Thérèse, who was the same age as him. Madame Raquin’s brother had brought Thérèse to her when Thérèse was only two—he had just gotten back from Algeria, where he had impregnated a woman who later died, leaving him with Thérèse. Madame Raquin happily took her in, raising her alongside Camille. In fact, the two children shared the same bed, meaning that Thérèse spent the majority of her first 18 years lying next to a feverish, sickly boy and helping Madame Raquin care for him.

The lifestyle Thérèse was forced to lead alongside Camille caused her to adopt a withdrawn, reserved attitude. But whenever she made a quick movement, it was evident that she was full of energy and power. She was often told to be still and quiet, but there was a passion smoldering inside her. Still, she and Camille got along relatively well, and Madame Raquin took it for granted that they would one day get married. But there was nothing romantic between them. When they played together, Camille treated her like nothing more than a playmate. Once, when he caught her off guard by jokingly pushing her, she reared up like a “wild animal,” jumping on him and battering him to the ground with a glint in her eyes—Camille was terrified.

When they’re old enough, Madame Raquin arranges for Camille and Thérèse to get married. That night, instead of heading into her own bedroom, Thérèse goes into Camille’s. The next morning, Camille seems exactly the same: he still looks sickly and unwell. And Thérèse, for her part, still seems apathetic and still has the same “frighteningly calm expression” she always wears.