Thérèse Raquin

Camille comes home from the office one Thursday with a new coworker. He introduces him to Madame Raquin, explaining with glee that the man is Laurent, a young boy he used to play with growing up. Both Madame Raquin and Camille are delighted by this coincidence, finding it astounding that it took so long for Camille and Laurent to recognize each other at work, which Camille interprets as an indication of just how impressively large and “important” the company is. Camille also marvels at the fact that Laurent already earns 1,500 francs per month.

Singing Laurent’s praises, Camille adds that his old friend went to law school and that he knows how to paint. As Laurent settles in after accepting an offer to stay for dinner, Thérèse studies him and is struck by his appearance. He is the first “real man” she has ever seen. He’s large and strong, with a powerful air about him and enormous hands. As Thérèse looks at him, a tremble rolls through her entire body. When Camille asks if Laurent knows Thérèse, he looks directly at her and says that he recognized her immediately. They lock eyes with such intensity that Thérèse almost feels ill.

Over dinner, Camille asks how Laurent’s father—a farmer in their hometown—is doing. Laurent says he doesn’t know: they had a falling out five years ago. Because Laurent’s father is constantly getting into disputes with his neighbors, he sent Laurent to law school in the hopes that his son would be able to represent him in court free of charge. But Laurent hated law school. He pretended to attend class for the first two years, but only so that he could take the money his father sent him. Meanwhile, he lived in a studio with a painter and took up painting himself. He liked it, thinking it was easy and enjoyable. But what he really liked was lounging around all day and smoking. But then his father found out he wasn’t attending school and cut him off.

Laurent’s father told him he could come home and work on the farm, but he refused. Instead, he tried to support himself by selling paintings, but he found it wasn’t easy to make money this way. He therefore looked for a job, which is why he now works at the Orleans Railway, biding his time until his father dies and leaves him with an inheritance, at which point he’ll quit his job so he can live “the idle life.” Laurent is straightforward about what he wants, telling the Raquins his story without the slightest hint of emotion. He is, in short, “lazy” and is hungry for “long-lasting pleasures.” 

The life Laurent led in school instilled in him an appetite for ease and enjoyment. He doesn’t care about art, so it was easy to give it up—he isn’t very good, anyway. What he really misses these days is the company of the women who used to model for him. They were always willing, for a small fee, to satisfy his sexual cravings. When Laurent talks about the women who used to model, Camille becomes boyish and immature, saying that Laurent must have been embarrassed when the models undressed. But Laurent disagrees, describing how fun it was to see them naked. He talks about one model’s breasts in particular and then suddenly stops, looks up, and makes direct eye contact with Thérèse.

Entertained by the difference between Thérèse’s and Camille’s reactions to his stories about naked women, Laurent says he’d like to paint Camille’s portrait. Camille is overjoyed and accepts, and they make plans for Laurent to come by after work in the evenings. Then Grivet, Michaud, Olivier, and Suzanne arrive for the weekly game of dominoes, and though they’re hesitant to embrace Laurent, he eventually charms them into liking him. That night, Thérèse doesn’t make excuses to leave the table, instead basking in Laurent’s magnetic presence.