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
Thérèse worries that Madame Raquin will find a way to reveal what she has learned to the people at the Thursday gathering, but Laurent mocks her. Madame Raquin, after all, is unable to speak or move. And yet, she manages to gain control of her hand during a game of dominoes one night. Everyone stares at her in utter astonishment as she traces letters on the table. But Grivet, who vainly thinks he’s adept at discerning what she wants, keeps interrupting her, so she has to start over.
The implication in this scene is that Madame Raquin is so distraught that she’s able to force herself out of a state of paralysis—a somewhat farfetched idea, though it illustrates just how motivated she is to take revenge on her son’s killers. The fact that Grivet keeps interrupting her is in perfect alignment with his idiotic vanity, serving as a reminder that Camille admired truly imbecilic, oblivious people.
Themes
Madame Raquin eventually manages to spell out “Thérèse and Laurent have…” But because she has run out of energy, she can go no further. Vexed that he was unable to guess what she was going to say, Grivet tries again, claiming it’s obvious that she meant to say: “Thérèse and Laurent have taken good care of me.” Everyone agrees.
Once again, everyone sees Laurent and Thérèse as a perfect couple who have set aside their own interests in order to devote themselves to the task of caring for the elderly Madame Raquin. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth, but only Thérèse and Laurent know as much. In a way, it’s arguable that the discrepancy between their utter misery and the way everyone celebrates them must be somewhat intolerable, since both Thérèse and Laurent surely know they don’t deserve such praise.
Themes
