Thérèse Raquin Summary

Thérèse has lived with her aunt, Madame Raquin, and cousin, Camille, since she was two years old. Her father took her to Madame Raquin shortly after her mother died. Thérèse thus grew up alongside Camille outside of Paris, where Madame Raquin owned a haberdashery. Because Camille was always sick, Madame Raquin doted on him. Thérèse slept in the same bed as her cousin, and though she adopted a passive attitude, she yearned for a more exciting life. But she knew that was impossible: Madame Raquin expected her and Camille to marry.

Shortly after the wedding, Camille announces that he wants to move to Paris. Madame Raquin has sold her haberdashery but decides to open a new store in Paris. In this way, she’s able to financially help Camille and Thérèse while also keeping them in her life. The store Madame Raquin finds is in a depressing alleyway, but she doesn’t care because it was cheap—so cheap that she hardly has to dip into her savings. Both Camille and Thérèse are disappointed by the store and the apartment above it, which is where they’ll live. However, Camille doesn’t mind: he dreams of working in a large office and plans to spend most of his time there.

It isn’t long before Camille finds a job and settles into his new life, but Thérèse is still unhappy. She particularly hates it when Camille and Madame Raquin host friends every Thursday night to play dominoes. Each week, Madame Raquin’s old friend Michaud—who used to work for the police—comes with his son, Olivier (who currently works for the police) and Olivier’s wife, Suzanne. Camille also invites his older coworker, Grivet, a man he respects because he earns a high salary. Thérèse suffers quietly through Thursday evenings, finding the gatherings dreadfully boring.

One day, though, Camille brings home a new coworker. His name is Laurent, and he used to play with Camille when he was a boy. Madame Raquin and Camille are delighted to have him, especially because he earns a high salary. But Laurent quickly shocks them by talking about how he doesn’t care about his job—he just wants to lead an “idle” life of painting nude women and satisfying his desires. Camille is scandalized by what he says, but Thérèse feels suddenly awoken by Laurent’s presence. He’s powerful and strong, and she’s fiercely attracted to him. As he talks about the nude models he used to paint, he makes direct eye contact with Thérèse.

Laurent offers to paint Camille’s portrait. Madame Raquin and Camille are delighted and arrange for him to come each day after work. As he paints, he can feel Thérèse smoldering with desire behind him. He considers starting an affair with her and decides to do it—he can tell she wants to, and he has no reason to hold back, since he’s always looking for pleasure. On the evening he finishes the portrait, he and Thérèse finally have a moment alone. He grabs her and plants a ferocious kiss on her lips. She protests for a moment but then gives herself over to his embrace.

Thérèse and Laurent embark on a passion-filled affair. Laurent makes excuses to leave work and then sneaks over to the haberdashery, where he comes up a rear staircase that leads into Thérèse’s room. The two lovers have never felt such intense desire, and Thérèse makes no effort to be quiet, despite the fact that Madame Raquin is just downstairs in the haberdashery. When Laurent worries about getting caught, Thérèse tells him not to worry—Madame Raquin and Camille are oblivious. Still, Laurent is almost frightened by the intensity of his passion for Thérèse, since he has never desired anyone quite so much. His insatiable yearning for her becomes especially problematic when his boss tells him that if he leaves work one more time during the day, he’ll lose his job. Suddenly, he and Thérèse have no way of seeing each other, which makes their passion feel all the more overwhelming.

Laurent keeps visiting the haberdashery and attending the Thursday evening gatherings, even after he and Thérèse stop seeing each other. Finally, after an agonizing period, Thérèse makes up an excuse to leave home one evening, claiming that she needs to collect an outstanding payment. She rushes to Laurent’s apartment, where they feverishly make love and lie in each other’s arms. As Thérèse prepares to leave, she and Laurent talk about how they can’t bear the thought of not continuing their affair. They need to be together. If only Camille were out of the picture, they’d be able to live happily and get married—a thought that leads them to contemplate how they could get rid of Camille. It’s possible, they note, to murder someone without leaving a trace. Laurent then assures Thérèse that he’ll figure everything out. If she doesn’t hear from him for a while, she should rest assured that he’s working on making it possible for them to be together.

One day, weeks later, Camille, Thérèse, and Laurent do a daytrip to Saint-Ouen on the outskirts of Paris. In the evening, they stop at a crowded restaurant that also rents out rowboats for people to take onto the Seine. Laurent suggests that they go for a row before dinner, and as they get in the boat, he whispers to Thérèse that he’s going to push Camille overboard. She hesitates for a moment but then gets in when Camille—who’s afraid of water—makes fun of her for being nervous. When nobody can see them, Laurent grabs Camille, strangles him, and tosses him into the river, though not before Camille bites out a chunk of his neck. Laurent then capsizes the boat and swims to Thérèse, who has fainted. A group of rowers come to their rescue, and Laurent says Camille was dancing in the boat and tipped it over—an account that the rowers, who didn’t actually see what happened, not only accept but also perpetuate, telling everyone on land that they watched as Camille capsized the boat and Laurent saved Thérèse.

Thérèse is beside herself. She pretends to feel sick so she doesn’t have to talk to anyone, but her thoughts about what happened legitimately give her a fever. The owners of the restaurant let her lie in bed while Laurent goes back to Paris to break the news. He goes to Michaud and Olivier first, wanting to appear innocent and forthcoming to the two policemen. They believe him without reservation and offer to go tell Madame Raquin themselves, which relieves Laurent because he doesn’t think he could muster the appropriate tears to tell the old woman.

In the coming days, both Thérèse and Madame Raquin stay in bed. Thérèse puts off seeing Madame Raquin, dreading the moment she has to face her aunt’s grief—and for good reason, too, since Madame Raquin can hardly function due to sadness. Finally, though, Thérèse gets out of bed and encourages her aunt to do the same. The next day, they reopen the haberdashery, and life eventually goes back to normal, though now Madame Raquin is saddled with a heavy grief. Laurent and Thérèse, on the other hand, pass the days without remorse. Sometimes they think about Camille, but for the most part they focus on their daily lives. They don’t rush into getting married, since that would look suspicious. In fact, they don’t even see much of each other, though Laurent visits the haberdashery to stay on Madame Raquin’s good side. He also starts a relationship with a young nude model, not feeling bad about betraying Thérèse; they’ll get married eventually, he knows, but for now he’s just enjoying a bit of pleasure. But then the model leaves him.

Because his lust has been reawakened, Laurent asks Thérèse if they can sleep together, but she refuses, saying they have to be careful. He points out that they’ve waited 15 months, so Thérèse agrees to get married. To make this happen, she acts depressed around Madame Raquin, prompting the old woman to ask for advice from Michaud, who says Thérèse clearly needs a new husband. Madame Raquin objects at first but soon agrees, though she doesn’t want to bring a stranger into her life. Around this time, Laurent makes a point of attentively asking Thérèse how she’s doing in front of everyone. Michaud sees him treat her kindly and pulls Madame Raquin aside: Laurent would be the perfect new husband, he says. Madame Raquin loves the idea. She already trusts him and sees him as a son, so she consents. The arrangements are made.

While waiting for their wedding day, both Laurent and Thérèse find themselves unable to sleep, but not because they’re excited. Rather, they both feel terrified at night. Ever since they decided to go through with getting married, they’ve been haunted by thoughts of Camille. Thinking they’ll be able to sleep better when they’re together, they look forward to their first night as newlyweds. However, when the time comes, they find that their nerves are even worse when they’re around each other. They can’t touch without seeing images of Camille’s drowned corpse. For the first few nights, they don’t even lie down. When they finally do, they feel as if Camille’s bloated body is between them. Distressed, they begin to resent each other. Laurent starts renting an apartment just to get away from Thérèse in the daytime. He spends his time painting, but soon realizes that every face he paints looks like Camille, so he stops.

Meanwhile, Madame Raquin’s health declines. One evening, she has some sort of “attack” that leaves her paralyzed. The murderers are greatly upset, not because they care about her, but because she’s the only buffer between them. They take to propping her up in the room and shining the light in her face to feel less alone. But soon they forget she’s there and, in the midst of an argument, reveal that they killed Camille. Nothing could hurt Madame Raquin more, so she tries to communicate what she has learned at the next Thursday evening gathering, somehow managing to move her hand to spell out a sentence. But she’s unable to finish, so everyone thinks she’s just saying how good Laurent and Thérèse have been to her.

As time passes, Thérèse and Laurent become increasingly unhinged. They start arguing and fighting every night. Laurent beats Thérèse, who provokes him because fighting like this is the only way they can tire themselves out enough to sleep. Madame Raquin, for her part, decides to die by refusing food, but then realizes that doing so might make the murderers’ lives a little easier, so she decides to hold on, sensing that something bad will happen to Laurent and Thérèse very soon. And she’s right: shortly thereafter, they both make plans to kill each other, but they end up catching each other in the act. As Laurent poisons Thérèse’s drink and Thérèse pulls out a knife to stab Laurent, they turn and lock eyes. Then, after a moment, they embrace each other and sob. Knowing they’ll never be happy, they both drink the poison and collapse on each other.