Discuss the role of religion in Patrick Sskind's Perfume.

International Baccalaureate World Literature

Discuss the role of religion in ‘Perfume’

Patrick Süskind wrote the novel Perfume set at a time of significant change and unrest in 18th century France. During this period France transformed from a feudal society to that which relied on the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings supported by the established Church. This was the time of the French Revolution and the Age of Reason, which played a major part towards the deterioration of religion. The bubonic plague was also widespread in France during the 18th century, causing the decay and rotting of the human anatomy, and formed the basis for the putrid smells of France at the time.

The main character of Perfume is Jean-Baptise Grenouille who has no real upbringing. His mother was murdered after his birth, and from there on he was passed from one place to another. This also meant that he was never taught morals or Godliness, he is deprived of any form of education what so ever. An extra fascinating point to Grenouille is the fact that he has an amazingly strong sense of smell which allows him to smell everything 100 times better than anyone else.

“…With the one difference, however, that the alphabet of odours is incomparably larger and more nuanced than that of tones; and with the additional difference that the creative activity of Grenouille the wunderkind took place only inside him and could only be perceived by no other than himself”.(pg 28)

I believe the role of religion in this book is Grenouille himself. The main question is whether he is a representation of God or of Satan, and from the evidence that I have gathered I think that he is a representative of God. The first thing that draws me to this conclusion is his name, Jean-Baptise. During the time of Jesus he had a disciple by the name of John the Baptist who, when Jesus died, took his place and carried on with the work of God. This suggests that Grenouille could 0be a disciple of God. Also Grenouille was born into a bucket of fish, “Beneath a swarm of flies and amid the offal and fish heads they discovered a new born child”, which is the symbol of Christianity. Another point that has drawn me to this conclusion is that during the novel Grenouille goes into solitude for seven years. We can understand this to be some kind of search for the meaning of life, a reflection of Jesus’ 40 days and 40 nights in the desert. At the end of his time in the cave, Grenouille encountered some form of an epiphany; this reveals to him that he has no personal body odor.

“he squatted there for a quarter of an hour. His memory was infallible, and he knew precisely how this spot had smelled seven years before: stony and moist, salty, cool and so pure that no living creature, man or beast, could ever have entered the place… which was exactly how it smelled now”.(pg 142)

This is beyond the normal order of nature, and also suggests he is a reincarnation of God, as he himself has no actual being and is a symbol outside nature.

Due to this revelation, Grenouille realizes that he could be and wants to be “Grenouille the ...

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This is beyond the normal order of nature, and also suggests he is a reincarnation of God, as he himself has no actual being and is a symbol outside nature.

Due to this revelation, Grenouille realizes that he could be and wants to be “Grenouille the Great” (pg 130) and rule the masses through the power of his nose by creating the perfect scent. We know that this is his plan when he realizes “But of course this unique scent must be used in a raw state. He must set it down like the most precious gemstone. He must design a diadem of scent, and at its sublime acme, intertwined with other scents and yet ruling over them, his scent would gleam. He would make a perfume using all the percepts of art, and the scent of the girl behind the wall would be the very soul of it……For such a perfume, for a human perfume, he had need of other ingredients.” (pg 200) .This suggests to the reader that the other ingredients must be other girls of the same state as the girl that will be the very soul of the perfume.

To be capable of completing this self set task he knows, from previous experience, that the only way of doing so is to take the scent of blossoming virgin girls. But to be able to preserve and actually steal this scent he first “had to broaden his knowledge and perfect the techniques of his craft in order to be equipped for the time of harvest” ,(pg 179) which was the “crude process of distillation” (pg191). The idea of his perfect scent deriving from virgin females just blossoming is because they are pure and therefore all that is holy, but to Grenouille it is just the sheer magnitude of power, “happy and deeply satisfied with the sense of power that he had won over the aura of another person” (pg ) and beauty of the smell itself “To have found that scent in this world again brought tears of bliss to his eyes…” (pg 176) also when he is described as being “almost sick with excitement”. (pg) The idea of Perfume itself is also a very important factor in religion as it symbolizes the purity of God and Christianity over the putrid smells of society; therefore if Grenouille possesses this perfect aroma he will in his own mind possess the power to control the people. In conclusion to this if Grenouille is unable to capture this perfume he will have no reason to exist, “his whole life would be bundled up if Grenouille did not succeed in possessing it” (pg ) as well as “Grenouille knew for certain that unless he possessed it his life would have no meaning” (pg) which is another reflection to God because without religion God would not exist or have any meaning either.

When reading the book and looking at the argument made here the reader may not understand how killing virgin girls can have any resemblance on religion and God what so ever. As committing murder goes against everything the church stands for because ´thou shalt do no murder´ is number six in the 10 commandments given to Moses by God and written on Mount Sinai on two tablets and therefore recognized as the moral foundations of Christianity. But Devine Retribution is defined as a supernatural punishment normally directed towards humanity, the concept of this can often depict God acting out in irrational ways such as the Great Flood and The Ten Plagues of Egypt were all of humanity was affected. Therefore Grenouille´s quest is not that shocking as he is only doing what he feels he has to in order to complete his task, whomever it may hurt.

The idea of perfume within religion is very important. It is a form of purity and holiness not just in Christianity, but also dating all the way back to Ancient Egyptians. The first significance of beautiful aromas for ancient Egyptians is that they would offer sweet-smelling sacrifices to the Gods to appease them. Secondly Pharaoh Mummies would be embalmed with perfumes and buried with sweet smells to ease there passage to heaven. Also Jewish ceremonies ritually use a mixture of spices and oils which were apparently created for Moses by God following his return from exile in Egypt. A final point as to why perfume and beautiful essences play such an important role in religion is that when the baby Jesus was born he was anointed with the famous Frankincense and Myrrh by the Magi, Frankincense symbolizing divine life and Myrrh signifying bitter death. Therefore Patrick Süskind obviously chose for Grenouille to go in search for the perfect scent to resemble the role that smell has in religion itself. This has the biggest reflection of God and religion in Grenouille.

The role of religion in the novel Perfume is paramount. Religion can be seen as Grenouille himself; however the argument is whether he is a prophet of God or Satan. From this evidence I conclude that he is God or some kind of Prophet of God, even though he has no idea about religion or belief in God what so ever.

Stevie Asquith English essay Perfume