Student Question
What are the main events in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer?
Quick answer:
The main events involve Grenouille, born into poverty, who has an extraordinary sense of smell. Obsessed with capturing the scent of a young woman, he apprentices with a perfumer to learn fragrance creation. His obsession leads him to murder young virgins to extract their essence, causing terror across the countryside. Ultimately, Grenouille is discovered, tried, and convicted for his crimes.
Grenouille is born into abject poverty. From a young age he is fascinated by smalls and discovers he has a powerfully sensitive nose. He engineers an opportunity to apprentice with a perfumer so that he can learn how to create his own fragrances. He is particularly obsessed with the scent emanating from a young woman he meets, and resolves to recreate this scent. To do so, he concocts a grisly method involving literally stripping the essence from the bodies of young virgins. As young women disappear and are found brutally murdered, the countryside and towns are terrorized by the unknown killer. But Grenouille is eventually found and tried and convicted.
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