The 18th century was a time when Romanticism, the Industrial Revolution, and the Age of Enlightenment came into play. Patrick Suskind, the author, develops the story, Perfume, during this era and does a wonderful job of using imagery to create the background of the story for readers. Looking deeper into the novel, we see that the main protagonist, Jean Baptiste Grenouille, is not considered a “normal” person. He is considered an outcast by society, not fitting in with those around him and anywhere else in the world. The person he has become is due to the care he has received from others. His mother, Madame Gaillard, Baldini and Grimal are the main people who helped “nurture” him and sculpt him into the person he became, even if the result was not positive. Grenouille's development is influenced by these people and what their actions were towards him. The scent is able to accumulate a myriad of twists and turns, starting from how he was raised, the obstacles he goes through, and how he overcomes them using his supernatural gift. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The gift of perfume is a gift that most human beings are capable of enjoying. Grenouille is gifted with this gift in a more cynical way, where he uses it for evil purposes. How could all this happen? Why was it used for harm? Being born in a school of fish and abandoned by your mother is a good place to start. No mother for Grenouille meant he had to be alone, no guidance on the right path, no teaching of morals and ethics, no loving touch, no care, no nothing. The role of a caring and loving mother immediately vanishes and Grenouille is left to fend for himself. He has to teach himself how to become a “normal” person. Having been born into the world without having any authority figure, Grenouille is then passed down by wet nurses and priests. Their reaction to this child is such that it foreshadows the outcome of what he will be like when he grows up. Grenouille will not stay with them forever. He becomes a child, unlike a normal child; it is more secluded, quiet and unnoticed. This is where Madame Gaillard's role takes place and how she affected her childhood. Madame Gaillard ignores Grenouille's special gift and the children at the boarding house are simply disgusted by it. Due to the circumstances in which Grenouille frightened Gaillard, she hands him over to a tanner named Grimal. Grimal plays a significant role in his pre-pubescent stage in life. He works him like an animal every day, even when Grenouille would catch a man-eating disease. Grenouille then meets Baldini, who is a master perfumer. He takes Grenouille under his wing as an apprentice and realizes how talented he is as a person. These people and their descriptions are just a glimpse of who they are and how they impact Grenouille's life. These are the characters that shaped Grenouille's life in important ways as they are the ones who made certain decisions and "helped" him in his life, whether it was in a positive or negative way. The theme of education comes into play with these secondary characters. Their actions impacted Grenouille, causing him to not be accepted by society as he was not taught the right or wrong emotions, nor raised properly. Madame Gaillard raised Grenouille when he was a child. Having been brain damaged from a blow to the head, she has no sense of smell, which did not stop her from raising Grenouille. Since Madame Gaillard was a woman without compassion or love, Grenouille wouldraised without knowing the considerations of normal emotional development. He was simply provided with the basic needs of a child, which pushed him to become an outcast in society. Madame Gaillard could be described as the maternal figure who raises a child, but who nevertheless does not care for him or her or love him or her. From then on he is transferred to the tanner named Grimal, with Grenouille being around his pre-pubescent age. Grimal, like Madame Gaillard, treats him like an animal so to speak, giving him only basic needs and work. Although Grenouille is a good worker, Grimal treats him no better and does not regret any actions he may have taken towards him. It's a brutal apprenticeship, but Grimal allows him to explore Paris where he opens his senses to all the smells around him. Grimal can be shown as the father figure in this example. Like a father, he teaches him the rules of the job and welcomes him but he too does not show Grenouille any source of positive affection. After that phase, he is welcomed by a master perfumer named Baldini. Grenouille is accepted into an apprenticeship, who then proves to Baldini how talented he is. Unlike the others, Baldini is kinder than Madame Gaillard or Grimal combined. Unfortunately, Baldini sees Grenouille as only an essential part of creating a successful new perfume invention. This causes Grenouille to become an expert in perfume creation to the point of becoming much more talented and successful than Baldini. Baldini may be probably the closest thing Grenouille ever had to any source of compassion or any kind of affection. These secondary characters all have a similar association with Grenouille, which was their way of "raising" Grenouille and their actions towards him. They helped shape Grenouille into what he was in the novel. Not only do they play an important role in his life, but they also experience strange results and similarities later in their lives. After Grenouille moves from one place to another, the current person who had welcomed him before, causes an unfortunate accident, causing the death of them such as Madame Gaillard and Grimal. This little motif insinuates to the reader that the relationship they had with Grenouille was simply not a normal one. Now focusing on Grenouille, he is now an adult. This is where an example of existentialism comes into play. Grenouille is finally able to choose his own path and can freely wander the world as himself, with no one to worry about. Existentialism is an emphasis in which a man forms his essence throughout his life resulting from his personal choices. Grenouille then makes the decision to have to live in a cave, to isolate himself from the smell of society for at least several years. With the choice he makes, he isolates himself even more and makes him more mature. After living in the cave, Grenouille reinvents himself and sets off to complete his main perfume. Setting out to kill more women to eliminate his scent, he goes to town, disguised in a perfume he created which makes people notice him and treat him like a normal human since he has a certain scent. Another example, before being hanged Grenouille is able to release another of his concoctions, freeing him from hanging. He is able to change the opinion of others towards him with his perfumes. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Perfume is a novel that plays out the development of characters and relationships hand in hand with each other. These two important are one of the most important topics. Of Madame Gaillard, Grimal, Baldini and Grenouille, it is nice to know the correlation between the.