Character Of Grenouille In Perfume

The Role of Supporting Characters that Affected Grenouille’s Character Development

In the novel Perfume, Patrick Suskind illustrates the dark side of humanity through the use of supporting characters. The main character, Grenouille grew up in an environment that lacked love and care that is vital for children during their adolescence. There is a lack of emotion that is shown through the novel beginning with the supporting characters, which translates into Grenouille emulating the same lack of emotion later on in his adult life. Grenouille growing up in an environment with a lack of emotional stability may be the cause of his general mannerisms and lack of emotion within himself because it was never displayed toward him. Grenouille’s emotional

She was a fish monger who went into labour whilst at work. After giving birth to her son beneath the table, she does not wish to keep him therefore she hides her son among the midst of fish guts thinking he will be thrown away with the guts at the end of the day. “And then, unexpectedly, the infant under the gutting table begins to squall. They have a look, and beneath a swarm of flies and amid the offal and fish heads they discover the newborn child.” (Süskind, 6) This quote shows Grenouille’s will to survive even at the earliest stages in his life. With his crying out he has saved himself from death it came at the bitter expense of his mother. Grenouille’s mother was arrested by the police, where she was convicted of infanticide and was executed as punishment. A motherly figure is meant to nurture and care for her child, Grenouille did not have that experience as his mother abandoned him to die amongst the dead fish. This unnamed character has shown through her actions that she could not care for or about other human being, even her own child. With a biological mother who could not fathom the concept of caring for another human being, Grenouille has grown up in the same manner of never knowing what care and love feels

Even Baldini has major character flaws in his personality. Although he was kinder than either Madame Gaillard and Grimal, he sees Grenouille as a pawn to help him higher the standard of his perfumes. Baldini did not feel entirely comfortable in Grenouille’s presence; he was much too concerned about his public opinion to mistreat Grenouille.
With all the inadequately trained people surrounding Grenouille’s life, it can be seen how he went down the psychotic path that went down later in his adult life. The lessons he learned as a child was not one of learning manner, sharing with others, or treating other with respect. Instead his childhood was an example of how people only notice him if they can obtain or benefit from his