Obsession is a powerful force, capable of driving human beings to achieve unimaginable things or to perpetrate acts they would never contemplate under normal circumstances. The extent to which obsession acts as a positive force in Perfume by Patrick Suskind and Thérèse Raquin by Emile Zola must be considered within the greater context of these two dark novels. Obsession underscores both plot and theme in these stories, in which the pursuit of reckless and amoral ambition can hardly be said to act for good.
Obsession is a central theme in the novels Perfume and Thérèse Raquin. In both stories, obsession clearly motivates the actions of the protagonists. Suskind’s Grenouille, and Zola’s star-crossed lovers Thérèse and Laurent are driven by a single-minded mania to commit acts that serve their own desires. This theme acts on the two stories in different manners; Zola’s story is a cold, objective recounting of calculated murder by two self-obsessed lovers, while the outrageous acts committed by Suskind’s anti-hero are presented in a darkly humorous vein. The theme of obsession causes the two novels to seem both analogous and unalike in many ways.
In Thérèse Raquin, obsession drives Thérèse and Laurent, whose animal attraction sets them on a passionate course in which reason and morality are
compromised. Ironically brought together by Thérèse’s husband, Camille, early in the novel, the two embark on a torrid affair that quickly escalates. They cold-bloodedly conspire to drown Camille while on a boating trip so that they may carry on as lovers free of his confining presence. Laurent and Thérèse marry after Camille’s murder, but guilt overwhelms them and gradually sours their relationship. Laurent and Thérèse succumb to the evil temptation created by their lustful obsession, and the torment of conscience is the price of their desire. They see the dead Camille in their bedroom each night, preventing them from being intimate. Laurent is incapable of painting a picture that does not in some way resemble the dead man. It is not long before the two murderers are driven insane.
After Camille’s murder, Zola turns to the psychological aspects of Thérèse and Laurent’s relationship and the dire consequences of their obsession. Zola makes pointed references to the morgue, portrayed as a morbid, morose environment in which corpses are examined in detail. The symbolism is unmistakable and underscores their guilt – they may have killed Camille, but obsession has killed their souls and their relationship exhibits signs of morbidity. Cause and effect in Thérèse Raquin clearly follows an obsession-murder-retribution motif. Camille’s death is the effect of obsession, which has not only led to murder but has exacted its own terrible punishment from the guilty.
The fatal relationship between Laurent and Therese shows the connection between obsession and passion and the volatility that can result such a union. Laurent offers Thérèse everything Camille cannot; he is passionate, lustful, attractive
and a free-spirited artist. This makes him irresistible to the sexually repressed Thérèse, whose passionate obsession with Laurent and his spontaneous, combustible sexuality is so overpowering that it leaves her unconcerned with the possibility that they might be found out.
Camille’s murder profoundly and lastingly disturbs both Therese and Laurent, and their obsession turns into a guilt so harrowing that they become careless about mentioning the deed in front of Madame Raquin. Their obsession has led them down a dark pathway from which death is the only escape. There is nothing left for Therese and Laurent other than suicide, the final and appropriate act of their sanguinary drama. They have no further need for concealment in the presence of Madame Raquin, nor do they need to deceive themselves further. Their obsession leaves them with only one option.
This theme is repeated throughout the novel and their obsessed guilt continues to bear significance in later scenes, such as the couple’s interaction with Madame Raquin. The old woman’s age, condition and approaching death foreshadow the imminent demise of Laurent and Thérèse. As such, death has become the only way the couple can escape the pain of their guilt and the burden of their obsession. The murdered man’s mother serves as a constant reminder of what they have done and also of the death of their once-passionate relationship.
Obsession also lies at the heart of Patrick Suskind’s novel Perfume and gains momentum throughout the story through the darkly absurd exploits of Grenouille.
Suskind’s “olfactory vampire” is depicted as an outcast from the beginning of the novel, setting him on the path to misanthropy and the strange, self-obsessed ambition that informs his life. Born in scandalous circumstances, he was raised differently
Beginning with his mother, who abandoned him at birth, the horrific Grenouille is rejected by a string of people who intermittently enter his life, characters such as the wet nurse Jeanne Bussie; Father Terrier, the priest who baptizes and names Grenouille; Madame Galliard; Grimal; and Baldini. Unloved and unwanted, Grenouille is sold to these individuals for no more than a few francs when it is profitable and convenient for them. Rejected and reviled by those who are alarmed by his olfactory tendencies, anger and hatred well up within him. The consequences for Grenouille and for many who cross his path will be disastrous.
perfect scent, he finds that extracting the scent from others, specifically beautiful young women, provides him with a key ingredient. Obsessed and unconcerned with
the amorality of his actions, Grenouille turns to murder and mutilation to achieve what becomes the overwhelming ambition of his life.
Grenouille’s quest to create the world’s greatest scent quickly becomes a perverse and distorted obsession. Yet there remains an element of love, or the desire to be loved, in his obsession to be a great perfumer. And his ambition is fulfilled. He develops the formula that will cause others to love him on sight, an intoxicating sensation he has never experienced. The actions he takes decided to take were in order to be loved, something nobody had felt for him before. His life is so radically altered there are now “women who with one look at Grenouille thrust their fists into their laps and sighed with bliss” (Suskind, 98). Nevertheless, at this moment Grenouille realises he is being worshiped for his scent, not his true identity. As a result he gives up his life by returning to Paris, his birthplace, with the ambition of joining in at night with the foulest of citizens, to pour the flask of the remaining perfume over his head so that they will feel the uncontrollable desire that has fired his own obsession and devoured his being.
Suskind’s approach is quite different from Zola’s in that Perfume adopts a largely sociological perspective; in Thérèse Raquin, the story’s main theme is typified by an obsession that is created by love and passion. Yet this is a passion that is quickly perverted and turned to evil purpose. There is an unmistakable presence of obsession and subsequent pattern of violence and retribution occasioned by that obsession in both stories. For both novels, obsession is a powerful literary element in both novels, a force that drives events and determines behaviour but cannot be considered a force for good.
References
Suskind, Patrick. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, New York, NY: Penguin Books,
1987.
Zola, Emile. Thérèse Raquin, Rockville, MD: Arc Manor LLC, 2008.
