Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Questions and Answers - eNotes.com

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Questions and Answers

In Perfume: The Story of a Murderer how is the ending, where Grenoille is killed "out of love" ironic?

What global issue in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind is similar to one in Hamlet by William Shakespeare?

How does the structure in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer contribute to its main concerns?

In Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, I need help with the following question. The narrator remarks, "Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it" [p. 82]. Do you think this is true? Why would an odor have such power? In what ways does Grenouille use this power to his advantage?

What motivates Grenouille to commit his first murder? What does he discover about himself and his destiny after he has killed the red-haired girl ? Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

Discuss how the relationship between Baldini and Grenouille alludes to the theme of having power and control.

What are the examples of irony in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind?

How does Grenouille's obsession with scent lead to his demise in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer?

Discuss the theme of power and control between Grenouille and Baldini.

Analyze a foil in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer and discuss how the relation between Baldini (minor character) and Grenouille (major character) illuminates the theme of power and control.

In what ways can Perfume be read as a critique of the eighteenth century's conception of itself as the Age of Reason? PERFUME, THE STORY OF A MURDERER :When the wet nurse refuses to keep Grenouille because he has no smell and therefore must be a "child of the devil" [p. 11], Father Terrier takes him in. But he is exasperated. He has tried to combat "the superstitious notions of the simple folk: witches and fortune-telling cards, the wearing of amulets, the evil eye, exorcisms, hocus-pocus at full moon, and all the other acts they performed" [p. 14].

Where is the alienation in Perfume? The alienation, more specifically the loneliness, seen in Grenouille in Perfume is pretty clear to me when studying the book again. The only difficulty I have is making relevant connections with that to Kafka's The Metamorphosis. The ability to see congruencies between the alienation of Grenouille and the alienation of Gregers completely evades me. There exists the element of loneliness in both novels, but where can you make the connections?

For Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, the question is the following : Throughout the novel, Grenouille is likened to a tick. Why do you think Süskind chose this analogy? In what ways does Grenouille behave like a tick? What does this analogy reveal about his character that a more straightforward description would not?

How is the global issue of power similar in Hamlet by Shakespeare and the novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind?

What effect do symbols and metaphors have on the understanding of the novel's message in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer?

Perfume, the story of a murderer : Why does Grenouille need the scents of these people? Grenouille becomes, toward the end of the novel, a kind of olfactory vampire, killing young women to rob them of their scents. "What he coveted was the odor of certain human beings: that is, those rare humans who inspire love. These were his victims" [p. 188].

What attitudes and beliefs is Suskind satirizing through the character of Taillade-Espinasse?

How would you relate the circumstances of the birth of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille to the life he grows up to live? Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born in a food market that had been erected above the Cimetire des Innocents, the "most putrid spot in the whole kingdom" [p. 4]. He barely escapes death at his birth; his mother would have let him die among the fish guts as she had her four other children. But Grenouille miraculously survives.

What does the behavior of the people in Perfume by Patrick Suskind tell us about humanity as a whole ?

In the novel Perfume by Patrick Süskind where do you find rationality being overcome by baser human instincts? When the wet nurse refuses to keep Grenouille because he has no smell and therefore must be a "child of the devil" [p. 11], Father Terrier takes him in. But he is exasperated. He has tried to combat "the superstitious notions of the simple folk: witches and fortune-telling cards, the wearing of amulets, the evil eye, exorcisms, hocus-pocus at full moon, and all the other acts they performed" [p. 14]

The question is the following: How do you interpret the novel's ending, as Grenouille returns to the Cimetire des Innocents and allows himself to be murdered and eaten by the criminals who loiter there? What ironies are suggested by the narrator's assertion that Grenouille's killers had just done something, for the first time, "out of love" [p. 255]?

Perfume: the story of a murderer The question is the following : In the novel's climatic scene, just as Grenouille is about to be executed, he uses the perfume he's created to turn the townspeople's hatred for him into love and to inspire an orgy which collapses class distinctions and pairs "grandfather with virgin, odd-jobber with lawyer's spouse, apprentice with nun, Jesuit with Freemason's wife--all topsy-turvy, just as opportunity presented" [p. 239]. Grenouille is revered and regards himself as godlike in this triumph. Does he enjoy this moment, or is it a hollow victory? What is the novel suggesting about the nature of human love? About order and disorder?

What are the main events in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind?

In Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind, I need help with the following essay question. The perfumer Baldini initially regards Grenouille with contempt. He explains, "Whatever the art or whatever the craft--and make a note of this before you go!--talent means next to nothing, while experience, acquired in humility and with hard work, means everything" [p. 74]. And yet Grenouille is able to concoct the most glorious perfumes effortlessly and with no previous experience or training. What do you think the novel as a whole conveys about the relationship between genius and convention, creativity and destruction, chaos and order?

How is the novel Perfume: Story of a Murderer a meditation on love?

Discuss ambiguity in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.

In a literary work, a minor character often known as a foil possesses a trait that emphasizes by contrast the distinctive characteristics or qualities of the main character. Analyze a foil in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind, and discuss how the comparison between a minor "foil" character and the protagonist illuminates a major theme in the book.

Grenouille is born with a supernaturally developed sense of smell. He can smell the approach of a thunderstorm when there's not a cloud in the sky and wonders why there is only one word for smoke when "from minute to minute, second to second, the amalgam of hundreds of odors mixed iridescently into ever new and changing unities as the smoke rose from the fire" (25). He can store and synthesize thousands of odors within himself and re-create them at will. How do you interpret this extraordinary ability? Do you think such a sensitivity to odor is physically possible? Do you feel Süskind wants us to read his novel as a kind of fable or allegory? Why do you think Süskind chose to build his novel around the sense of smell instead of one of the other senses?

Analyze a foil in perfume and discuss how the relation between Baldini (minor character) and Grenouille (major character) illuminates a specific theme.

What is the significance of the horrific conclusion to Suskind's Perfume: The Story of a Murderer? What themes does it raise?

Some Quotes and analysis for the topic "Gap between supposed authority and reality."

How does the novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind and the film The Green Mile by Frank Darabont use transformation of one kind or another to present ideas?

Perfume Analysis In the novel perfume, do you think Grenouille is controlled by his addiction?

In the book Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (written by Patrick Süskind), what was the message to the reader? What was Perfume's aim?

How do you respond to Suskind prose? How do you respond to the critical reactions outlined above?

In Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, I need help with the following question. After Grenouille leaves the town of Grasse, where he has caused so much death and suffering, his case is officially closed and we're told, "The town had forgotten it in any event, forgotten it so totally that travelers who passed through in the days that followed and casually inquired about Grasse's infamous murderer of young maidens found not a single sane person who could give them any information" [p. 247]. Why do the townspeople react this way? Why isn't it possible for them to integrate what has happened into their daily consciousness?

hey, how are the olfactory senses used in perfume? in terms of Grenouille and his ambition (to acquire the girls scents)

Where else in Perfume do you find rationality being overcome by basic human instincts? no

Would you like to give some suggestions or an outline for how to write the essay topic "Gap between supposed authority and reality"?

In Perfume, the name of Grenouille made me think of Grendel by John Gardner. Is there a deliberate parallel here?

How do I write a long introduction (thesis statement) as the first paragraph for the topic "Gap between supposed authority and reality"?

What is a theme for an essay to compare the characters in A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and Perfume: The Story of a Murderer? Any additional thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Provide ideas to mix Perfume with the folktale "Bluebeard" to create a new short story.