Perfume †Grenouille Analysis Essay

Throughout the story â€Å"Perfume† by Patrick Suskind, Grenouille is presented as an outsider who is a product of both social and moral decay shown through his birth, description of the setting and description of Grenouille’s characteristics. Grenouille was born in the malodorous fish market of Paris in the â€Å"18th century†, where the 18th century was a period of tragedy and chaos where foul smells were everywhere. Moreover, Grenouille being born in a â€Å"fish market† indicates the evil and unnatural nature of Grenouille as he is born in the worst smelling, filthiest and unnatural place in Paris. Even more, being born in a fish market in a â€Å"pile of fish guts† shows Grenouille as a victim of social decay where society and degraded so far to the point where babies mattered just as much as fish guts. Obviously, Grenouille’s future is seen to be full of sin and filthiness as seen from his birth place. Furthermore, from the moment Grenouille was born, he was endowed with a powerful sense of smell which he â€Å"used as a language† further suggesting his filthy and malicious future as the first smell he smelt was the disgusting stench of the fish market foreshadowing his disgusting future intentions. Using smell â€Å"as a language†, shows the difference between him and all other people in society making him an outsider. Similarly, like an animal, Grenouille uses sense of smell to communicate and judge his surroundings portraying his animalistic characteristics inside as well as the predator within him using scent to track prey as animals do. Clearly, Grenouille’s powerful sense of smell foreshadows his violent, animalistic future intentions. Conversely, through free indirect discourse, Suskind develops sympathy for Grenouille and portrays him as an outsider and a product of social decay. There is described to be a â€Å"stench barely conceivable† showing Grenouilles abundance of a smell setting him aside and different to â€Å"the people, the stairwells, the parlours and the bedrooms.. † making him different to anything normal making him an outsider. However, sympathy is developed for him when he describes everything in society to have a stench showing that he felt everything in society and all the people in it stank thus causing him to become a victim of social decay. Grenouille is further conveyed as a victim of social decay when upper class supposedly high ranked and highly respected people are portrayed as fools and almost idiots. Through Comic Irony Father Terrier is seen as an uneducated fool and childish when using the phrase â€Å"poohpeedooh†. The repetition of this phrase further illustrates the foolish nature of a highly respected person showing social decay. Moreover, presenting the upper class in France as silly and foolish shows the decay of society and how even foolish people such as Father Terrier are respected and looked up to making Grenouille a victim to this social decay as well as an outsider as he does not respect these foolish upper class people and does not follow the demands of society. Similarly, Grenouille is again seen as an outsider when society refuses to accept him. His mother leaves him to die in a pile of fish guts and many others refuse to take him in, leaving him as an unwanted outsider. Again this foreshadows his future actions of violence and murder when society rejects him and many people act on their basic instincts and leave him to die suggesting a sense of evil in him. Grenouille is further shown as an outsider when he is described to have a â€Å"lack of scent†. This lack of scent clearly shows he is unnatural and he is not a normal being as well as further suggests his evil nature as he is able to move around unnoticed by anything allowing him to be able to do things unnoticed. Clearly, Grenouille has an unnatural, evil feel to him as seen through his characteristics and the way he is rejected purely but instincts by society. As seen from his birthplace, the setting and his characteristics Grenouille is clearly an outsider in society and this will ultimately lead to the murder of several women as well as chaos.