Intermediate    Points for Understanding Answer Key 

Thérèse Raquin
Émile Zola

1 1 She had worried about him because he was ill when he was a child. She had done everything for him.

2 Thérèse is strong and healthy, Camille is weak and sickly. Camille likes reading, Thérèse does not.

2 1 It is dark and damp and she knows that she will have to live there for the rest of her life.

2 Old Michaud, the retired Police Commissioner; Michaud’s son Olivier and his wife Suzanne; Camille’s
friend Grivet. They come to play dominoes.

3 1 She stares at the visitor. She is attracted to Laurent and is excited.

2 It is not very good. Camille’s face looks very strange, like the face of a drowned man. It is covered in
green and brown paint.

3 Thérèse and Laurent make love for the first time.

4 1 Suggested answers: strong, beautiful, passionate, awake, excited, alive.

2 François.

5 1 He thinks about killing Camille.

2 Saint-Ouen, a small town north of Paris.

3 (a) The leaves. (b) Thérèse. (c) Thérèse’s leg.

6 1 Camille is afraid because he can’t swim. Thérèse is afraid because she knows Laurent will kill Camille.

2 Camille bites him on the neck.

3 No. Camille shouts ‘Help me! Thérèse!’, so Laurent has changed the word ‘me’ to ‘my’.

4 (a) Old Michaud’s house. (b) To tell him about Camille’s death so that Old Michaud will come with him
when he tells Madame Raquin. (c) They believe him and they go to tell Madame Raquin.

7 1 Because of his visits to the morgue and what he sees there.

2 Camille’s body is found and taken to the morgue.

Macmillan Readers Thérèse Raquin 1

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Intermediate    Points for Understanding Answer Key 

3 (a) Laurent looks after Madame Raquin. He is no longer attracted to Thérèse. He becomes fat and
starts to paint again and takes a model as his lover. (b) Thérèse is happy during the day but at night
she has bad dreams and she starts to worry about everything. She is no longer attracted to Laurent.
She starts to read books.

4 Because her behaviour and moods are unpredictable. He thinks she might tell the police about the
murder.

8 1 In the portrait and in this chapter Camille’s skin is green and brown.

2 Old Michaud and then Madame Raquin.

9 1 He mentions Camille’s name. This makes Thérèse think about Camille and hate Laurent. They cannot
make love, instead they feel like the ghost of Camille is in the room.

2 To heal the bite wound.

3 Camille’s ghost. It is really the portrait.

4 Camille scratching at the door. It is really the cat, François.

10 1 They leave space for Camille to lie. This shows how his murder has come between them.

2 Madame Raquin becomes ill. This means that their horrible nights alone are longer.

3 He decides to become an artist again and leaves his job.

4 Because Laurent’s painting is better, although the faces all look the same.

5 Because he realizes all the faces look like Camille.

11 1 She cannot move or speak. She has to be looked after by Thérèse and Laurent.

2 They start talking about the murder in front of Madame Raquin and arguing in front of her.

3 She was trying to tell them that Thérèse and Laurent murdered Camille.

4 They often end with Laurent hitting Thérèse.

12 1 She refused to eat.

2 (a) Laurent throws him out of the window and kills him. (b) He drinks poison and kills himself. (c) She
drinks poison and kills herself. (d) Madame Raquin survives to see the murderers punished.

3 Suggested answer: They would be shocked because they did not know anything was wrong. They
might think it was an accident.

Macmillan Readers Thérèse Raquin 2

This page has been downloaded from www.macmillanenglish.com. It is photocopiable, but all copies must be complete pages.
© Macmillan Publishers Limited 2013.