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 and Thérèse feel as if their secret relationship is “inevitable,” like it’s already been going on for a long time. But they still have to be careful about how they meet. Since Thérèse can’t leave the shop during the day, Laurent makes up excuses to step away from work for a few hours each day. He then sneaks through an alleyway and up a small outdoor staircase that leads to the Raquins’ backdoor, which opens into Thérèse’s bedroom. Thérèse simply makes an excuse to go upstairs, leaving Madame Raquin in the shop while she goes to meet her lover. Whenever Laurent makes his way to the apartment, he’s overcome with desire, and when he sees Thérèse, her beauty and passionate expression dazzle him.
Laurent and Thérèse’s feeling that their affair was “inevitable” confirms that they’ve been eagerly awaiting the moment they finally get together. And though they’re somewhat careful as they embark on their secret relationship, they’re not that careful—after all, they have sex with each other right above the shop, where Madame Raquin sits and waits for Thérèse to come back downstairs! In this way, their daring behavior underscores just how much they’re willing to risk in order to satisfy their desires.
Themes
Thérèse throws herself into her and Laurent’s sexual relationship. She revels in his strong, powerful body, feeling as if she has been jolted alive by something primal and raw. She’s so passionate when they embrace that Laurent starts to worry—he has never had such intense romantic embraces. When he leaves for the day, he stumbles into the street as if drunk. Sometimes, he tries to keep himself from going to visit her, but then he loses his willpower and rushes over. Although he had reservations about the relationship, he can’t help but give himself over to it.
Laurent has led a life full of sexual pleasure, as made evident by the fact that he spent his time in law school indulging his desires. It’s therefore remarkable that Thérèse is the most passionate person he has ever slept with, since he seems to have slept with many women. To that end, she’s so passionate that he can’t resist her, no matter how hard he tries—an indication that intense sexual passion can lead to a certain loss of control.
Themes
Thérèse tells Laurent at one point about her past, complaining about how miserable it was to grow up sleeping in the same bed as the sickly Camille. Sometimes she even had to take the same medicine as him, just to encourage him to swallow it. She admits that she doesn’t wish ill on the Raquins, but she hated growing up with them and is now eager for a life of freedom and enjoyment. The pleasure she has with Laurent, she believes, is like taking revenge on the Raquins for forcing her to lead such a dull, dreary life. She resents them for making her into a “passive,” hesitating person who has settled into a meaningless existence of comfort and tedium.
Until now, Thérèse has never done anything to actually express her discontent. Instead, she has always just repressed her emotions and deferred to the Raquins. However, she has now experienced what it’s like to actually experience satisfaction and pleasure, so she’s less willing to unquestioningly accept her boring, mundane life as Camille’s wife. To put it another way, her relationship with Laurent energizes her and gives her a sense of passion that her life has been sorely lacking.
Themes
Thérèse says she loves Laurent, though she doesn’t know how, exactly, that happened. When she first saw him, it was almost as if she hated him—his presence unnerved her and made her suffer. But her suffering was just a form of passion, and all she wanted was for him to embrace her. After she says this to Laurent, they fervently make love. Every time he comes over, in fact, they make love with alarming intensity, as if their caresses are “violent.” He begins to worry that Thérèse will yell out too loudly in pleasure, but she isn’t afraid, insisting that Madame Raquin is oblivious. Sure enough, when Madame Raquin comes upstairs one day, all Thérèse has to do is throw some clothes over Laurent and claim to be sick, and Madame Raquin politely goes away.
There’s a subtle conflation in Thérèse and Laurent’s relationship between passion and aggression. Because they desire each other so intensely, their passion can sometimes feel “violent,” a word that hints at the sinister potential that lurks within their bond. For now, though, the lovers enjoy their intense connection—so much, in fact, that Thérèse can hardly be bothered to practice caution while having sex with Laurent, once again illustrating that passion can override a person’s ability to think rationally.
Themes
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One day, Laurent is unsettled by François, the Raquin family cat. François stares at him and Thérèse, but Thérèse makes a joke of it, imagining what it would be like if François could talk—he’d surely tell Camille everything that goes on in the bedroom, saying that Thérèse and Laurent do all sorts of “naughty things.” She laughs, but Laurent is uncomfortable. Feeling afraid but not wanting to show it, he picks up the cat and puts it out of the room.
Even though the beginning phases of Laurent and Thérèse’s relationship is mostly marked by excitement and burning desire, it becomes clear here that there’s also an element of fear at play in the affair. Thérèse’s comments about François are lighthearted and silly—he is, after all, just a cat! And yet, Laurent is legitimately unnerved by the idea that François is watching them. The mere fact that Laurent feels so suspicious (or perhaps superstitious) suggests that—on some level—he has a guilty conscience, though the novel will go on to portray him as someone who never feels guilty, at least not in the ways that most people experience guilt.
Themes
