world literaturefinal[1]

Candidate number: 003047-009

IB English A1 Standard Level: World Literature Assignment

The role of supporting characters in constructing the reader’s

perception: a view of Grenouille in Süskind’s Perfume and

Jorge of Burgos in Eco’s The Name of the Rose

Word Count: 1498

Essay: p2-7Works Cited: p8

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The role of supporting characters in constructing the reader’s perception: a view of

Grenouille in Süskind’s Perfume and Jorge of Burgos in Eco’s The Name of the Rose

In Eco’s The Name of the Rose and Süskind’s Perfume, the supporting characters play a

critical role in shaping the manner in which the reader perceives the major characters,

Grenouille and Jorge of Burgos. In both novels, the supporting characters are so much more

than simple binary opposites and so much more than reflective mirrors that allow simplistic

comparisons. Rather the supporting characters are crafted to add substantial depth and

complexity to our appreciation of both Grenouille and Jorge. This essay will explore the use

of two main aspects in relation to the supporting characters: firstly, the construction of the

major characters as an amalgamation and reflection of supporting characters; and secondly,

the use of the motif of death as it relates to the supporting characters.

In Perfume, the role of supporting characters influences the reader to consider the protagonist

Grenouille in two differing fashions: one, sympathetic, and the other (perhaps unjustly)

negative. The sympathetic perspective of Grenouille is fostered through an understanding of

his character as a cumulative amalgamation and reflection of the negative characteristics and

aspects of others. This is then used to vindicate, to an extent, the murder of the virgins as

Grenouille simply reflects the attitudes and ideals he appropriated from them. Note the

complete indifference shown for his welfare by his mother, who openly admitted after

delivering him that “she definitely would have let the thing perish”1. The mother’s

characterization of Grenouille as a “thing” emphasizes her complete rejection of the notion of

Grenouille as a person. This parallels his own subsequent indifference towards individual life

and explains his remorselessness when killing the virgins.

1 Patrick Süskind, Perfume : The Story of a Murderer, trans. John E. Woods (New York: Vintage Books, 2001), 6

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Moreover, Grenouille’s life held no value whatsoever to others in society, except in the

functional value that it provided. This is clearly exemplified when Grimal only ameliorated

Grenouille’s living environment when he survived an anthrax infection and consequently

became immune to the disease. It is his heightened utility and functionality that is rewarded,

not his humanity:

… the value of his work and thus the value of his life increased...Grimal no longer

kept him as just any animal, but as a useful house pet.2

The parallelism in the syntax involving the repetition of “value of his…” creates a balance

that clearly emphasizes the equivalence that Grenouille’s “work” is associated with his “life”.

It is now perhaps predictable and vindicable that the manner in which he perceives the virgins

is cumulatively equivalent to and reflective of how he himself has been perceived by society:

She no longer existed for him as a body, but only as a disembodied scent.3

We can see how Grenouille both dehumanizes the virgin and expresses her functionally here,

paralleling his own treatment. Thus Süskind succeeds in utilizing supporting characters to

portray Grenouille in a more sympathetic light to create a favorable interpretation of his

character. But in order to balance out this sympathetic portrayal, Süskind employs the motif

of the death of the supporting characters to facilitate an unjustly negative portrayal of

Grenouille. This helps to divert the reader’s attention back to the “abominable”4 nature of

Grenouille’s crimes and encourages a more careful consideration of the nature of his crimes.

2 ibid., 323 ibid., 2204 ibid., 3

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It is obvious that Grenouille is responsible for the death of the virgins. But through the motif

of the tick metaphor, he seems associated with death itself:

The tick had scented blood. It had been dormant for years, encapsulated, and had

waited. Now it let itself drop, for better or for worse, entirely without hope…5

The parasitic imagery evoked here is distinctly negative, and establishes the metaphorical

idea that, like a tick, Grenouille sucks his “hosts” dry, while himself leaving full of their

“blood”. When this metaphor is imposed on Grenouille, it appears appropriate, for indeed

Grenouille benefits in some way from his interactions with the supporting characters, and

indeed, after he has derived his benefit, they suffer an unnatural death, having been

figuratively sucked dry.6

Süskind also strengthens this effect through the way he structures the plot. When Grenouille

ends his association with the supporting characters Madame Gaillard, Grimal and Baldini,

Süskind explicitly then proceeds to detail the nature of their unnatural deaths to insinuate a

relationship with Grenouille. In the case of Grimal and Baldini, their unnatural deaths occur

chronologically and so their detailing is justified in this sense. However, with Madame

Gaillard, Süskind forces the sequential link by interrupting the plot to relate her future death:

…we shall take a few sentences to describe the end of her days.7

Consequently, the reader is persuaded to view Grenouille more negatively than perhaps he

deserves.

5 ibid., 696 For example, Madame Gaillard ends up in the Hotel-Dieu despite her best plans (ibid., 29), Baldini and his shop fall into the Seine (ibid., 111), and Grimal, drunk, drowns in a river (ibid., 87) .7 ibid., 29

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The roles of the supporting characters in Eco’s The Name of the Rose likewise also influence

the reader to consider Jorge of Burgos in differing fashions. Just as Grenouille is portrayed in

both a sympathetic and (perhaps unjustly) negative fashion, so the antagonist, Jorge, is

similarly portrayed.

The sympathetic perspective of Jorge is fostered through an understanding of his character as

a cumulative amalgamation and reflection of the general beliefs and attitudes of the

supporting characters. Jorge’s evilness stems from his fanaticism in upholding his notion of

knowledge. He regards knowledge as a “divine thing”8, which is both “complete and has been

defined since the beginning”9. Accordingly, Jorge resolutely endeavors to protect Christian

theology from threats that could potentially undermine its long-standing foundations. This

manifests itself to him most prominently through Aristotle’s philosophical treatise on

laughter10. He feared it would elevate laughter to become “the new art...for cancelling fear”11,

by providing a rational basis for overturning “the image of God.”12

These convictions, together with his zeal, find clear precedent when considered in the context

of the abbey and its inhabitants. Indeed it is the abbot’s values which lend credence to Jorge’s

value system. The established institution of the library and the long-standing regulations that

surround it can be seen as representing crystallized societal attitudes and beliefs about

knowledge. These are clearly exemplified by understanding the basis for the restrictions

placed on the library that prevent widespread access to its contents.

8 Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose, trans. William Weaver (London: Vintage, 1998), 399 9 ibid., 39910 ibid., 466: This was more precisely Aristotle’s “second book of the Poetics”11 ibid., 47512 ibid., 473

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These restrictions enveloping the library ensured that “only the librarian has...the right to

move through the labyrinth of books”13, and only he could gain unhindered access to all its

knowledge. The abbot justifies and supports such a system by stating:

not all truths are for all ears, not all falsehoods can be recognised as such by a pious

soul..14

The abbot’s reasons very much parallel those that Jorge gave as justification for his actions.

The belief that there are “falsehoods” implies his adherence to an absolute nature of truth, a

stance consistent with Jorge’s. By conforming to this notion that these untruths can be

dangerous for even “pious souls” and then endeavoring to prevent their examination, the

abbot adheres to a system of beliefs that seems to parallel Jorge’s. Fanaticism, lust and

revenge are also embodied through the supporting characters Benno, Bernard Gui and the

former “Roman pontiff”15, who help create the world Jorge inhabits. The fallibility and

susceptibility of those who should set exemplary standards is a complex truth that allows

Jorge to function.

To balance out this sympathetic portrayal, the motif of the death of the supporting characters,

as in Perfume, facilitates a (perhaps unjustly) negative view of Jorge. This too is achieved

through the use of structure, and also through the initial positive development of the

protagonist and detective, William of Baskerville.

William is established from the outset as having remarkable deductive skills. This was

highlighted by his adroitness in deducing both the whereabouts and identity of the missing

13 ibid., 3714 ibid., 3715 ibid., 23-24. For example, Benno has a “lust for knowledge”, Bernard Gui has a “distorted lust for justice that becomes identified with...power”, and the former Roman Pontiff has a “lust for power.”

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horse Brunellus from relatively inconsequential clues16. For the reader, this helps to

immediately elevate their perception of him as a detective. However later, William imposes

an erroneous pattern on the murder of the supporting characters. He assumes that “a divine

plan”17 directed the deaths of the supporting characters, which led him to conceive “the false

pattern”18 of the Apocalypse “to interpret the moves of the guilty man.”19

The effect of William’s early favorable establishment means the reader comes to trust more

readily the judgment of the detective, given the precedent of Brunellus. Indeed the notion that

a single “diabolical or sick mind”20 is responsible for the recurring deaths of the supporting

characters is encouraged. Thus when the climax is reached, the reader anticipates the

revelation of his identity. Even when the fallacy of William’s reasoning is exposed, the

negative associative effect remains for the reader.

Overall, the supporting characters in both novels serve an important role in allowing us to

consider different ways that a particular character can be analyzed. Both Eco and Süskind

crafted these differing perspectives in such a way that the reader perceives Jorge and

Grenouille in both a sympathetic and a (perhaps unjustly) negative light. Ultimately, through

influencing the reader to perceive Grenouille and Jorge in differing fashions, the reader is

encouraged to balance the possible interpretations of a character and come to their own

personal evaluation of the nature of that character.

16 ibid., 23: “We haven’t seen him at all, have we, Adso?” William said, turning toward me with an amused look. “But if you are hunting for Brunellus, the horse can only be where I have said.”17 ibid., 47018 ibid., 47019 ibid., 47020 ibid., 255

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Works cited:

Eco, U. The Name of the Rose. Translated by William Weaver. London: Vintage, 1998

Süskind, P. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Translated by John E. Woods. New York: Vintage, 2001

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