The Prosaic and Literal Meaning of Imprisonment in Therese Raquin and Kiss of the Spider Woman - Essay Example

? The Number 2 October The Prosaic and Literal Meaning of Imprisonment in “Therese Raquin” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman” It seems there can be found few works in the world literature where the theme of imprisonment has been revealed in a manner so powerful as in “Therese Raquin” by Emile Zola and “Kiss of the Spider Woman” by Manuel Puig. Imprisonment, understood literally, refers either to the act of putting someone in jail to punish in a lawful way, or to “confining someone as if in a prison” (“Imprisonment”). Thesis Statement: While the theme of imprisonment is strong in both novels, its prosaic and literal meaning is used in different contexts. My goal in this paper is to explore the literal meaning of imprisonment in “Therese Raquin” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman”. To achieve my goal, I have arranged the paper into four main sections. The first, introductory part outlines the aim and focus of the work. In the second section, I provide an in-depth analysis of the meaning of imprisonment within “Therese Raquin”. The third part discusses the problem focusing on the context of “Kiss of the Spider Woman”. Finally, I conclude with the fourth section that summarizes the paper’s observations. Imprisonment in “Therese Raquin” In Zola’s novel “Therese Raquin”, imprisonment is one of the leading themes introduced by the author. Zola’s naturalistic approach to depicting reality allows portraying imprisonment in the most realistic way through lives and sufferings of his characters. Before discussing the imprisonment theme in the novel, I would like to briefly summarize its contents. “Therese Raquin” starts with the description of a small gloomy shop where Therese and her aunt spend their whole days. They live in the same house, just a floor above. Previously Madame Raquin lived in Vernon, but moved to Paris, so that her son Camille could pursue a career as a clerk (Zola 20). Camille is a sickly young man subject to his mother’s overprotective love. He is married to Therese, his cousin, with whom he grew up side-by-side. When Camille meets his old childhood friend Laurent, the latter seduces Camille’s wife Therese and they become passionate lovers. Yet, the secret love affair turns out to be fatal for all three. Camille is drowned by Laurent when travelling by boat. Therese and her lover get a chance to marry, but the murder of Camille drives them insane. They cannot live a minute without dreadful pains of remorse and visions of Camille’s dead body (Zola 174). Madame Raquin, paralyzed by the stroke, learns the truth from what she sees and hears, but is not able to inform any one due to her disability. Finally, the unfortunate spouses come to the point when they decide to kill each other since they are full of suspicions and distrust. The novel’s climax takes the reader to the scene when Therese and Laurent are on the verge of murdering each other. At one certain moment each realizes the plot of the partner. Consequently, they decide to commit suicide by drinking poison in front of Madame Raquin (Zola 190). The analysis of the novel’s plot and characters allows distinguishing the meaning of imprisonment within the novel. First of all, Therese’s whole life with the Raquins is represented as a real imprisonment. A daughter of a French officer Raquin and an African mother (a tribal chief’s daughter), Therese is forced into dull and monotonous existence where her interests have been constantly neglected. She is almost driven to despair by her gloomy apartment and restricted lifestyle and she even wants to drown herself. To illustrate, Therese’s lodging and store are compared to a horrible tomb which the woman feels she won’t ever leave. To make the matters worse, Therese agrees to marry egotistic Camille whom she does not love, which makes her imprisonment even harsher. In this respect, one may say that “imprisonment” has the meaning of confining someone so that it feels like in prison. Furthermore, imprisonment penetrates the second part of the novel, when both Therese and Laurent find themselves imprisoned by their insane thoughts and horrid memories, as well as unbearable pains of remorse. In addition, both spouses are described as constantly clawing at chains binding them and making efforts to run away from each other. It is imprisonment by guilt that Laurent and Therese are subject to. The lovers thought that Camille’s death would make their life easier so that they feel free and unrestricted by the husband’s presence. Ironically, the intolerable feeling of guilt only makes them suffer more and seems to be keeping them into a moral prison. For example, when Laurent starts to fear the scar left by Camille on his neck, Zola portrays how “he quickly pulled his hand away so that he would not have to feel it, but he did still feel it” (Zola 89). These words serve the evidence of the imprisoning effect of the crime Laurent committed or, to be more precise, of the sense of guilt, fear and regret that he feels. Importantly, the imprisoning effect is only growing with time as the scar’s “dreadful burning” is said to “increase” (Zola 175). Similarly, the author stresses the idea of the Raquin household serving as a jail for Laurent. Claustrophobic feelings of the latter caused by the sense of guilt have been enforced by the sense of entrapment and fear since Laurent feels he is bound to his wife not just by his choice. For instance, it is mentioned that Laurent was ‘fulfilling a duty...humbly as a servant” (Zola 90). Finally, having murdered Camille, Therese and Laurent dread the possibility and risk of imprisonment. They both understand imprisonment as a perspective of “gendarmes, prison, assize-court, and guillotine” (Zola 182). Imprisonment in “Kiss of the spider woman” “Kiss of the Spider Woman” by Manuel Puig is centered on two characters that share the same cell in a prison for half a year. Luis Molina, a homosexual and window-dresser, is placed next to Valentin Arregui, a Marxist revolutionary activist. While Molina was imprisoned for his homosexuality, Valentin got to jail for his attempts to overthrow the Argentine government. Unexpectedly, two men that seem to be complete opposites almost in everything at the novel’s outset find a common language and fall in love with each other. While Molina is telling the plots of his favorite movies, Valentin listens with prejudice and criticism. However, later he finds himself involved in the activity and emotionally attached to his inmate. They become lovers. The relationship appears to change both men. As for Molina, looking at socially active Valentin he himself grows closer to the society and its problems. To illustrate, at the end of the novel he even agrees to pass some information to Valentine’s revolutionary mates outside. Valentin, on the contrary, learns that escaping from directly dealing with the problems of society to the domain of culture and the arts can also be meaningful and overthrowing in its own way. In addition, he grows to be more sentimental and emotionally concerned about things, especially his former love Marta who he left for the sake of his political interest. The novel ends with Molina being shot in a shootout between Valentine’s cohorts and police agents. As for Valentine, one finds him producing a stream of consciousness after he has taken an anesthetic to reduce the pain after a torture. The young man imagines sailing away with Marta. The literal meaning of imprisonment is complemented by the contextual details in “Kiss of the Spider Woman”. While living conditions in the jail are bad and even life-threatening (Valentin finds himself been poisoned with food), the environment is represented as profoundly changing. Valentin starts listening to Molina’s accounts of movie stories just to kill the time and entertain, but changes his negative attitude to homosexuals and even becomes engaged into an intimate relationship with his inmate. For Molina, communication with Valentin turns him into a socially minded person, and even inspires him to serve the needs of revolution. Surprisingly, the physical confinement does not prevent characters from emotional and sensitive freedom. Imprisonment does not hinder overcoming limitations of Molina’s and Valentine’s specific standpoints and they manage reach a compromise. It is due to lengthy talks in a prison that each attempts to see his partner’s view in a clearer way. As Kiki Benzon rightfully points out, “The combination of the intensive dialogue and cinematic description transforms the prison environment into something of an extended psychoanalytic session” (Benzon 427). Indeed, as Molina is describing a horror film about zombies, Valentin feels prompted to express his secret intimate feelings about the woman he loved and lost. In the novel, when Molina starts speaking about the scene in the movie when a woman that has just married a rich husband suddenly comes to realize that the appalling zombie she has seen is his first bewitched wife. At this very moment, Valentin interrupts Molina’s recollections, “I’m very depressed…I’m just aching for Marta, my whole body aches for her” (Puig 176). Moreover, Valentine’s emotional transformation within the prison resembles his consciousness’ awakening. Having abandoned his beloved woman on the grounds of the class prejudice, he realizes his fault and feels the pains of remorse. To illustrate, dictating a letter for his ex-girlfriend, Valentin says, “Inside, I’m all raw, and only someone like you could understand…The torturer I have inside of me tells me that everything is finished and that this agony is my last experience on earth” (Puig 179) In a nutshell, the characters of “Kiss of the Spider Woman” experience imprisonment as an experience that changes them the way they wished. Both men open new horizons of life and activity, as well as emotional world. It seems being restricted by the physical limitations of a prison, Molina and Valentin manage to ignore these restrictive borders in establishing relationship and seeking compromise. Conclusion The theme of imprisonment has been one of the focal points of the both novels’ messages to readers. It penetrates the novel “Therese Raquin” by Emile Zola, as well as Manuel Puig’s experimental novel “Kiss of the Spider Woman”. At the same time, the prosaic and literal meaning if imprisonment has been highlighted from totally different angles. While in “Therese Raquin” imprisonment is a tragic “moral” experience of the people who are legally free, in “Kiss of the Spider Woman” imprisonment is a practical experience within an Argentine prison. At the same time, legally free prisoners Therese and Laurent find themselves unable to get beyond the pains of remorse and act as if they were truly confined to some restricted space in reality. As for Molina and Valentin, they have managed to cross the borders of imprisonment in their own creative way, which allowed them perceive imprisonment as a “useful” experience. Furthermore, imprisonment in Zola’s novel appears in gloomy colors and suggests the existence of guilt, so that both prisoners, Therese and Laurent, perceive it with a submissive attitude and never find the courage to overcome it practically. The only way out of imprisonment is suicide. At the same time, in “Kiss of the Spider Woman” characters remain active and seeking for practical resolutions while being imprisoned. As a matter of fact, they do not feel guilt for what they have been imprisoned and go on developing their outlooks in a prison cell. Works Cited Benzon, Kiki. “Kiss of the Spider Woman”. The Facts on File Companion on the World Novel: 1900 to the Present. Vol. 2. Eds. Michal Solars, Arbolina Llmas Jennings. Infobase Publishing , 2008. 427-428. Print. Puig, Manuel. Kiss of the Spider Woman. Vintage Books, 1991. Print. Zola, Emile. Therese Raquin. Arc Manor LLC, 2008. Print. Read More