Life+Death

Introduction : Murder is universally considered unjustified, inhumane, and uncivilized. Despite its universal notion, people perceive and understand murder differently. Although the notion of death has been prevalent and common to most people, cultural and historical settings play pivotal roles in shaping people’s perspectives on the matters of life and death. In Patrick Suskind’s Perfume, Grenouille, the protagonist, develops a relatively indifferent view on murder. Grenouille's cultural settings and historical background stimulate this protagonist to develop self-pride and indifferent attitudes toward death.

The climax in Perfume is marked by the protagonist’s murder. Not only does the climax but also the pre-climatic events play roles in developing the character’s notions of life and death. This trend marks the significance of the character's environment in shaping Grenouille's perspective on murder.

The environments in which Grenouille lives in play fundamental roles in why he is indifferent towards death from the society. Grenouille had neither parents nor friends. He was raised in an orphanage where people shunned him. Wet nurses refused to raise him because he resembled a “devil” (Suskind, 42) and did not smell like a typical baby. Unlike many kids who grew up in a stable family, Grenouille was unable to experience love. He was never loved and educated, both of which led to his apathetic attitude towards death. He was never taught ethics or morals and therefore found nothing wrong in taking a life. He formed his own ways of survival and his own notion of murder. To Grenouille, murder was not a big deal, however he’d grown infatuated with scent. This obsession led to his nonchalant attitude towards death and to his subsequent murder of a merchant girl. He had only one desire “…not to lose the least trace of her scent” (Suskind, 42). He had no qualms in murdering an innocent being to capture its scent eternally. From his first murder, Grenouille realized that “the meaning and goal and purpose of his life had a higher destiny: nothing less than to revolutionize the odoriferous world” (Suskind, 43). He felt no remorse for his actions and was numb to the idea that he’d committed a sin. After the murder, Grenouille showed no signs of interest in justifying his actions or in consoling himself. He valued scent more than life and his background played a pivotal role in forming his base for actions.
 * How environment shapes the perspective of life and death.**

Grenouille is extremely pompous, so he takes away lives to change the odoriferous world.
 * sociopath plagued by an uncontrollable inclination toward self-deification**

Grenouille wanted people to “sink to their knees just as if under God’s cold incense, merely to be able to smell him, Grenouille” (Suskind 155) He wanted the respect and love that people had for God, and he wanted to physically feel the excess love for him. Had he not carried out his thoughts in action, it would be erroneous to label him as a person with God complex. He created the potion that would give him what he yearned, attention. In the book, He committed twenty four crimes, killed twenty four virgins, and assumed the role of someone superior, presumably a God, twenty four times.
 * God complex that Grenouille suffers from effects his indifferent notion of murder (life/death)**