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
Eight months later, Laurent’s boss tells him that he’ll be fired if he ever leaves work again—he has, his boss says, been taking too many liberties. He’s depressed for the rest of the day and can sense later that night that Thérèse is angry at him over dinner. At the end of the evening, he finds a brief moment to tell her that they won’t be able to see each other anymore because of what his boss said. That night, Thérèse is distraught and becomes determined to find a new way to continue their affair, but no ideas come to mind. For the next month, the only time they see each other is in the presence of others.
Having tasted joy and satisfaction, it’s excruciatingly hard for Thérèse and Laurent to go back to their normal lives. What’s more, it’s not the first time that Laurent has had to forgo pleasure in order to make money—after all, he also had to give up his life as a carefree artist when it became clear that he couldn’t support himself on his own without working. Once again, he’s forced to prioritize money over his own contentment, despite his tendency to always indulge his desires.
Themes
The problem with the affair’s abrupt end is that Laurent has come to rely on the satisfaction he derives from his relationship with Thérèse. He realizes that he’s completely in love with her, though the idea of feeling so strongly for a woman would have been absurd to him just a year ago. Now, though, he can’t even think straight. He feels so desirous of Thérèse that he even worries he’ll do something brash, feeling as if he literally needs her in order to go on living.
Forced to suddenly stop sleeping with Thérèse, Laurent discovers that his feelings for her are a bit more intense than he thought. In fact, he realizes that he has developed a dependency on her, since it feels like he’ll be unable to survive if he can’t be with her. He takes this feeling to mean that he’s in love with her, but it's not clear whether or not this is really the case. It's quite possible that he’s just desperate for her touch. Because he can no longer revel in that touch, though, he convinces himself that he’s in love with her, demonstrating (in a way) the idea that forbidden fruit is often he sweetest—or so it seems.
Themes
Thankfully for Laurent, he soon receives a letter from Thérèse, who tells him to stay at home that night. She makes up a story to Camille and Madame Raquin about needing to collect a customer’s forgotten payment, and though they think this is unnecessary, they don’t object. She thus has the opportunity to make her way to Laurent’s apartment, where they make love for a long time. Suddenly, though, the clock strikes 10 and Thérèse realizes she has to go. Laurent wishes she could stay, but she says she can’t—in fact, she won’t ever be able to sneak out like this again.
After a long period of not being able to indulge their sexual cravings, Thérèse and Laurent are finally able to reunite. However, the pleasure is fleeting because they know they won’t be able to meet like this in the future—it’s untenable, since Thérèse can’t lie her way out of the house every single evening. They’re therefore in the same situation as before, though their yearnings are perhaps even more intense now that they’ve had the chance to stoke their passion for each other.
Themes
Both Laurent and Thérèse are so distraught about the idea of never having sex again that they start complaining about Camille—if it weren’t for him, they would be able to do whatever they pleased. Laurent asks if there’s some kind of trip Thérèse could send Camille on, just to get him out of the way for a while. Thérèse says this is impossible, since there aren’t any trips that would be long enough to make a difference; there is, after all, only one kind of “journey” from which people never return. Both lovers then speak yearningly about how convenient it would be if Camille were to die. Before they know it, they’re talking about how it’s sometimes possible to murder someone in subtle ways—in ways that make the death look like an accident.
A gradual but very noticeable escalation takes place during this conversation, as Laurent and Thérèse go from talking about how much they want to be together to discussing the prospect of Camille dying. They don’t come right out and say that they want to murder him, though. Instead, they flirt with the idea, speaking broadly about the fact that it is sometimes possible for people to kill others without getting caught. But the implications of this conversation are obvious: the lovers have become so desperate for each other that they’re willing to consider murdering Camille.
Themes
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Laurent brings the conversation to a close by assuring Thérèse that they will soon be happy together. He is going to figure everything out, but it might mean staying away from each other for a little while—all he wants, he says, is for her to know that he’s working on a plan to make it possible for them to be together. She promises that she will be patient and that she “belong[s]” to him, and then she takes her leave.
In this moment, Laurent goes from speaking somewhat abstractly about murder to making a concrete decision: he is going to kill Camille. The way this conversation escalates is a perfect illustration of the fact that intense passion and an unquenchable yearning for pleasure can drive people to overlook their more rational sides.
Themes
That night, Laurent lies awake thinking passionately about Thérèse and realizing, without any apparent sense of shame, that desire and love have driven him to plan a murder. Except for the possibility of getting caught, the idea seems perfect: killing Camille would let him marry Thérèse and inherit Madame Raquin’s money, making it possible for him to retire and live the “lazy life” he has always wanted.
Laurent doesn’t consider the moral implications of murdering Camille. Instead, he focuses on the ways in which he stands to gain from committing such a heinous act. He’ll not only have Thérèse all to himself but will also gain access to Madame Raquin’s savings. In turn, he’ll be able to live the life he has always wanted—one in which pleasure and satisfaction eclipse all other concerns, including any kind of moral considerations that would probably prevent most people from behaving with such cruelty.
Themes
