However, belying its appearance as a simple fairy-tale, the work reveals many of Zolas characteristic themes, in particular the conflict between heredity and environment, between spirituality and sensuality between the powerful and the powerless. The dream of Angelique is at once reality and illusion, and this interplay provides the driving force of the novel. Above all, the novel is, as Zola himself described it, a poem of passion, displaying the lyrical dimension of his genius.