In my opinion, the play did a great job in portraying the lack of wealth through the actors’ costumes. From the opening of the play, we saw the “poor” clothing that Camille, Therese, and Madam Raquin were wearing. Therese was wearing a long and dull cotton dress. It was worn out and tattered on the bottom, as if she has been wearing it forever. In fact, she wore this dress for the majority of the duration of the play. She didn’t even change for her wedding. In order to make her dress somewhat special for the wedding, her aunt tied an old purple cloth which she saved from her fabric shop that she once had and put a white veil on her head. For Camille’s funeral Therese changes into a long, heavy, black dress to represent her mourning, as did the rest of the characters. She changed one more time once she was married to Laurent. It was a long, grey, cotton dress that was once again very dull. Her attire not only represented her lack of wealth, but also her uninteresting personality.

Camille is seen in the beginning of the play with a mismatched outfit. He is wearing blue pants, a brown jacket, and a hat that doesn’t go at all. When the family moved to Paris, it seemed as if he was trying to fit in. He bought a polyester suit and a French hat, but it just didn’t do it. You could tell that the quality of the suit was not great, and it probably wasn’t expensive, unlike French clothing that is known to be expensive and magnificent. Camille just wanted to look sophisticated.

The character that was dressed the most lavishly was the niece. When we first saw her, she was wearing a huge orange dress with a cape, gloves, and a head piece. And all the pieces were bought together as a set, as she said. However, even though she dressed this way, we aren’t sure if she is wealthy because her uncle did exclaim that she spent so much money on her dress. Someone that has a lot of money would not complain about the expensive price of an outfit.