Love, passion
The main theme of the novel, seen from the title itself, is passion. Passion is described as something that is found between religion and bodily love. The aspect of religion is used in a sense that the person that is the object of passion is seen as a god-like figure, and bodily love as a sexual attraction to that figure. Bonaparte is the object of Henri's passion; he idolizes him and finds his purpose in following him. Towards the end Henri realizes the difference between his passion for Bonaparte and passion - which is true love - for Villanelle. He says that he invented Bonaparte as much as he invented himself, meaning that passion for him was something he invented in his own mind rather than being about the person that is the object of passion. His passion for Villanelle is the opposite, it is true love that it is solely about the other person-the person who is in love forgets about themselves.
Gender and sexuality
The novel plays with the theme of gender ambiguity, androgyny. Villanelle dresses up as a boy and a girl and doesn't see an issue with either. She is also the first girl who inherited the boatman's webbed feet, a trait up until then exclusively connected to boys. She meets the woman who stole her heart dressed as a boy, and they share a kiss. Regarding sexuality, bisexuality is seen as common and normal, rather than being socially or religiously stigmatized.
