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
That week, the Thursday evening guests stay especially long. They enjoy the weekly gatherings so much that they get lost in conversation, despite the fact that they always repeat the same stories. Tonight, though, both Laurent and Thérèse are particularly eager for them to leave, and Madame Raquin can sense that something is going to happen. When the guests finally depart, the former lovers sit down and wait to go to bed. Usually, Thérèse makes them sugared water before bed, but Laurent offers to do it this time. As he slips the poison into Thérèse’s drink, she bends down to grab the knife—but then they look at each other and freeze, each one seeing what the other has in store.
As always, the Thursday evening guests are completely unaware of what’s going on in the Raquin household, despite the fact that two of them are trained in policework. Once again, then, readers are reminded of just how oblivious and naïve Camille’s friends really are—despite their supposedly respectable stations in life, they’re utterly ignorant, indicating that things like social status are poor reflections of a person’s true nature. The only person who can sense that something is amiss is Madame Raquin, who seems to know that Thérèse and Laurent’s horrible crime is bound to take a staggering toll on their lives, apparently understanding that immoral behavior has grave consequences.
Themes
Madame Raquin watches Laurent and Thérèse as they look at each other with “pity and horror.” And then the spouses both break into tears and embrace each other. They weep together, crying for the terrible existence they’ve led. Looking at each other one last time, they feel grateful to one another for finally bringing some kind of relief. Thérèse takes the glass of poison from Laurent, drinks half, and then hands it back to him. He drinks the other half. Having swallowed the poison, they collapse on each other, Thérèse’s mouth coming to rest on Laurent’s neck, right on top of Camille’s bitemark. For the rest of the night, Madame Raquin stares at their corpses with smoldering but triumphant hatred.
In the last moment of their lives, Thérèse and Laurent share a certain tenderness that has been missing from their relationship ever since they murdered Camille. Although they resent each other, they also recognize in this final scene that they’re inextricably bound to one another—and this, at least, is a small comfort. By dying together, they will finally succeed in putting Camille’s death behind them, not having to worry anymore about how their actions will haunt them. In a way, then, they reignite their passion and love right at the end of their lives.
Themes
