Patriotism
Patriotism is one of the main themes in this book. From the beginning to the end, we can see how people like Evariste are ready to sacrifice everything, including themselves and their loved ones, for the benefit of their country. All the punishments, all the killings, all the difficulties people have to live with are caused by the desire of people to sacrifice everything in order to not let down their country. To protect his country, Evariste sends to death even his closest friends, including himself at the end.
Love
The theme of love occurs everywhere in this book. All of the characters are guided by love to act as they do; however, the type of love they feel differs. Some act the way they do because they love money, showing off, being rich, like the bankers, the speculators etc. They risk being caught and executed only to make more money to satisfy their desires. Some, like Elodie or Desmahis, act because of their feelings for other people. Elodie tries hard to make Evariste confess his love to her, and Desmahis tries hard to make Elodie love him after Evariste's death. Yet another type of love guides some of the characters in the book. The love for the nation guides Evariste, Robespierre, Marat and the like. The love for serving his country is so big that Evariste decides to even reject the love he feels for Elodie. The love Marat feels for his people make him live in poverty and being killed in the middle of the night.
Justice
The desire for justice guides the main character, Evariste. His desire to protect the people and the nation is so strong that he proposes to fine citizens who do not vote and execute those who speculate on the prices. When the crowd is ready to blame a monk for stealing a purse, Evariste protects the monk because he knows the monk is not guilty and his desire to do justice do not let him refuse to help the monk. Evariste accepts the duty assigned to him, not because of the pay he receives, but because the job he has is important to him because that job allows him to judge whether people are acting right or are harming the Republic. He even punishes his friends because he feels he is doing the right thing. At the end of the book, he surrenders because he feels it is not just to hide as a coward. Because of this, he is executed. Yet, he believes that his execution is the just thing to do.
