Foil

Character Role Analysis

Suzanne to Thérèse

Even though Suzanne is a minor character in the novel, she can be seen as a foil to Thérèse, because she's always reminding the adulterer of what she isn't. Like when Thérèse begins to read novels about honor and chastity, she thinks about Suzanne's relationship to her husband:

She [Thérèse] remained the ungovernable creature who had wanted to struggle with the Seine and who had thrown herself violently into illicit love; but she was conscious of goodness and gentleness, she understood the putty face and lifeless attitude of the wife of Olivier, and she knew it was possible to be happy without killing one's husband. (16.11)

In this passage, Thérèse sounds almost envious of Suzanne's devotion to Oliver. Thérèse's inability to have a loving relationship with Camille and Laurent is contrasted with Suzanne and Olivier's more loving—and conventional—marriage.