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Chapter 22
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
After suffering for three weeks, Laurent decides that he and Thérèse simply have to physically embrace each other, no matter how much it feels like Camille’s corpse haunts their every touch. He pulls Thérèse close one night, and she returns his physical advance, since she, too, is ready to do anything in order to feel better. But their caresses feel terrible. Thinking that Laurent’s bitemark scar is the “gaping wound in their relationship,” Thérèse puts her mouth to it, hoping she’ll be able to heal it. But the scar only burns both her and Laurent, who pushes her away. After a while, they give up trying to be intimate, as it only causes them great pain. Lying on opposite sides of the bed, they both weep.
Simply put, Laurent and Thérèse are utterly miserable. There’s nothing they can do to forget about the fact that they ruthlessly murdered Camille. In fact, Laurent’s neck bears a constant reminder of their immoral behavior in the form of the bitemark scar. On a certain level, it makes sense that Thérèse tries to kiss it, since they have—until now—been effectively avoiding any kind of acknowledgment of what they’ve done. Now, though, she tries to address the problem head-on by kissing the scar, thinking this might clear the air. But nothing, it seems, can clear the air when it comes to forgetting about such a heinous act. No matter what, they’re forced to live out the bleak reality of what they’ve done.
Themes
