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
Laurent lives in a tiny apartment and doesn’t have much money for food, so he starts coming to visit the Raquins quite frequently. He charms the family and gratefully accepts the tea and food Madame Raquin serves him. He also starts painting Camille’s portrait. His brushstrokes are uneven and halting, making Camille look garish and strange, but Madame Raquin and Camille remain quite excited about the entire process. As he paints, Thérèse sits quietly behind him, not saying a word. All the same, he can sense her intense interest in him.
Although it’s not hard to see that Laurent offers to paint Camille’s portrait just so he can spend more time around Thérèse, both Camille and Madame Raquin are utterly oblivious of his true intentions. They’re too wrapped up in the idea of Camille looking distinguished by having his portrait done to recognize that Laurent doesn’t really care about the painting—in fact, they can’t even see that Laurent is a bad painter, thus illustrating the extent to which they obsess over things like social status and respectability.
Themes
On his way home from painting Camille, Laurent contemplates starting a love affair with Thérèse. He can tell she desperately needs a lover because she’s so bored. And since he knows Camille couldn’t hurt him if he were to find out, he decides to act on his impulse to sleep with Thérèse. He certainly doesn’t love her, but he wants to satisfy his physical cravings. What’s more, if he started sleeping with Thérèse, then the entire Raquin family would bring him pleasure: Thérèse would fulfill his sexual desires, Madame Raquin would serve him food and drink, and Camille would offer some pleasant friendship in the evenings.
Laurent’s tendency to prioritize pleasure in life becomes quite glaring as he weighs whether or not to start an affair with Thérèse. What’s notable is that his decision-making process has nothing to do with morality—rather, he considers his options only insofar as they will benefit him. The only reason he would hold back, it seems, would be if he thought sleeping with Thérèse would somehow interfere with his ability to enjoy life. Because he doesn’t think anything bad could come of the affair, though, he has no problem deciding to go through with it.
Themes
Laurent finishes the portrait. It’s terrible and emphasizes Camille’s sickly qualities. But Madame Raquin and Camille love it, believing it has an “air of distinction.” Wanting to celebrate the completion of the painting, Camille goes to fetch some champagne. Meanwhile, Madame Raquin goes downstairs to the shop, leaving Laurent and Thérèse alone. They stare at each other for a moment of expectant hesitation, and then Laurent grabs Thérèse and kisses her. She instinctively tries to push him away, but then they lower themselves to the floor and passionately—but silently—embrace each other.
Again, Camille and Madame Raquin are too distracted by the idea of having a distinguished portrait of Camille to see that it’s a terrible painting that emphasizes his worst qualities. Thérèse, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to care about the painting at all: she only cares about what will happen between her and Laurent. Finally, they embrace each other. The fact that she instinctively resists him is interesting, since she otherwise seems to want to go through with the embrace. Her instinct to push him away suggests that there’s something abrupt and vaguely sinister about his approach, perhaps hinting at how intense his animalistic passion feels.
Themes
