The Use of Enhanced Abilities in Suskind's Perfume and Eco's Name Of The Rose - Essay Example

 The use of enhanced abilities in Suskind's "Perfume" and Eco's "Name of the Rose" Perfume: the story of a murderer is a novel written by German writer Patrick Suskind. The story of the novel incites a frightening assessment of what happens when a man’s indulgence in his biggest obsession, directs him to murder. The enhanced ability to smell and its wrong use makes Grenouille a person suffering from severe emotional drawback which cannot be compensated by his extra ordinary olfactory potential. Ironically he becomes a victim of his own ability when eaten by the crowd as he wore the ultimate scent he has created with his malicious ways. Comparatively the second novel “The name of the rose” is the first novel written by an Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a logical mystery joining semiotics in fiction, medieval studies, literary theory and biblical study. In a medieval Benedictine monastery, monks are killed in the strangest ways and the readers soon find out that the monastery is a place of crime and sin instead of holiness and serenity. William of Baskerville is sent to resolve the murder mystery but he soon discovers himself involved in the frightening proceedings within the abbey. In both the novels the use of enhanced abilities is evident, in ‘Perfume’, the enhanced ability of Grenouille to smell and ‘in the name of the rose’, William’s deduction and problem solving ability. Both the authors use the enhanced abilities which gives their main characters an edge over the the other characters in the book and the mankind. This paper will examine the reason of both authors using the enhanced abilities , and their use and effect on the other characters and society in general. To become the best perfumer ever is the sole aspiration of Grenouilee in the novel ‘perfume’. He wants to create a perfume who like a human being gives off a smell in order to conceal his own lack of scent but his goals proved to be deadly, as he finds out that there are valuable scents that exist in some human beings and they must be sucked out. In the start, a young girl’s scent troubles him and his desperate craving for her scent leads him to kill her and this murder give rise to his aromatic malicious lusts. At last he is captured and put on a trial but once again his inhuman powers help him to prove himself innocent. Siskand places great emphasis on the super natural power possesed by Grenouille, he makes it seem as if this was attributed to him because of his horrific details of birth and his own lack of odor. His extra ordinary power is explained in the words “He possessed the power ... a power stronger than the power of money or the power of terror or the power of death: the invincible power to command the love of mankind” (252). Moving on to our second novel, “in the name of the rose” the ability of William’s enhanced deduction and problem solving was put to a good use. He was invited to investigate the murders of the monks and he used his powers to help the mankind unlike Grenouille in “perfume” Adso describes William of Baskerville as ‘His energy seemed inexhaustible when a burst of activity overwhelmed him. But from time to time, as if his vital spirit had something of the crayfish, he moved backward in moments of inertia, and I watched him lie for hours on my pallet in my cell, uttering barely a few monosyllables, without contracting a single muscle of his face.” William uses his interpretation of things to test his theory instead of engaging to reasons or dependable text. He discards the idea of universals. For him conceptual universal notions only live in the mind and nowhere else. Saskind has pointed out to the fact that a person can be molded in the same way as he is treated and expected to grow up . Grenoille from his birth had been considered evil, he is devoid to feel any emotional feelings because he has never experienced love and warmth when growing up, his obsession leads him to his end. If analysed deeply he has covered himself with the sheild of his enhanced ability to safeguard himself from any love . He hates humanity and when he formed his ultimate scent, a smell that enthuse love from all other human beings, he finds he has nothing left to explore. Therefore he decides to die. His repulsion for humanity is shown in the quote “unraveled in freedom, so to speak, as did all his other ….intentions. Grenouille no longer wanted to go somewhere, but only to go away, away from human beings" (117). In “ The Name of the Rose” . “My dear Adso, we must not allow ourselves to be influenced by irrational rumors of the Antichrist, hmm? Let us instead exercise our brains and try to solve this tantalizing conundrum.’’ Is what William says to Adso. The usage of the enhanced ability is evident here and this quote explains a lot about human behaviour “Laughter kills fear, and without fear there can be no faith, because without fear of the Devil there is no more need of God.” It is evident in this novel “ perfume” that scents direct a huge share of human actions most of the times unconsciously. Grenouille does no good to anybody, after he leaves a person whose life he has gone through; their life generally ends in despair. All the attention of the readers is diverted towards him and he gains our interest but not our sympathy. In the novel, the super power he possessed was used against the nature and norms. He believes that people feel repulsion and no feelings for him because odors guide people in their responses towards the other person, as he doesnot have his own, he is passionate about stealing it from other people. The writer introduces this concept that a person’s odor is what affects other people to form an opinion about him in the quote “Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it.” (pg.82)  "Rolling down the rue de Seine like a ribbon, unmistakably clear, and yet as before very delicate and very fine" (39) explains the super natural power of Grenouille to smell the scent of the young girl .These scents of the girls attract people, make them fall in love with the person wearing the scent, he uses this power to escape the justice when caught and trialed. For him he has committed these crimes in order to quench his thirst for love but never agrees so. Comparatively “ in the Name of the rose” . The quote “What is love? There is nothing in the world, neither man nor Devil nor any thing, that I hold as suspect as love, for it penetrates the soul more than any other thing. Nothing exists that so fills and binds the heart as love does. Therefore, unless you have those weapons that subdue it, the soul plunges through love into an immense….abyss." Shows the strength of love but comparatively Grenouille of “perfume” doesn’t find love of any use except to bring evil. William of “ the name of the rose’ goes on a fierce chase to find the murderer of Adelmo before realizing that it was a suicide. He looks for clues and proof that did not exist and refused to believe what was laid before his eyes. ‘Fear prophets, Adso, and those prepared to die for the truth… loved his truth so lewdly…the truth lies in learning to free ourselves from insane passion for truth” is what William advised to his companion Adso. The theme of the novel revolves around finding the reality, to find it search for it, instead of what a person wants to be true. The chief monk had wanted to hide a book written by Aristotle in the library not visited by many people; he condemned the contents of the book and did not want people retelling the subject matter to anybody else. As a result he put poison on the edges of the book and anybody who read it diedThe characters of both the novels are affected by the extra ordinary powers possesed by the main characters. As mentioned before the characters of the “ perfume” were touched and affected by the shadow of the evil power possesed by Grenouille . whereas comparatively in “ the name of the rose’ the true picure of the abbey was shown, the power of church and the evil proceedings inside the monastry was shown. With Adso asking questions and investigating with William , they both strived towards finding the murdered and exposing the chief monk responsible for the happenings inside the holy place. The powers in both the novels were put to use for mankind, one in a negative way onother in positive. Terrible crimes are commited inside the holy place in the name of God and was tagged that they were done for noble reasons. Philosophical discussions are done in the novel attacting the reader. It is a book containing politics done by the leaders of the religion at that time and long details of meaning of life and arguments on theoligical facts. References Eco, U. (1983). The name of the rose. San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Süskind, P. (1986). Perfume: The story of a murderer. New York: A.A. Knopf. Read More