Use Of The Characters In Perfume And The Outsider English Literature Essay

The idea of agnosticism proves oblivious to the existence of irregular occasions where man is delivered out of his troubles by a supernatural, in other words miracles. But, are these supposed miracles true? Aren’t they just another social convention that helps maintain order in the societies of today where crime lurks at every corner? The novels Perfume by Patrick Süskind and the Outsider by Albert Camus contain characters, who have strong agnostic attributes, and through these characters, both writers portray their view of religion through both characters.

As if to tell us immediately that religion plays a major role in ‘Perfume’, Süskind names the main character of the novel ‘Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’ [1] . By doing this, Süskind uses diction to make an analogy between ‘Perfume’ and the ‘Bible’ indicating the character/lifestyle of Grenouille. In the bible, Jean-Baptiste or as the English would say, John the Baptist, was a man who committed his entire life to wandering around the deserts preaching the message of God. He had no home and no family of his own. His travels through the deserts made him look haggard to anyone who laid their eyes on him. By linking the name ‘Jean Baptiste’ to the bible character of John, the readers have a clear picture of how Grenouille was going to live his life.

Like-wise in ‘The Outsider’, Mersault’s mother chose to have a ‘religious funeral’ as quoted from the text [2] . Camus here uses ‘religious funeral’, because this was the norm in those times where religion played a vital roles in the life of people in general. Even though Mersault’s mother was not religious, as we find out on the next page, she chose to have a religious funeral, in order to fit in. It was to ensure that she was not to be regarded as an odd person after her death. To make her seem like someone who wasn’t a stranger to the rules of society. This can be linked to one of the main themes in the novel in this case the theme of society’s pressures. Just like in Perfume, the author uses diction to enhance the storyline in the novel.

Using religious attributes as a guide, Süskind gradually develops the general picture of Grenouille in the minds of the readers, also foreshadowing the events that would take place later-on in his life. ‘He’s possessed by the devil’ [3] . Here, Süskind foreshadows the events which would lead to the death of Grenouille. Regardless of the metaphoristic use of the devil, Grenouille is not possessed by the devil, but rather he is possessed by the urge to achieve his goal. So, Süskind personifies Grenouille’s greatest ambition, his passion and compares to the zeal and vigor of someone who is possessed by the devil. The ‘devil’, leads Grenouille to take the lives of so many people, so his ambitions are fulfilled. Also, Süskind foreshadows the effects the perfumes Grenouille creates will have on people. An example of such an effect is that, the people around the user of the perfume would be attracted to the perfume. The people did not understand what draws them to Grenouille. ‘It was like they were being possessed’. A situation when one has no control at all of the action he/she takes. By using this technique, Süskind presents Grenouille as a character who is not like any other, almost a Supreme Being.

When Mersault is taken to see the magistrate for the first time, the magistrate questions Mersault if he believes in God. The talk about the murder then suddenly changes into an issue about religion. ‘He was leaning right across the table, waving his crucifix almost directly over me’ [4] . By using diction again, Camus employs symbolism with the word Crucifix, to link God to salvation. It creates an idea in the reader’s mind that the only way that Mersault can gain salvation for his sin was to confess his sin to God, even if, he hadn’t committed that sin. Ironically, Mersault, an atheist, succumbs to the pressures of society, in this case the examining magistrate, and agrees to change and ask for God’s forgiveness. We later realize that Mersault didn’t really mean to agree. That he was driven to do so by the immense heat in the room and the raging voice of the magistrate. This again can be linked to the novel’s theme of oppression in the society. The writer uses the crucifix to symbolize the pressures society and religion places on people to conform to the rules of society.

In Perfume, the main idea of the novel was to explain to the public that society would always link anything that they do not understand to the supernatural. The author creates an environment in Grasse where the anthropomorphism was severe. ‘Whoever believed in god sought succor in the prayer that at least his own would be spared this visitation from hell’ [5] . Grenouille has just killed a group of beautiful young maidens and still remained undiscovered. The people believed that the crimes that were going on could not have been accomplished by a human being, for the methods were too unique, so they quickly assigned the cause to the supernatural. They compared the deaths to a visitation from hell in an attempt to make reason out of the happenings in the town. This can be related to ‘The Outsider’ because they share the same idea. Camus wrote ‘The Outsider’ because of man’s incapability to accept the norm but to quickly associate anything that they did not understand to God and his will.

The main motif of ‘The Outsider’ is to convey the message that human beings cannot accept certain events and always have to find a reason for things they don’t understand. This is how Camus generalizes absurdity. Camus portrays religion, again symbolized with a crucifix, as the sole means by which Human Beings can make sense out of the irrational and purposeless. It generalizes the idea that if something is not understood a higher metaphysical being is resorted to. In Perfume, the same belief is shared by Süskind, who believes that human beings would always turn to the supernatural if something is not understood. So, when Mersault defies the magistrate, by rejecting religion, he implicitly rejects all systems that seek to define the unknowns in human life. The defiance causes him to be branded as a threat to social order and ultimately leads to his death. This again, links to the novel’s theme of society’s pressures and the results of non-conformity.

Both Camus and Süskind take their reader on a journey through their novels where religion plays a vital role in the motives of the authors and in contrast, worthless to the fictional lives of the main characters. Mersault was executed hours after he declared that God didn’t matter to him, that his last moments were for him alone, and that he ‘didn’t want to waste it on God’. Mersault lived his life without any consideration to God and died the same way. By this, both authors indicate that life can be lived in ignorance; God doesn’t have to be the reason for our existence. I would say that if religion was to be considered as a fringe and an unrealistic way of making sense out of the incomprehensible, a lot of occurrences in History will have to be explained e.g. the whole history of Jesus and of the New Testament in the Bible of the messages sent from Allah to Mohammed in the Holy Koran. So, I personally do not agree with Camus and Süskind, one might consider this to be because of my religious background, but too many questions will have to be answered about the accuracy and truth in what is considered world history today.