Thérèse Raquin Quotes
How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
In Thérèse Raquin I set out to study temperaments. [...] I chose protagonists who were supremely dominated by their nerves and their blood, deprived of free will and drawn into every action of their lives by the predetermined lot of their flesh. Thérèse and Laurent are human animals, nothing more. [...] I freely admit that the soul is entirely absent. (Preface.4)
This is where Zola lays out his entire scientific project for Thérèse Raquin as a "study of temperaments." He's looking at Thérèse, Laurent, and company as scientific objects—not people with souls. Whether or not he succeeds in this project is for you to decide.
Quote #2
My aim has been above all scientific. When I created my two protagonists, Thérèse and Laurent, I chose to set myself certain problems and to solve them. Thus I tried to explain the strange union that can take place between two different temperaments, showing the profound disturbances of a sanguine nature when it comes into contact with a nervous one. Those who read the novel carefully will see that each chapter is the study of a curious case of physiology. [...] I have merely performed on two living bodies the analytical work that surgeons carry out on dead ones. (Preface. 5)
Notice how Zola tries to set up his characters' love affair as an experiment and then employs a medical metaphor. He first describes them as a study of "a curious case of physiology," and then as like the "analytical work" carried out by surgeons. That's a lot of science for one book to hold.
Quote #3
Nature and circumstance seemed to have made this man for this woman, and to have driven them towards one another. Together, the woman, nervous and dissembling, the man, lustful, living like an animal, they made a strongly united couple. They complemented one another, they protected one another. (8.7)
Zola's aiming to study the effects of heredity and the environment on the individual. Here, we see how Thérèse and Laurent's temperaments complement each other perfectly.