How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
The love between my two heroes is the satisfaction of a need; the murder they commit is the outcome of their adultery, an outcome that they accept as wolves accept the killing of a sheep. (Preface.4)
Sex in Thérèse Raquin is always presented as the "satisfaction of a need." Thérèse and Laurent are merely fulfilling an animalistic impulse when they have sex. No love-making here, friends.
Quote #2
One must admit that it is hard [...] to hear people accuse you of having no other end except that of describing obscene pictures. [...] While I was writing Thérèse Raquin, I forgot everybody and lost myself in a precise, minute reproduction of life, giving myself up entirely to an analysis of the workings of the human animal [...]. In the chorus of voices proclaiming: 'The author of Thérèse Raquin is a wretched hysteric who enjoys exhibiting pornography,' I waited in vain for a single voice to reply: 'No, this writer is a mere analyst, who may have turned his attention to human corruption, but in the same way as a doctor becomes absorbed in an operating theatre.' (Preface.6)
In the Preface, Zola argues against accusations that the novel is pornographic. In doing so, he employs the metaphor of a doctor performing an operation. By treating the "human animal" like a cadaver in an operation room, Zola hopes that he'll present a "minute reproduction of life." Yawn. The book is actually much more interesting than that, we promise you.
Quote #3
In the scientific field, the accusation of immorality proves absolutely nothing. I do not know if my novel is immoral; I admit that I have never concerned myself with making it more or less chaste. What I do know is that I never for a moment thought I was putting in the filth that moral individuals find there. I wrote every scene, even the most passionate ones, with the pure curiosity of a scientist. (Preface.8)
Zola's argument that morality isn't relevant to science created a huge controversy. Like most of his claims. For example, his claim that all of the sex scenes in the novel were written with the "pure curiosity of a scientist."
Quote #4
Her thirsting body gave itself wildly up to lust. It was as though she were awaking from a dream and being born to passion. She went from the feeble arms of Camille to the vigorous arms of Laurent [...]. All the instincts of a highly-strung woman burst forth with exceptional violence. Her mother's blood, that African blood burning in her veins, began to flow and pound furiously in her thin, still almost virginal body. (7.6)
The burning "African blood" inherited from Thérèse's mother has apparently been stifled by Camille's feebleness. As soon as this zesty rapscallion escapes her boring married life, she unleashes her true passion.
Quote #5
The young woman seemed to enjoy her daring and impudence. She had no misgivings, no fear. She was throwing herself into adultery with a kind of urgent candour, careless of danger, feeling a sort of pride in taking risks. (7.22)
Thérèse's sexual desire for Laurent begins to affect her everyday behavior. At the beginning of the novel, Thérèse used to hide her sassiness behind a mask of passivity. But now she takes pleasure in risking the discovery of her adulterous affair. She's a changed woman, indeed.
Quote #6
After Camille's murder, when they had once more felt desire for one another, they had restrained themselves, waiting for the wedding night and the promise of wild passion when they were safe from punishment. And now, at last, the wedding night had arrived and they were left face to face anxious and troubled by a sudden feeling of uncertainty. (21.6)
Between the time of Camille's death and the night of the wedding, Thérèse and Laurent don't have sex at all. Not even once. And even on their wedding night, they can't bring themselves to have sex. It is unclear whether this shift in their attraction to each other can be read as a sign of their guilt. (Because of Zola's Preface. Otherwise, the message is pretty clear, really…)
Quote #7
They locked into a fearful embrace. Pain and terror took the place of desire. When their limbs touched, it seemed to them that they had fallen against burning coals. They gave a cry and pressed more tightly together, so as to leave no place between their bodies for the drowned man. Yet they could still feel Camille's shredded flesh, foully squeezed between them, freezing their skin in places, even while the rest of their bodies was burning. (23.5)
When Thérèse and Laurent finally attempt to have sex again, they imagine that Camille's body is between them. If these characters truly feel no remorse, then it's difficult to understand why the lovers can't get it on, now that Camille is out of the picture.
Quote #8
Thérèse's lips sought out Camille's bite on Laurent's stiff, swollen neck and she fixed her mouth on it with savage passion. Here was the open wound, once this was healed, the murderers could sleep easy. The young woman knew this, trying to cauterize the place with the fire of her kisses. But her lips burned and Laurent pushed her away harshly. (23.6)
In an attempt to arouse his former lust for her, Thérèse tries to kiss Laurent's scar. But the scar burns so hotly that they're both unable to touch each other at all anymore, let alone have sex.
Quote #9
However much they exhausted themselves, frightfully grasping one another, they cried out in pain, they burned and bruised each other, but they could not calm their shattered nerves. Every embrace served only to sharpen their disgust. Even as they were exchanging these dreadful kisses, they were prey to a variety of hallucinations, they imagined that the drowned man was pulling on their feet and violently shaking the bed. (23.7)
Thérèse and Laurent soon begin hallucinating that Camille is shaking their bed. Every night, as the couple tries to rekindle their passion, they only find, once more, that their embraces are mutually repulsive.
Quote #10
But their bodies had rebelled, rejecting the union between them, and in terror they asked themselves where their horror and disgust would take them. [...] So, like two enemies bound together, making vain efforts to release themselves from this forced embraced, they were tensing their muscles and their nerves. (28.5)
Before Camille's death, the sex in this book represented the perfect union between Thérèse's nerves and Laurent's blood. The two merged into a single organism through their bodily lust. However, once Camille becomes a ghost, Thérèse and Laurent's "bodies [rebell]." The thing that once brought these two together becomes the force that keeps them apart.