The problematic theme of crime in Patrick Suskind's novel perfume : the story of a murderer

Abstract EN

This study deals with Suskind's novel Perfume: The Story of a Murder-er.

It was written in 1985.

The genre of the novel is historical fiction and the scope is thriller story.

The first thrill in the novel is the title and the subtitle Perfume, The Story of a Murderer.

Both the title and the subtitle do not make sense, there is no connection in meaning between the two words per-fume and a murderer.

The juxtaposition between Perfume and Murderer evokes readers to read the novel.

The second thrill is that the novel is about the main character Jean-Baptiste Grenouille who has an exceptional sense of smell.

He becomes so thirsty with human beings scent, especially when he discovers that he has no smell.

He passes through a crisis of identity.

After that he finds the red hair girl who holds a beautiful scent that he has never smelled before.

Therefore, he finds his path in life; he wants to create an amazing perfume that will provide him with identity.

Also, he wants to be the best perfumer ever.

That leads him to kill twenty five virgins to extract their fragrances.

The novel presents an idea of what happens and what men can do only to satisfy their passion and ambition, even if it costs them to murder the sweet innocent virgins.