“Zola presents a rapid and powerful development of the affair between Thérèse and Laurent. How effective is Zola’s portrayal of the encounter between the lovers and what are the changes evident in the previously calm and assured Laurent?” Therese is fascinated by Laurent when he first walks into her life as an adult. She is spellbound by his sheer manliness and animal magnetism. He is strong, muscular and handsome – the antithesis of …showed first 75 words of 857 total…

…showed last 75 words of 857 total…murder seems like a valid and viable option to the adulterers. To Laurent, the husband is the obstacle in the way of his true happiness. He sees Camille’s murder as the only way to continue his contented, lazy existence with his lover. So he puts his “brutal peasant logic” to work on conceiving a suitable accident for a man who is no longer his friend, but a hurdle on his personal track to ecstasy.